Gamble Receives Kopp Faculty Award

March 20, 2003
University Park, Pa. – John Gamble, professor of political science and international law at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, has been chosen to receive the W. LaMarr Kopp Faculty International Achievement Award.

Established in 1995, this annual award recognizes faculty members whose efforts in research, teaching and service have contributed significantly to the international mission of the University.

Gamble's academic specialties are the law of the sea, dispute settlement, the teaching of international law, the effects of new information technology on international law and international treaties. He co-authored the book, "Introduction to Political Science" (Prentice Hall, 2nd ed., 1992), the first introductory political science undergraduate text to devote a chapter to international law and international organizations. This textbook contains an innovative game called the Political Process Exercise (PPE), which allows students to participate in the bargaining process that creates a treaty. Under the auspices of the American Society of International Law, of which he is vice president, he has written two books on teaching international law and is now acknowledged as a leading authority in that field.

With the indispensable help of a group of Schreyer Scholars, Gamble has attracted s worldwide reputation with the Comprehensive Statistical Database of Multilateral Treaties (CSDMT). Started at Penn State in 1998, CSDMT permits the analysis of all 6,050 multilateral treaties enacted from 1648 to 1995. CSDMT already has been the basis of three honors theses and two law review articles on which five Behrend students have been co-authors.

Gamble has lectured at many universities including Cambridge University, Peking University and the University of Iceland. Since 1998, he has coordinated the Behrend Honors Program (230 students) and Behrend's Schreyer Scholars Program (60 students). Gamble believes an international dimension is vital to honors programming and in fact to all undergraduate education. He notes, "The international component of education is more important than ever and also more difficult."

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Contact:  Paul Blaum at 814-865-7517 or at pab15@psu.edu