Constitution Week Lunch Discussion:
Constitution Day Welcome by President Cox and Lunch Discussion & Student Debate
Trax on the Trail Concert and Constitution Day Keynote
Keynote Speaker
Featuring:
Georgia Court of Appeals Oral Arguments
Times Talk:
Gender & the 2024 Election in Library
Panelists:
Panel Discussion
Checks and Balances
Panelists:
Constitution Week Lunch Discussion:
Lunch Discussion on Separation of Church and State
Supreme Court Review
Panelists:
Georgia College & State University
Department of Music
All Hail for Music on the Trail: A program featuring music from U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1840-1964
A Constitution Week Concert and Lecture
Presented by Trax on the Trail
Featuring Dr. Billy Coleman, Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy
Dr. Craig Callender, guitar | Max Noah Singers, dir. Dr. Jennifer Flory |Dr. Youngmi Kim, soprano | Ms. Camilla Packroff, soprano | Dr. Chris Hendley, tenor | Dr. Bradley Sowell, baritone| Dr. Dana Gorzelany-Mostak, producer
Dr. Billy Coleman is the associate director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, teaches and co-coordinates the Kinder/Honors sequence in Revolutions and Constitutions, and directs the Kinder Institute Democracy Lab. He is the author of Harnessing Harmony: Music, Power, and Politics in the United States, 1788-1865 (University of North Carolina Press) — winner of the American Musicological Society’s H. Robert Cohen/RIPM Award — and his research exploring the relationship between music and politics in early America also appears in the Journal of Southern History, the Journal of the Early Republic, and Oxford Bibliographies in American Literature. He was Book Reviews Editor of American Nineteenth Century History for five years and recently co-edited a book, on Music in American Nineteenth-Century History with its forthcoming with Routledge. Dr. Coleman completed his Ph.D. in history at University College London (UCL) and held postdoctoral fellowships at the Kinder Institute and the University of British Columbia before returning to the University of Missouri in 2020. Born in Houston, Texas, he grew up in Sydney, Australia, where he graduated with a BA (Honors) in history and politics from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
“Why Sing Campaign Songs?: Music, Popular Democracy, and the Election of 1840”
Using the famously musical presidential election of 1840 as a centerpiece, this talk will trace how Whig Party campaigners drew from evangelical religion and reform to cast their campaign ¬music as a respectable and refining influence over an otherwise unruly process of popular democracy. For Whigs, the use of campaign songs was less about attracting voters to the polls than it was about reining in the dangers attendant to those who had already shown their willingness to participate. Accordingly, when Democrats criticized Whig campaign singing, they were not criticizing the idea of music in elections so much as they were highlighting the supposed hypocrisy of a party whose use of campaign songs betrayed, as Democrats saw it, a preference for improving the people rather than respecting their will.
Press Release:
Tuesday, Sept. 17 As part of Georgia College & State University’s annual “Constitution Week,” a lively production of political campaign music and a lecture will be at 6 p.m. at Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion. The concert, “All Hail for Music on the Trail: A program featuring music from U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1840-1964,” will feature campaign songs like “The Red, White, and Blue,” “Wake Ye Numbers!” and “Hello Lyndon.” The lecture, “Why Sing Campaign Songs?: Music, Popular Democracy, and the Election of 1840,” will be presented by Dr. Billy Coleman, associate director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. Trax on the Trail, a website co-founded by faculty member Dr. Dana Gorzelany-Mostak, is hosting this event with GCSU’s Constitution Week Committee. Voice faculty members will be featured: Dr. Youngmi Kim, Camilla Packroff, Dr. Chris Hendley, and Dr. Bradley Sowell. The Max Noah Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Flory, will join in with Dr. Craig Callender accompanying on guitar. This concert will also be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/GCMusicDepartment. A $5 donation is encouraged. Online donations can be made at give.gcsu.edu/g/department-of-music/. All proceeds benefit music scholarships or the GCSU Department of Music through GCSU Foundation, Inc. For more information, please email music@gcsu.edu or call 478-445-8289.
Gary J. Simson holds the Macon Chair in Law at Mercer University School of Law and is Professor Emeritus of Law at Cornell Law School.
Simson received a B.A. summa cum laude in 1971 from Yale College, where he majored in Spanish Literature and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. in 1974 from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of The Yale Law Journal. After clerking for Judge J. Joseph Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Simson began his teaching career at The University of Texas School of Law in 1975 and was promoted to full professor in 1977.
Simson joined the Cornell Law School faculty as professor of law in 1980 and remained at Cornell until 2006, serving as Associate Dean for Faculty Development from 1997-2000 and as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2000-2004. In 2006 he became Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-Baker & Hostetler Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He left Case in 2010 to become Dean of the School of Law and Macon Chair in Law at Mercer. He served as Dean until being appointed in 2014 to a leadership position in the central university – Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Scholarship. He held that position until deciding in 2018 to return to full-time teaching.
Over the years, Simson has taught Constitutional Law, Conflict of Laws, Religious Liberty Clinic, Statutory Law and Analysis, and seminars on freedom of religion and other constitutional law topics. His constitutional law scholarship has addressed such issues as school vouchers, Supreme Court appointments, same-sex marriage, the death penalty and religion, and single-sex schools. He is also the author of a leading conflict of laws casebook and various articles in the field.
Jim Fleissner – Mercer University School of Law - is a Professor of Law at the Mercer University School of Law. His teaching and scholarly interests focus on constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, the law of evidence, trial and appellate practice, and legal history. His current courses include American Constitutional System, Survey of the First Amendment, Criminal Procedure: Constitutional Dimensions, Criminal Procedure: The Litigation Process, and the Great Trials Seminar.
Upon graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Fleissner was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago. In that position, he gained experience investigating and prosecuting a variety of federal crimes, handling numerous grand jury proceedings, trials, and appeals. He also held several supervisory positions over his tenure in this position.
Since joining the Mercer law faculty in 1994, Fleissner has complemented his academic activities with engagement in practice. His part-time practice experience includes accepting periodic appointments under the Criminal Justice Act to represent indigent defendants in federal court. During a leave of absence from the law school, Fleissner worked full-time as Chief of Criminal Appeals for U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald in Chicago, supervising the office’s appellate litigation and serving as legal advisor for prosecutors handling cases in all stages of investigation and litigation.
Fleissner is an eighteen-time recipient of the Reynold J. Kosek, Jr. Excellence in Teaching Award, which is awarded each year by a vote of Mercer Law School’s graduating class. In 2021, he received the Mercer Law School Board of Visitors’ Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2021 and 2022, he was named as a finalist for the Joe and Jean Hendricks Excellence in Teaching Award, Mercer University’s premier teaching award.
Nicholas Creel is currently an Assistant Professor of Business Law at Georgia College. His research interests include religion and politics, international law, and constitutional law. His academic accomplishments include a recently completed PhD in political science from Texas Tech University, a JD from the University of Dayton, and an LLM in international and comparative law from St. Mary's University. He is also a frequent contributor at Newsweek where he writes on matters of law, politics, and often on the intersection thereof.
Ben Clark is a Senior Lecturer of Political Science in the Department of Government and Sociology, teaching courses in American government and political theory. He got his doctorate in Political Theory from the Catholic University of America and has taught at GCSU since 2015.
Judge J. Wade Padgett is a dedicated public servant, educator, and longtime member of the judiciary. He was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp as the 96th judge of the Court of Appeals. He was sworn into that position on April 3, 2024.
Judge Padgett was born in Atlanta but has spent the majority of his professional career in the Augusta area. He obtained a BA in history from the University of Georgia in 1987. He earned his law degree from Georgia State University in 1990. While in law school, he received several awards and was extremely involved with the Student Trial Advocacy program led by Attorney Tom Jones. Judge Padgett became a member of the Georgia Bar in 1990.
Following law school, Judge Padgett served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Augusta Judicial Circuit where he served as a violent crimes prosecutor and led the office’s team dealing with crimes against children. He began his private practice of law as an associate with O. Franklin Askin, Jr. P.C. and eventually formed his own law firm. While in private practice, Judge Padgett represented individual and corporate clients in a variety of areas including corporate operations, personal injury, criminal defense, domestic relations, probate and other areas of the law. Judge Padgett represented clients in both Georgia state and federal courts.
In 1995, Judge Padgett was appointed as an Associate Magistrate Judge for Columbia County. He was elected Chief Magistrate of Columbia County in 2005. Because his duties as a Magistrate Judge were part-time, he also practiced law while serving in Magistrate Court. During his time as a member of the Council of Magistrate Judges, he chaired the Uniform Rules Committee. Judge Padgett served as Chief Magistrate of Columbia County until he was appointed to the Superior Court bench.
On February 3, 2009, Judge Padgett was appointed to the Superior Court bench by Governor Sonny Perdue. He served as a Superior Court judge for the Augusta Judicial Circuit and was one of three judges appointed to the Columbia Judicial Circuit when that circuit was formed in 2021. While on the Superior Court bench, Judge Padgett reformed and led the New Judge Orientation program for all new Superior Court judges in Georgia, beginning in 2014. He was elected to serve as an officer of the Council of Superior Court Judges, ultimately serving as President of the Council in 2021-2022. In 2024, Judge Padgett was the recipient of the Emory Findley award, an award honoring service to the Council of Superior Court judges.
Judge Padgett has a passion for teaching. He has served as a presenter in educational classes for law students, lawyers, judges, and others. He created a program known as Teenage Years 101 that was designed to provide realistic, actionable information to teens and their families on topics relating to teen decision-making and the impact of those decisions. He has served as an advisor and presenter to the Council of Probate Judges. He has led countless educational sessions for the Council of Superior Court judges. He has spoken at programs presented by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia, the Institute for Continuing Judicial Education, and several local bar associations. The Georgia Bar Association awarded Judge Padgett the Spirit of Justice Award in 2023 which honors individuals dedicated to the “unwavering commitment to and creating a legacy of excellence in the judiciary.”
The best evidence of his passion for teaching, however, may be found in the podcast series that he created and continues to co-host. Judge Padgett and Judge Tain Kell (ret.) co-host a podcast known as The Good Judge-Ment Podcast where they discuss topics on Georgia law. They began the podcast in 2018 and it is popular with both lawyers and judges as a unique medium for legal education.
Judge Padgett has also been passionately involved in his community. He is a graduate of Leadership Augusta and went on to serve as Chairman of their Board of Directors in 2003. He served as Chairman of the Staff-Parish Relations Committee at Wesley United Methodist Church. He has served as a coach for youth sports for both boys and girls, and also volunteered as the defensive line coach for Greenbrier High School for several years.
Judge Padgett is also a published author. His book, From Court in the Woods to Court in the Metropolis, A History of the Augusta Judicial Circuit, was published in 2017. His work as an author earned accolades. He was nominated as Georgia Author of the Year (History category) by the Georgia Writer’s Association and the Historical Records Advisory Council presented him the 2017 Award for Excellence for Local History. Judge Padgett’s wife, Alice W. Padgett, serves as Probate Judge for Columbia County. They have two children, Matthew and Jordan. They also have grandchildren whom they adore. Judge Padgett resides in Evans, Georgia.
Ivy White brings her experience as a litigation attorney, mediator, and business consultant to create an engaging and enriching experience in the classroom. Throughout her career, White has practiced in the areas of family law, personal injury, worker’s compensation, insurance defense and business law.
White is an Atlanta native but went to high school in South Florida. She earned her Associate degree in Accounting from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. She is a three-time Georgia State University alum, having earned her bachelor's degree in Spanish, with a concentration in International Business, JD, and MBA from Georgia State. In 2016, she was selected to deliver the Student Commencement Address at Georgia State Law's Commencement Ceremonies, receiving a standing ovation.
While in law school, White was a student attorney on the school's mock trial team, and by her third year of law school, she was already representing domestic violence victims in Cobb County. She clerked for the Honorable John J. Goger and the Honorable Alford J. Dempsey in Fulton County Superior Court. She enjoys golf, beautiful sunsets and spending time with her family.
Matt Roessing is a professor of Legal Writing at Emory Law School, where he teaches the legal aspects of business, real estate, and international trade. Matt taught business law at Georgia College from 2012-2017 and won several teaching awards, including the business school’s Students’ Choice Award and the university-wide Excellence in Teaching Award. He is a member of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and recent winner of its annual Master Teacher Competition. While at Georgia College, Matt started the U.S. Supreme Court Review and helped expand Constitution Day into a week of cross-disciplinary events. Matt previously worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Arnold & Porter LLP and now runs his own law firm in Milledgeville, where he represents local business owners and serves on the board of the Chamber of Commerce. A self-professed “SCOTUS nerd,” Matt follows the Court and his discussions of its decisions have been featured on Georgia Public Broadcasting, Macon’s LawCall, and Georgia College’s WRGC. His Law Blog can be found here.
Jehan El-Jourbagy is an Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics at Georgia College, where she is, first and foremost, passionate about teaching. This is her sixth year coordinating Constitution Week events on campus. Published in the Berkeley Business Law Journal, Journal of Legal Studies Education and forthcoming in the American Business Law Journal, she focuses her research on pedagogy and corporate solutions to environmental and social problems. She is a past president of the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business and the chair of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business’ ethics section. Jehan holds her J.D., with focus on environmental and civil rights law, an A.B. in political science and an A.B.J. in public relations, all from the University of Georgia. The conductor of a community band and mother of four children, Jehan is devoted to her hometown of Monticello, Georgia, yet loves to go on cross-country road trips with her family and lead study abroad programs focused on corporate sustainability.
