PHILLIP M. SCOTT TEACHING, LEADERSHIP, AND STAFF EXCELLENCE AWARDS HONOR THREE FACULTY AND STAFF MEMBERS AT DONOR DINNER
September 2024 — Phillip M. Scott ’22 wanted to pay tribute to the small kindnesses and acts of support by Penn State Dickinson Law faculty and staff members that he noticed during the year he spent in the LL.M. program. Upon his graduation, he established a non-endowed fund to create the Phillip M. Scott Teaching, Leadership, and Staff Excellence Awards as a way to say “thank you for doing your best work.”
This year’s third annual awards were handed out at Penn State Dickinson Law’s annual Donor Dinner, held at Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs on September 13. The event honors fiscal-year donors and members of the John Reed Society, Penn State Dickinson Law’s lifetime giving society.
Consideration for the Scott Awards is given to faculty who have shown outstanding teaching and leadership; administrators who demonstrate strategic thinking and innovative and proactive actions that contribute to the development of Penn State Dickinson Law’s graduate programs, cultural diversity, and national and international prestige; and staff whose work ethic, character, attention to detail, and dedication contribute to the mission and success of Penn State Dickinson Law.
This year’s recipients were:
- Teaching Excellence Award: Medha D. Makhlouf, Elsie de R. and Samuel P. Orlando Distinguished Professor and director, Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic
- Leadership Excellence Award: Bekah Saidman-Krauss ’12, associate dean for Admissions and Financial Aid
- Staff Excellence Award: Jessica Burd, assistant to the financial officer and bursar
A trio of accomplished faculty and staff members
In accordance with Scott’s vision, this year’s awards recognize three individuals respected by their peers and boasting impressive records of service to the University and Penn State Dickinson Law. They have all gone out of their way to demonstrate the kindness and support that meant so much to Scott during his time in Carlisle.
Professor Makhlouf’s research interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy, and her work has been widely published. As founding director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, she supervises law students in direct representation of individuals who have health-harming legal needs. The clinic aims to reduce health disparities and improve health in vulnerable communities through collaboration with medical providers and public health practitioners. Makhlouf was named a 2020 Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity to support the clinic’s work.
Saidman-Krauss worked as a legal assistant in New York for several years before attending Penn State Dickinson Law. Following graduation, she worked as an associate at Pepper Hamilton’s Philadelphia office, serving as a member of the Health Effects Litigation Practice Group. She then returned to Penn State Dickinson Law, where she has worked for more than a decade. Saidman-Krauss was recently elected to serve on the Law School Admission Council Board of Trustees.
Burd has worked at Penn State University since 2007. She began as an administrative support assistant in University Park and later earned a promotion to administrative coordinator. She joined Penn State College of Medicine in 2016, where she spent nearly two years as administrative support coordinator. Burd has served in her current position at Penn State Dickinson Law since 2017.