Administration and Faculty

Administration

Dean David Wippman of the University of Minnesota Law School is a recognized scholar and teacher of international law, especially human rights law. Before coming to Minnesota, he was the vice-provost for international education at Cornell University. In the 1990s he served as a member of the staff of the National Security Council, with special responsibility for humanitarian and human rights law.

Dean Wang Liming of Renmin University Law School has been as a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, Yale University, Harvard University, University of Paris II, and Waseda University in Tokyo. He is President of the Chinese National Association of Research on Civil Law and holds LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Renmin University. He serves as a People's Representative to the 10th National People's Congress and is a member of its Legal Affairs Committee.

Shi Jiayou is a professor at Renmin University and has taken lead responsibility for planning this program on the part of Renmin. He teaches Comparative Law.

Muria Kruger is the Director of International and Graduate Programs at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Professor Brett McDonnell will be the on-site Program Director and will teach the Comparative Business Entities course. He is associate dean of the University of Minnesota Law School, where he teaches and writes in the areas of business associations, corporate finance, law and economics, securities regulations, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and legislation. He holds an M.Phil. in economics from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University; a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University; and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Professor Fred Morrison is chair of the University of Minnesota’s International Programs Committee. He has studied abroad as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, England and has taught as a Fulbright Professor at Bonn, Germany and has also taught at Tsh8nghua University in Beijing. In the 1980’s he served as the Counsel for on International Law for the U.S. Department of State and as counsel for the United States before the International Court of Justice. He is a member of the Kuratorium of the Max Plauck Institutes of International Law in Heidelberg and is a Director of the American Society for the Comparative Study of Law.

Jin Yunfeng is the Foreign Affairs secretary of Renmin University Law School.

Faculty

Professor Ann Burkhart teaches property law, real estate finance and development, land use planning, and comparative property law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She received her M.S. degree from Purdue University and her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law. She has been a visiting professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA School of Law, Uppsala University College of Law in Sweden, and Christian-Albrechts University in Germany. She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, American College of Mortgage Attorneys, and American Law Institute and was an Adviser for the Restatement (Third) of Property-Security (Mortgages).

Guo He teaches civil and commercial law at Renmin University. He is academic supervisor for LL.D. candidates, director of the China Law Information Center, and vice director of the Research Center for Civil and Commercial Jurisprudence at Renmin and a member of the Expert Panel for Dispute Resolution of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Committee.

Professor He Jiahong holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. In addition to teaching criminal law and procedures at Renmin, he serves as vice director of the Department of the Supervision of the Crimes of the Civil Servants in the People’s Supreme Procuratorate.

Professor Liu Junan holds an LL.M. from the Chinese University of Political Science and Law and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam, the University of Michigan, and the University of Kansas.

Liu Junhai teaches business law and is director of the Renmin University Business Law Center, vice president and secretary general of the Institute of Consumers Protection Law, deputy secretary general of the China Business Law Society, and an arbitrator for the Chinese International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission.

Professor Shi Jiayou, who teaches comparative law, holds doctoral degrees from the University of Paris and from Renmin University. He is chair of the Chinese Section of the Association Henri-Capitant, president of the Forum of Francophone Jurists in China, and a member of Administration Council of the National Association of European Law.

Dr. Wang Ling is in charge of the Chinese language program in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches Chinese as a foreign language and conducts research in the areas of linguistics and language teaching studies. She was previously an associate professor of English at Peking University in China. She earned her Ph.D. in foreign language education and her M.A. in educational technology from Purdue University.

Professor Ye Lin holds LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Renmin University. He is vice president of the Chinese National Association of the Research on Commercial Law, vice secretary general of the Commercial Law Research Institute of China Law Society, a member of the Expert Committee of Lawyer Practice on Notarization under Justice Department, vice chairman of the Commercial Law Research Association of the Beijing Law Society, and an arbitrator on the Beijing Arbitration Committee.

Professor Guo Shoukang is a professor of law and an academic supervisor for LL.D. candidates. He holds an LL.B. from Peking University and an LL.M. from Renmin. He is a counselor of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and a director of the Asian Copyright Society.

Professor Cheng Tianquan teaches legal history at Renmin University. He is chair of the University Council and Party Secretary, an authorized supervisor of LL.D. candidates, and director of a legal research center.

Zhang Xinbao teaches civil and commercial law and is academic supervisor for LL.D. candidates at Renmin. He is secretary general of the Civil and Commercial Law Research Association of China Law Society.

Zhao Xiuwen teaches international law and is academic supervisor for LL.D. candidates at Renmin. She is an advisor to the International Chamber of Commerce Chinese National Committee and the Government of Fujian Province, vice chair of the China Society of International Law, and an arbitrator with the Arbitration Center of World Intellectual Property Organization.

Professor Long Yifei is vice dean of the Renmin Law School, vice director of its Research Center for Civil and Commercial Jurisprudence, and executive director of the Marriage and Family Law Research Institute of Renmin. He is also vice chairman of the Marriage Law Research Association of China Law Society; a Standing Council member of the Juvenile Legal Issues Research Association of China Law Society; vice chairman of the Civil and Commercial Law Research Association of Beijing Law Society, and vice chairman of the Real Estate Law Research Association of Beijing Law Society.

Liu Zhigang is a teaching specialist in Mandarin Chinese, currently teaching Intermediate Modern Chinese at the University of Minnesota. He has done graduate study in teaching Chinese as a foreign language and in English as a second language and has been a lecturer and teaching assistant in several Chinese and U.S. colleges, secondary schools, and summer camps.