andre douglas pond cummings
MORGANTOWN – A professor at West Virginia University's College of Law is among five faculty members being recognized for their efforts as recipients of this year's WVU Foundation Outstanding Teacher awards.
Associate professor of law andre douglas pond cummings joins Katherine Aaslestad, associate professor of history; Aaron Gale, assistant professor of religious studies; Hong-Jian Lai, professor of mathematics; and Mary Wimmer, professor of biochemistry.
A former Chicago lawyer, cummings brings his experience representing clients as varied as corporate giants, professional football players and Hollywood screenwriters to the classroom.
He also incorporates current events to make his course material relevant. In his entertainment law class, he shows the movie clips or plays the song lyrics that are the subject of litigation to teach critical analysis and bring relevance to the Socratic discussion. He has included the Martha Stewart case and the collapse of Tyco in class discussions about corporate governance and insider securities trading.
A member of the College of Law faculty since 2003, cummings was selected as the Professor of the Year by the law school graduating class and as Faculty Contributor of the Year by the West Virginia Law Review in 2005.
"He teaches from a real-world perspective, using his amazing personal experiences and opportunities as a teaching tool," former student Laura Bossio wrote in a letter supporting cummings' nomination. "Additionally, Professor cummings uses current events as a teaching tool, beginning each class with a discussion of happenings relevant to the topics we are discussing."
A native of Los Angeles, cummings obtained a bachelor's degree in sociology from Brigham Young University in 1994 and a law degree from Howard University in 1997.
He has published numerous articles in scholarly journals throughout his career.
The Outstanding Teacher award winners each will receive a $2,500 honorarium or a $5,000 U.S. savings bond from the WVU Foundation. They will accept their awards at the Weekend of Honors convocation at 7 p.m. April 21 in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
The WVU Foundation is a private nonprofit corporation that generates and provides support for West Virginia University.