Home Law School News Professor Yee receives inaugural Principal Financial Group Global Citizenship Award

Professor Yee receives inaugural Principal Financial Group Global Citizenship Award

Drake Law School professor Ellen Yee was recently honored with the inaugural Principal Financial Group Global Citizenship Award.

The annual award recognizes one Drake faculty or staff member who has made “outstanding contributions to global engagement and internationalization of the campus and curriculum.”

Yee was announced as the award winner and presented with a plaque during the Fall 2015 Convocation on Aug. 28.

Yee has been a professor at Drake Law School since 2005 and was named director of Drake Law School’s International Programs in 2013. Her areas of expertise are in criminal law, evidence, professional responsibility, psychiatry and the law, and trial advocacy.

For the past seven years, Yee has taught in Drake’s summer law program in Nantes, France, and in 2014 she organized celebrations in both locations for the 20th anniversary of the collaboration.

Yee has also taught in Chongqing, China, with Drake’s Chinese Cultural Exchange Program and has undertaken professional or research work in Cambodia and the Netherlands. She continues to develop new University relationships in locations ranging from Cuba to South Africa.

On campus, Yee fosters internationalization through coordinating Drake International Law Week, working with the International Law Society, and advising international students at the Law School.

In addition, Yee created an initiative called Next Course, a food recovery program that raises awareness about global and local food waste and hunger through service-learning and academic study.

“Professor Yee’s commitment and record of outstanding contributions to global education is apparent in almost everything she does,” wrote her nominator. “The breadth of her involvement in advancing global education at Drake shows a long standing passionate and ongoing commitment to international understanding and global citizenship.”