Ganesh Sitaraman has joined Vanderbilt Law School’s faculty as an assistant professor of law.
Professor Sitaraman was previously the Public Law Fellow and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. During that time, he was an affiliate of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy’s program in Statebuilding & Human Rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan and, in the summer of 2009, served as a research fellow at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the winter of 2008-09, he also served as special advisor to the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Professor Sitaraman received his A.B. in government magna cum laude from Harvard College. He earned an M.Phil. in political thought and intellectual history from Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, where he was the Lionel de Jersey Harvard Scholar and a Prize Fellow at the Centre for History and Economics. Professor Sitaraman received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he served as book reviews and essays chair for the Harvard Law Review and as executive policy editor of the Harvard Law and Policy Review. He clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2010-11.
Professor Sitaraman’s scholarly publications include “Counterinsurgency, the War On Terror, and the Laws of War" (95 Virginia Law Review, 2009), “The Use and Abuse of Foreign Law in Constitutional Interpretation” (32 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 2009) and “Service Pays: Creating Opportunities by Linking College with Public Service” (1 Harvard Law & Policy Review, 2006, with Elizabeth Warren and Sandy Baum).
Professor Sitaraman has commented on youth politics, education policy, political strategy and Afghanistan policy for The New York Times, The New Republic, the Boston Globe, New York Public Radio and the Voice of America.
An Eagle Scout and Harry S. Truman Scholar, he also serves on the board of directors for Orphans Against AIDS and the board of principals of the Truman National Security Project. He will be on leave for government service during 2011-12; he will be in residence at the law school in beginning in fall 2012.
“I am thrilled to join the Vanderbilt community,” Professor Sitaraman said. “So many of today’s challenges require new thinking in public law–whether it is legal issues arising from terrorism and international security, climate change or the economic crisis. Vanderbilt Law School is a leader in every aspect of public law, from administrative and regulatory law to foreign relations and international law. I look forward to continuing my work in foreign relations law, international law, the separation of powers, and institutional design, and to helping students in the Program on Law and Government and the International Legal Studies Program understand the role public law has in addressing twenty-first century problems.”
“Ganesh is a phenomenal addition to the faculty,” said Lisa Bressman, associate dean for academic affairs. “He brings extraordinary intellect and scholarly talent, especially in the areas of international law and the law of war, but I expect that he will make major contributions in the fields of administrative and regulatory law as well. He will also be a terrific teacher and a committed mentor.”