CNU Professor wins Mercator-Preis Award in Switzerland
News Release - August 17, 2007
Media contact:
Emily L. Lucier
emily.lucier@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) - Dr. Tina Kempin, Assistant Professor of Government, has won the 2007 prestigious prize award of the Mercator Foundation of Switzerland for her dissertation entitled “Ethnic Conflict and International Law: Group Claims and Conflict Resolution within the International Legal System.” The prize was awarded by the University of Zurich , whose Research Grant funds projects of “outstanding academic quality” with the goal of supporting young researchers. Projects sponsored range from dissertation projects to collaborative research on the post-doctorate level. The University of Zurich sponsored Dr. Kempin's dissertation research from January 2005 to February 2007, also funding her stay at the Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania.
“I am very proud to have won this esteemed award from the Mercator Foundation,” said Dr. Kempin. “It represents years of research and hard work, and I hope it illustrates new options in resolving cultural discord, creating legal regimes and designing of broader international institutions.”
Dr. Kempin's dissertation attempts to answer the question of how international law can contribute to ethnic conflict resolution. Her study details how ethnic conflict research could benefit from international legal experience with the protection and promotion of minority rights, as well legal procedures, institutions such as international courts and committees, truth and reconciliation commissions, and dispute settlement bodies.
The Mercator-Preis award includes a cash prize of 5000 CHF (Swiss francs-about $4,400). Dr. Kempin's dissertation was awarded with the distinction magna cum laude from the University of Zurich in 2006. She is currently working on expanding her research, and her findings will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in the near future.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.