"Students like to know the person they’re listening to is not just grounded in theory, but in practice and application,” says Frank Cavaliere. “They like ‘war stories’, but more than war stories, they like to know that you’ve tested what you’re teaching. And sometimes, you say, ‘The textbook says this, but, in reality, you do this.’ It lets them know that you’re not just parroting what the textbook says.”
Cavaliere, a lawyer and professor of business law at Lamar, has been in the trenches and has practiced what he now teaches. He was awarded the 2006 University Professor Award in a ceremony April 13. The professorship is awarded for life to recognize a senior faculty member for distinguished teaching and exemplary service to the university. Lamar president James Simmons presented Cavaliere the most prestigious academic award the university can bestow.
Cavaliere was born in New York City and later spent five years in the Navy where he rose to the rank of lieutenant.
His last duty station upon returning from serving on an ammunition ship in Vietnam was at the naval reserve station in Orange. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Brooklyn College and earned a second degree in accounting at Lamar before attending the University of Texas Law School in Austin. He practiced law in Dallas and Beaumont for several years prior to joining the Lamar faculty in 1985.
“I am in my 22nd year at Lamar and still feel as though I have the same energy and the same passion for teaching and research as I did when I was just beginning my teaching career,” he said. “Lamar University is a great institution, better than most, because you are rewarded for your efforts.”
The award-winning professor uses all types of media to involve students and make class sessions as interesting and interactive as possible. One tool in which he fervently
believes is the computer, through the use of the Internet. He created and maintains a website called The Web-Wise Lawyer (www.webwiselawyer.com) and encourages his students to use the Internet for research and study. Even before the advent of the World Wide Web, lawyers had access to proprietary databases filled with legal opinions and specific case studies for research and trial preparation. There are literally thousands of web sites offering free resources for lawyers. He is quick to point out, however, that sometimes you have to open the hard copy of a legal journal to verify your web-based research.
Cavaliere brings a real-world approach to his classes, urging his students to seek the spirit of the law rather than considering law a science. He draws their attention to the ambiguities of the law and gives real-life examples of how the law is interpreted differently from lawyer to lawyer and from one judge to the next.
“When you try a case in court and the judge makes a ruling that is subsequently overruled by two of the three judges at the appellate level, you effectively have two judges who ruled one way and two judges who ruled the opposite way,” he said. “And if the case should go further to the Supreme Court and you get a 5 - 4 ruling, you ultimately have a total of six judges who interpreted the law one way and seven who have a different interpretation.”
In his earliest days of teaching, he was interested in franchise law because it was a relatively new and exciting field. These days, however, he enjoys exploring the fiduciary relationships between corporations and shareholders and the abuses that occur in the corporate environment and in the mutual funds market. Another interest is employment law. Cavaliere created a new course dealing with employment law that is required for all students majoring in human resources management. He developed the course to examine the changing work environment as a means of presenting a more up-to-date way to reflect the changing trends in employment in the United States.
“The textbooks we were using at the time had a chapter or two about the various forms of discrimination and harassment,” he said. “They dealt mostly with the relationships between unions and management. However, now that unions are no longer as powerful and the majority of employees are not union workers, it became important to shift the focus of the course to the types of workplace activities that were seeing the most litigation, such as the various forms of discrimination and harassment. Curriculum dealing with labor unions and management has now been relegated to a few chapters.”
Cavaliere is a prolific writer and author, having published more than 30 refereed papers and publications and written more than 75 columns titled Web-Wise Lawyer for The Practical Lawyer magazine, a column dealing with innovative ways legal professionals can use the Internet in their practices. He hasserved on numerous campus committees,
including the Faculty Senate, Faculty Salary Equity Committee, University Promotion and Tenure Committee, and serves as a pre-law advisor for students interested in attending law school. He is currently conducting research with several colleagues for publication. Cavaliere believes publishing research is a great asset to the college and the university.
Henry Venta, dean of the College of Business, summarized Cavaliere’s teaching prowess by writing, “Frank Cavaliere is a role model for both his students and faculty across the university. The prestigious University Professor Award is intended to recognize a widely respected senior faculty scholar who first and foremost has an exemplary record of teaching excellence and innovation. Frank’s credentials in these categories are superb. His classes are among the most interactive, stimulating and technologically infused offered at Lamar University. National audiences of legal professionals have now recognized these same qualities.”
Cavaliere and his wife, Manor, have three children, Clayton, a management information systems graduate of Lamar; Courtney, a graduate of Louisiana Scholars College at Northwestern University, who recently earned a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin; and Carrie, a Lamar psychology graduate now pursuing her master’s degree in psychology here.
Cavaliere offered this insight about his teaching career: “Winning awards and being
recognized for your efforts is certainly rewarding; however, submitting your intellectual work product to your peers and to students who are evaluating you as a teacher and a scholar gives you a special feeling of validation.”
This year marked the 35th annual presentation of these prestigious awards. Sixty-four
senior faculty members have been honored with the Regents’ or University Professor
Award, and 164 faculty members have beenawarded the Regents’ or University Merit
Award since 1972.
