Professor Jorge Avendaño of Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú will be in Madison on Friday, December 12, to receive the 2008 Wisconsin Global Citizen Award from the Division of International Studies and Wisconsin Alumni Association. The event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UW Law School's working connection with Peru.
The gathering will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. in Lubar Commons, Room 7200 of the Law School.
In 1968, Avendaño, then 31 years old and the new Dean of the Law School at Pontificia, worked with UW Law School Professor Zigurds (Zig) Zile to initiate an innovative Ford Foundation program to improve legal education in Peru. Between 1968 and 1972, Avendaño and other young Peruvian law professors came to study at the UW Law School in the summer, learning about the U.S. government and legal system, in order to take the information back to help reform the teaching of law in their country.
The young men, who called themselves the Wisconsin Boys, went on to high-level positions in Peruvian government and legal education. Avendaño became the minority leader in the Peruvian Congress.
In 1998, Professor Zile and Law School Dean Ken Davis journeyed to Peru, at the invitation of the "Wisconsin Boys," to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the program.
Anyone who plans to attend the award ceremony on December 12 is asked to RSVP to Carol Torgeson of the Division of International Studies, at torgeson@wisc.edu.
Submitted by on December 8, 2008
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