Jordan Budd

Excellence in Teaching, 2022

UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law

"A Constitutional Jedi Master.” This is how one of Jordan Budd’s students described him in a recent evaluation of the Constitutional Law course at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. And, really, what more can be said after that? 

As it turns out, a lot.  Among the praises sung by his students are:

“Professor Budd is the best professor I have EVER had in my life.” 

“Professor Budd is quite possibly the greatest instructor I have ever had in my academic career.”

“[Professor Budd’s class] was the best class I have ever taken at ANY level of education.”

As a long-standing member of the UNH Franklin Pierce faculty, Budd has served as interim dean, associate dean for academic affairs, and director of the Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Service — the law school’s flagship center for social justice. His students benefit from his experience serving as the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, where he worked for more than a decade.

Budd teaches two of the law school’s biggest classes—Civil Procedure and Constitutional Law. If the course name “Civil Procedure” doesn’t make you jump with excitement, you’re not alone: one of Budd’s students described her interest in it as “morbid curiosity spiced with dread.” Yet, at the end of the semester, this same student said it was her all-time favorite class.

So, how does a teacher transform dread to absolute joy?  That’s a question only great teachers can answer.  And Budd is, without a doubt, a great teacher.