Eloise Pasachoff comes from a family of academics.
Her grandmother was a trailblazing economist who specialized in monetary policy and her father was a renowned astronomer who taught and studied solar eclipses around the world.
Pasachoff followed suit — but carved her own path.
She is now a preeminent legal scholar on federal government spending, specializing in how the executive branch implements appropriations laws and federal grants. As the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Law and Anne Fleming Research Professor, Pasachoff teaches a budget and appropriations class, a course for first-year law students about administrative law, and a seminar on administrative law and public administration.
“One of the things that I try to do as a teacher is think about how grateful I am for the attention and care that were spent on me and how I am generationally passing that support and attention on to my students,” she said.
On April 7 at Georgetown’s spring faculty convocation, Pasachoff was honored with the President’s Award for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers, which recognizes faculty members for their excellence in teaching and scholarship.
“Our distinguished scholar-teachers embody excellence in Georgetown’s dual mission of teaching and research — they represent the very best of our student-centered research university. We’re honored to recognize this year’s recipient, Eloise Pasachoff,” said Interim President Robert M. Groves.
Teaching the U.S. Government
Pasachoff joined Georgetown in 2011 and has since specialized in administrative law, budget and appropriations law, education law and public administration.
Before joining Georgetown, Pasachoff taught first-year legal research and writing at Harvard Law School, her alma mater. She also served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, worked as a litigation associate in New York City, and taught English to middle and high school students.
“I hope that my teaching and my writing help inform the future of the rule of law in America as we grapple with questions that are coming our way.”
On April 7, Eloise Pasachoff (left) was honored by Interim President Robert M. Groves (right) with the President’s Award for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers.
At Georgetown, Pasachoff translates her research into teaching, helping law students better understand the framework of the government. In her class for first-year students, she teaches the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, which governs the way federal agencies work and how courts review their decisions. Students study how federal agencies comply with and carry out the statutes Congress gives them to implement, including what works and what could be reformed. She hopes that law students better understand the structural foundations of government and its complications and nuances.
“I hope that what we study together can help them make sense of the news every day, and, as things unfold, that they have a deep understanding of both what makes sense and how to critique what’s going on from a variety of different perspectives,” she said.
Applying Philosophy to Moral Dilemmas
At spring faculty convocation, Distinguished University Professor David Luban presented an address reflecting on his career dedicated to inquiry.
After Pasachoff’s award, David Luban, Distinguished University Professor in the Law Center, presented the Life of Learning address, which invites the audience to reflect on a life dedicated to inquiry.
As one of only two members of the Georgetown Law faculty without a law degree — “You are looking at 45 years of imposter syndrome,” he said — Luban traced how his scholarly training in philosophy has intersected with and responded to the moral dilemmas of the real world, and continues to do so.
Luban came of age in the 1960s, in his words, “at the time of the murder of Dr. King and RFK [Senator Robert F. Kennedy], and the Vietnam War, and the very first Earth Day and the surging women’s movement.” His first teaching position was at Kent State University, five years after four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war demonstration.
He found his academic niche, teaching professional ethics to lawyers, in the wake of post-Watergate requirements that law students take courses in the subject. He also wrote books responding to issues of the time, like Torture, Power, and Law, about the post-September 11 Justice Department memos approving forms of torture as a means of interrogating terrorist suspects.
Most recently, Luban resigned from his other academic affiliation, serving as chair in ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy’s Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, where he had taught for 12 years. After the academy’s library purged nearly 400 books as part of a Pentagon directive against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Luban decided he could no longer stay.
“Today, the Life of Learning is under the most serious attack I’ve witnessed in my half-century in academia,” Luban said to colleagues across the university. “At this convocation — I would ask you to look around this hall at your colleagues from many disciplines, with a wide range of viewpoints, and pledge that we’ll support each other as best we can. Without second-guessing or self-censoring. Without turning aside in our pursuit of truth in our various disciplines.”
Georgetown’s Vicennial Awardees
During faculty convocation, Georgetown recognized 18 full-time faculty members who have served for 20 years at the university with the Vicennial Medal. Their names are below:
Gold Medalists
Mark Burns
David Collins, S.J.
Michael J. Ferreira
Jennifer Natalya Fink
Derek Goldman
Lakshmi Goparaju
Kristi Graves
James P. Habyarimana
Paul Lincoln Heck
Lihong Huang
Pablo Irusta
Valeriy Korostyshevskiy
Marty Lederman
Peter McGarvey
Maria C. Moreno Gonzalez
Habtom Ressom
Rebecca Riggins
Ayesha Shajahan
In addition, Georgetown recognized 13 part-time faculty members who have served for 20 years. Their names are below:
