WAGE affiliate Charles Irish, Director of the East Asian Legal Studies Center, received two honors in the fall of 2008. He was honored by the Shanghai Municipal Government with The Magnolia Award in September. This is the highest award that the Shanghai Municipal Government gives to foreigners. The prize honors those overseas friends who have made great contributions in the advancement of various areas of Shanghai. Professor Irish was nominated for the award by the president of East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL), President He, for the tremendous efforts Professor Irish has made to help the Shanghai judiciary train its judges and to build an accountable and transparent government and for his help to district governments to train the government officials, as well as his efforts to build a friendly and cooperative relationship with ECUPL.

Later in September, Professor Irish was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree by the Far Eastern National University (FENU), Vladivostok, at the time of FENU’s 50th anniversary celebration. The award was presented by First Vice President Sergey Knyazev and the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Igor Soppa. The Mayor of Vladivostok, Deputy Governor of Primorsky Region, the American Consul in Vladivostok, and representatives from Russian and foreign academic institutions, courts and government offices attended the ceremony.

In presenting the award, Vice President Soppa recognized Professor Irish's long and enthusiastic commitment to the establishment of academic cooperation between FENU's Law Institute and the University of Wisconsin Law School. Soppa noted that as part of the cooperation, more than 30 FENU faculty now had visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In his acceptance speech, Irish said that the award was less a personal achievement and more a signal of the strong cooperation now existing between the two institutions.