CENTER FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY

Several centers of emphasis and academic programs are housed under the Honors College for the wider university—the Center for Law and Public Public being one of them. In 1998, Dr. Roy Branson, then a professor at the university, founded and became the director of the Center for Law and Public Policy. He valued a space for safe and open discourse, wanting to provide students with the resources to utilize the university’s proximity to the nation’s capital for their learning and future careers in leadership. Students interested in law and politics could use the center to access internships, mentorships and conferences in Washington, D.C. and Maryland.

The Center is now housed in the Honors College and continues Dr. Branson’s vision of being a premier resource for the study of law and public policy within the Seventh-day Adventist educational community and an interdisciplinary hub for faculty, students and professionals in the field of law and public policy on local, national and global levels.

The Center for Law and Public Policy hosted several events recently in collaboration with Liberty Magazine, including a debrief on the Supreme Court case, Groff v. DeJoy, addressing religious liberty and employment accommodations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This upcoming 2023-24 academic year will mark the 25th anniversary of the Center for Law and Public Policy at WAU. In June, the Center received a significant donation from private and organization sources that will help fund the newly created Roy Branson Fellowships program. The Branson Fellowships will provide opportunities for Honors College students to intern/work directly with local and national civil rights and religious leaders on a variety of legal and public policy issues. Up to eight students per year will receive $5,000 per year stipends for this work.