The Harrisburg campus has sent one of its professors to the American Bankruptcy Institute for the spring semester to serve a term as the institute’s Robert N. Zinman resident scholar. Professor <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesHbg/MoringielloJulietM.aspx">Juliet M. Moringiello</a>, will hold the prestigious position at the Alexandria, Va.-based institute from January to May 2010.<br><br>The American Bankruptcy Institute is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. The 28-year-old institute was founded to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues.<br><br>As the resident scholar, Moringiello will have a variety of duties. She will field media inquiries on aspects of bankruptcy law, discuss the impact of proposed bankruptcy-related legislation with Congressional staff members and help prepare the many educational materials distributed by the institute.<br><br>The Zinman resident scholar program is supported by the American Bankruptcy Institute endowment fund. One person holds the position each fall and spring academic semester. Scholars are leading members of the academic community on leave from their full-time teaching duties.<br><br>Moringiello is admitted to practice law in New York and Pennsylvania and she joined the faculty at Widener in 1993. She teaches and writes primarily in the areas of commercial law, bankruptcy, property and electronic commerce. She received the Pennsylvania Bar Association Special Achievement Award in June 2007 for her work in commercial law. She was invited to speak at a Beijing conference on legal, security and privacy issues in IT that same year.<br><br>Moringiello said she is excited about the opportunity.<br><br>“This semester is a wonderful time to be in Washington working on bankruptcy issues, given the calls for new legislation in response to the continuing financial crisis,” she said. “In addition, we are seeing a large number of judicial opinions interpreting the 2005 amendments to the bankruptcy code, and the resident scholar position will allow me to really immerse myself in those cases. I am looking forward to returning to Widener to share these experiences with my students, as one of my goals as a teacher is to help the students appreciate the lawyer’s role in the development of the law.”<br><br>The scholar position is named for Zinman, a past American Bankruptcy Institute president and chairman of the board of directors who taught bankruptcy law at St. John’s University School of Law.<br><br>