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Newark, NJ – Paul L. Tractenberg, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor and Alfred C. Clapp Distinguished Public Service Professor of Law at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, has been awarded a prestigious scholarly residency fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy. During his four-week residency this summer, Professor Tractenberg will work on the Abbott v. Burke chapter for his book New Jersey Goes A-Courting: 10 Legal Cases That Shook the Nation. The book, to be published by Rutgers University Press, will describe 10 New Jersey cases, most with a major Rutgers Law School imprint, that have had a national impact. Tractenberg will also edit the book and write the introduction.

The Bellagio Center residency program offers influential scholars, artists, writers, scientists, policymakers, and other professionals from around the world the opportunity to pursue ideas and to engage others in their work. The Center typically offers no more than 12 residency fellowships at a time. Space is reserved for important academic projects, as well as projects that align with the Foundation’s mission to expand opportunities for poor or vulnerable people and to help ensure that globalization’s benefits are shared more widely. 

Professor Tractenberg, a member of the law school faculty since 1970, is the author of numerous publications on education law, a frequent lecturer, and consultant and adviser to many national, regional, and state organizations and agencies. In 1973, he established the Education Law Center, a public interest law project, and served as its director for three years. He has been involved in a number of landmark constitutional cases about public education, especially Abbott v. Burke, which New Jersey judges and lawyers voted overwhelmingly the most important state court decision of the 20th century. In 2000, he established and continues to serve as co-director of the Rutgers–Newark Institute on Education Law and Policy. As an outgrowth of his work with the Institute, Tractenberg is also co-director of the new Newark Schools Research Collaborative, which will work collaboratively with the Newark Public Schools, the Newark Charter School Fund, local funders, and other researchers on cutting-edge issues.

Professor Tractenberg received his B.A. from Wesleyan and his J.D. from the University of Michigan. He teaches Education Law and Policy, Contracts, and advanced seminars in education and related fields. During the 2008–2009 academic year, he developed and taught the Centennial Seminar, which explored the 100-year history of the law school and its impact on the law, legal education, and the legal profession. He and his students are completing a book, based on their work for the seminar, that will be published by The History Press.