Professor Andrew Mamo is the recipient of 2022 David W. Raymond Technology in Teaching Award for his commitment to the use of technology in the classroom. Professor Mamo was nominated for the honor by his students. The award is named for David W. Raymond, a member of the first Board of Trustees at NIU, who created the endowment to fund an annual award to the faculty member who has most creatively and fruitfully implemented new teaching technologies. In relation to the award, Professor Mamo recently presented to the larger NIU Community on “Using Online Resources to Improve Student Learning, Inside and Outside of the Classroom.”
Professor Andrew Mamo joined the Northern Illinois University College of Law faculty in 2020 during the beginning of the global pandemic. Like most of our law faculty, he did not have course materials that were applicable in an online format. However, Professor Mamo recognized that in addition to its many new challenges, the pandemic provided opportunities for innovation and creativity. He quickly adapted to the challenges posed by the pandemic and embraced the opportunity to meet the needs of our students by taking an innovative approach to technology in teaching.
“Designing classes in a moment of distanced learning made me think about teaching in a way that decentered formal class time. I embrace the idea that time in class, while important, is just one element of the learning process,” said Professor Mamo. “I used Blackboard to create an online ecosystem that permits my instruction to extend beyond the classroom—my instruction is on-demand, without requiring me to be available on-demand,” he added.
Dean Cassandra L. Hill started her deanship at the same as Professor Mamo joined the faculty in 2020 and one of the things she quickly learned about him is that he does not shy away from daunting tasks but sees them as an opportunity to create change. “He has taken time to understand critical aspects of students’ learning patterns, comprehension, retention skills and how his online instruction helps students build their own confidence in their learning,” she said.
As a member of the Technology, Law, and Legal Education Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Professor Mamo collaborates on a national level with other experts on how to use technology to improve aspects of legal education. His work has grown out of his experiences at NIU Law. In addition, there’s a strong synergy between his scholarship and his use of technology in teaching. Professor Mamo’s recent scholarship has been focused on the experiences of people in both in-person and online mediations at the same time, and he’s been trying to recreate the classroom experience for his Alternative Dispute Resolution course in online/hybrid/in-person formats.
Professor Mamo received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2014, his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley in 2011, and his S.B. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. Prior to returning to Harvard Law School, he worked on cross-border capital markets and project finance transactions at a major international law firm in Singapore, and clerked for Judges Hisashi Owada and Julia Sebutinde at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
