The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FFSB), the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), selected for the areas of comparative law and for taxation, William Byrnes for the Fulbright Specialist Roster.  His Specialist Roster listing is for a five year period lasting until 2018. 

“I am honored to have received this internationally recognized distinction of excellence from the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.” said Dean William Byrnes. “The academic recommendations regarding my impact in the field of distance education overseas and in the USA I think played a prominent role for the Review Committee.”

When asked about his immediate goals for the Fulbright appointment, William Byrnes replied “My goal for this Fall is to allocate time to research contextual comparative law learning, especially the social linguistic component.  Afterwards, hopefully by next summer, I will be able to explore this area of pedagogy from an online learning setting.”

Read more at https://www.tjsl.edu/news-media/2013/9710

excerpted below from the TJSL News …

“I am honored that the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs found my record of publication and teaching and impact on international education strong enough to select me from its applicant pool,” said Dean Byrnes. “I really owe it to the academic recommendations provided Fulbright by Professor Richard Winchester, Dean Rudy Hasl, my former Dean, John Makdisi, and my South African supervisor, Professor Alwyn DeKoker.  These recommendations play a significant role for the Review Committee in its decision making process.”

“I think that my selection for this five year term, and Professor Winchester’s selection two years past as a Fulbright Scholar to Tunisia, provides testament that our national peers perceive Thomas Jefferson School of Law as an institution of high quality.  I knew that I would be competing with candidates from large universities, but felt that it was worth the effort because of my particular impact on distance education the past 18 years and my international comparative background.

“Professor Winchester was the catalyst alerting me to the Fulbright opportunity.  The rigorous Fulbright competitive process requires several levels of vetting of candidates’ academic publishing record, teaching experiences, and impact on international education.  To make it through the first round, a candidate must receive positive recommendations from the Fulbright Specialist Review Committee.  The second round includes the Committee determining by consensus who are best qualified to be Fulbright Specialists.  The Fulbright Specialist Program Council then vets the Committee’s names against exclusion lists for government funds and exchanges.  Finally, the names are forwarded to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board for the final selection process for its specialist list.

“My goal for this opportunity is to spend time this coming academic year fleshing out some ideas regarding contextual comparative law learning that includes a social linguistic component that Professor Tiefenbrun will find familiar from her work, such as on Semiotics.  I don’t know where this line of thought will lead, but at least it’s a distraction from deciphering tax regulations.”

Congratulations to Dean Byrnes from everyone at TJSL!