For Immediate Release
May 17, 2006

Contact:
Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9500

Prof. Wally Mlyniec

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Which U.S. President attended Georgetown Law as an evening student?  What do dinosaurs have to do with the Georgetown Law campus?  And what do Georgetown Law and the Kennedy Center have in common?

In his new book, "Construction Notes: Transforming a Campus in Washington, D.C.," Georgetown University Law Center Professor Wally Mlyniec answers these questions and more.  It was Lyndon Johnson who briefly attended Georgetown Law as a night student and later tried to preserve federal funding for his "almost alma mater."  Dinosaurs once roamed the site occupied by the Georgetown Law campus.  And it was architect Edward Durrell Stone who designed both the Kennedy Center and Georgetown Law's McDonough Hall.

What began as the diary of a construction project evolved into an architectural and historical reverie of an academic institution and its place in a city.  Mlyniec’s chronicle of the project he led, which resulted in Georgetown Law’s Eric E. Hotung International Law Center Building and Sport and Fitness Center, started as a series of periodic updates to faculty, students and staff. 

As Mlyniec delved into construction details, he offered entertaining digressions including the history of windows and clock towers.  "One cannot understand the rhythms of urban life without understanding the relationship between buildings and the people who occupy them.  This book seeks to look at the history of a discrete community in one section of a city and contemplate how architecture impacted the daily life of its citizens," said Mlyniec.

"Mlyniec narrates an eloquent odyssey, guiding us through the mysteries and rewards of buildings," writes Buzz Yudell of Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners.  "He demonstrates how, by building a campus, we can build community, honor our history and project the values of our institutions into the future."

"Mlyniec is an urbane, entertaining guide," says John M. Bryan, distinguished professor emeritus of art and architectural history at the University of South Carolina.  "The author presents architecture as a social art.  Here two construction projects evoke meditations on time, place and society.  This is local history at its very best." 

In addition to directing two major building projects, Mlyniec led Georgetown Law’s renowned legal clinics and public service programs.  During his 20 year tenure, the clinical legal education program, which is the largest in the nation, consistently received top national rankings and reviews.  Mlyniec stepped down from his post as associate dean in 2005 to return to the faculty where he is the Lupo Ricci Professor of Clinical Legal Studies.

An early champion of clinical education, Mlyniec was the first clinician hired by Georgetown, became the first director of its Juvenile Justice Clinic in 1973, and was instrumental in the creation of the Office of Public Interest and Community Service (OPICS), which has helped Georgetown Law establish one of the strongest public service programs in the country.  His groundbreaking work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors.    

About Georgetown Law

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world's leading law schools. It has the largest full-time faculty in the nation and is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body. 

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