The Legacy of Roe v. Wade
Oklahoma Student Chapter
Speakers:
- Professor Teresa Collett, St. Thomas-MN Law
- Professor Rick Tepker
Speakers:
- Professor Teresa Collett, St. Thomas-MN Law
- Professor Rick Tepker, Oklahoma Law
Oklahoma Student Chapter
Speakers:
Speakers:
Professor and Director, Prolife Center, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Teresa Collett, J.D., is professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she serves as director of the school's Prolife Center. Collett received her doctorate at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. As a well-known advocate for the protection of human life and the family, Collett specializes in the subjects of marriage, religion and bioethics in her research.
Collett has published numerous legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility and co-editor of a collection of essays exploring “catholic” and “Catholic” perspectives on American law. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, as well as before legislative committees in several states.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collett to a five-year term on the Pontifical Council for the Family. Her appointment was renewed by His Holiness Pope Francis until 2016 when the responsibilities of the Council were assumed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. In 2013, she served as a delegate to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) for the Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
She represented Congressman Ron Paul and various medical groups in the defense of the U.S. federal ban of partial-birth abortion, and the governors of Minnesota and North Dakota defending the N.H. requirement of state parental involvement prior to performance of an abortion on a minor before the U.S. Supreme Court. Collett is often asked to represent the interests of government officials before federal appellate courts. She has served as special attorney general for the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, as well as assisting other state attorneys general in defending laws protecting human life and marriage. Prior to joining St. Thomas in 2003, Collett taught at the South Texas College of Law, where she established the nation's first annual symposium on legal ethics.
Floyd & Irma Calvert Chair of Law and Liberty and Professor of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law
Rick Tepker is the first member of the OU law faculty to appear, argue and win a case before the United States Supreme Court. In 1987, the Court appointed Tepker as counsel for petitioner, an indigent juvenile sentenced to death. Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988). It was the first case in which an American court overturned a death sentence on constitutional grounds because the condemned was too young at the time of the crime.
Professor Tepker has had a wide range of university and professional service, including: chair of the university Faculty Senate; two-time chair of the campus Tenure Committee; secretary for the American Bar Association Section on Labor and Employment Law; historian of the Tenth Circuit Historical Society; and professor-in-residence for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. During his tenure with the EEOC, he represented the agency in U.S. Supreme Court cases concerning university academic freedom in Title VII cases (Univ. of Pennsylvania v. EEOC, 493 U.S. 182 (1990)) and pension benefit plans under the federal age discrimination statute (Public Employee Retirement System v. Betts, 492 U.S. 158 (1989)).
Tepker is author of many law review articles and has earned numerous university teaching awards, including the University of Oklahoma Regents Award for Superior Teaching and the Merrick Foundation Award. In September 1998, the Regents of The University of Oklahoma named Professor Tepker as the first Calvert Chair of Law and Liberty. He teaches courses in the areas of constitutional law, employment law and equal employment opportunity.
Professor Tepker is a 1973 graduate of Claremont Men's College. He earned his law degree in 1976 from Duke University. He is a member of the Order of the Coif, Phi Beta Kappa, and the American Bar Association. Prior to joining the OU faculty, he practiced law for five years, specializing in labor and employment issues, as an associate with the Los Angeles firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.