Five Dominican Students Successfully Complete Transnational Law Certificate Through GDAE

On October 26, 2014, five Dominican students from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) completed the Transnational Law Program at the University of Georgia School of Law, earning a certificate for the week-long program and bringing new knowledge and insight to the Dominican Republic on international and transnational policies in the areas of: environmental law, corporate law, criminal law and constitutional law.

The students spent a week on
campus, from October 17-26, during which time they joined forces with two students from the National University of Córdoba in Argentina and took courses from esteemed UGA Law professors, participated in social activities and made new friends with current UGA law students and learned about the history and culture of the Athens and Atlanta, Georgia areas.

The Transnational Law program prides itself on selecting dynamic and notable professors to teach its courses, and this program was no exception.  From former district attorneys to federal supreme court attorneys, the students were impressed with the depth of the expertise on display in the classroom.

“It is noteworthy to mention that both teachers (in our international and constitutional law classes) have worked for the Federal Supreme Court of the
United States, so in a nutshell, we are getting the best education from the best instructors possible,” said Iván Chevalier, one of the participants.

Other highlights of the week included a spooky Halloween tour of the UGA campus, a trip to the Athens Botanical Garden and the Athens Museum of Art, a mixer with UGA JD students, a visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and CNN Center in Atlanta, and an American folkloric music concert.

This is the second time this year that the Global Dominican Academic Exchange Program has participated in UGA’s Transnational Law Program, as it brings important insight and excellent experience to the field of law in the Dominican Republic.

The program is a collaborative effort between InteRDom, and the UGA School of Law. The Transnational Law Program is an initiative of
the Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy aimed at bringing law students from foreign universities to study at Georgia Law for one to two weeks, providing a flexible curriculum and exposure to American legal education.  Both GDAE and the Transnational Law Program share a mission to facilitate exchange and multiculturalism.  In addition to their exposure to American legal
education through 5 academic courses– including International Law, International Environmental Law, US Constitutional, Environmental and Criminal Law—participants form lasting relationships with UGA law students and staff members, who lauded this group as one of the brightest and most dynamic to pass through the program.

This second program at UGA is the fifth and final GDAE program in 2014, which organizes a series of topic-specific events of short (maximum two weeks)
duration in collaboration with faculty and Dominican student organizations at a variety of United States universities throughout the year.  The InteRDom staff works closely with faculty and student representatives to plan the activities, and then to recruit and bring students from Dominican universities to participate.  Hosting events with different thematic concentrations ensures that diverse groups of Dominican students have the opportunity to participate.

The Global Dominican Academic Exchange program, a project of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), an extension of their internship, research and study program, InteRDom, aims to introduce Dominican students to the American style of liberal arts education and encourage dialogue between Dominican students and their Dominican-American counterparts attending these institutions, thereby encouraging and inspiring partnership and entrepreneurship initiatives which will foster innovation and stimulate Dominican economic development and international understanding.