Harold Hongju Koh (Image provided)
A leading expert on international law, Harold Hongju Koh, will deliver SUNY Geneseo’s 2018-19 Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) lecture on Thursday, Oct. 25. The lecture, "The Trump Administration and International Law," (based on his forthcoming book from Oxford University Press) will take place at 4 p.m. in Doty Recital Hall and is free and open to the public. A small reception will follow in the Doty lobby.
Koh, who is the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School and PBK's Carl F. Cranor Visiting Scholar, will also be meeting with students and faculty in classes and small group sessions during his visit to campus.
“Prof. Koh brings a unique combination of perspectives from both the halls of academe and the halls of power to bear on one of the most important issues of our time,” said Doug Baldwin, professor of mathematics and president of Geneseo’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter. “We are delighted to host his visit to the College and community.”
Koh is one of the nation’s leading experts in international law, national security law and human rights. He’s been at Yale Law School since 1985 and served as its fifteenth dean from 2004 to 2009. From 2009 to 2013, Koh served the U.S. State Department as legal adviser, service for which he received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award. From 1998 to 2001, he served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
Koh has received seventeen honorary degrees and more than thirty awards for his human rights work. He has authored or co-authored eight books, published more than 200 articles, regularly testified before Congress, and litigated numerous cases involving international law issues in both U.S. and international tribunals.
Koh’s visit is made possible by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar program and Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Delta of New York, with support from the Office of the President and Office of the Provost at SUNY Geneseo. Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious undergraduate honors society with chapters at 286 colleges and universities throughout the country. Geneseo is the only undergraduate college in the SUNY system to be granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. The Alpha Delta of New York chapter was installed in January 2004.