Ghana Supreme Court Justice visits NIU

Justice Modibo Ocran of the Ghana Supreme Court will serve as the College of Law’s 2007 scholar-in-residence this week and present Friday’s 14th annual Francis X. Riley Lecture on Professionalism.

A native of Ghana, Justice Ocran has served on the Ghana Supreme Court since 2004. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Akron Law School in Ohio, where he has been a faculty member for 20 years.

On Wednesday, April 18, he will participate in a panel discussion as part of the law school’s “Darfur Teach-In: Understanding the Regional and International Dimensions of a Humanitarian Crisis,” scheduled from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Swen Parson Hall, Room 188.

The teach-in begins with a screening of the short film “Peace Under Fire: Sudan’s Darfur Crisis,” produced by the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Network.

Following the film, Justice Ocran and Visiting Fulbright Scholar Gilbert Taguem Fah, from the University of Ngaoundéré in Cameroon, Africa, will discuss the regional and international perspectives relevant to the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Darfur region of the Sudan. A brief question-and-answer session follows the discussion, and a reception will be held in the Thurgood Marshall Gallery.

Justice Ocran will present “Nation Building in Africa and the Role of the Judiciary” at 2 p.m. Friday, April 20, in the Francis X. Riley Courtroom, located in Swen Parson Hall. A reception will follow in the Thurgood Marshall Gallery.

Both events are free and open to the public.

4-16-07