Professorships
Named professorships are awarded to tenured faculty who have made a distinguished and enduring contribution to their research area. Named professorships are permanent awards established through contributions to the School of Law through the Indiana University Foundation.
The C. Benjamin Dutton Professorship
C. Benjamin Dutton was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1917, and grew up in Hammond, Indiana. Attending Indiana University, he received his undergraduate degree in business, and graduated from law school, magna cum laude, in 1940. Following graduation he accepted a position with the I.U. School of Business, teaching Business Law. In 1941, he became an attorney with IE Dupont de Nemours Company in Wilmington, Delaware, but left the company soon after to join the U.S. Navy. Following three years of active service during World War II, Mr. Dutton returned to his alma mater to teach at the Law School. In 1951, he entered private practice in Indianapolis, forming the law firm of Dutton, Kappes and Overman (now Dutton and Overman).
Mr. Dutton has actively served both the legal profession and Indiana University for many years. He is a past president of the Indiana State Bar Association, has served as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association and as the chairman of the ABA Section on General Practice. He has been the director of the American Judicature Society, and is a long standing member of the Commission on Uniform State Laws. While a member and secretary of the Indiana Civil Code Committee he was at the center of the recodification of the Indiana civil code. Serving Indiana University, he has been the president of the Alumni Association of both the University and the School of Law. Since 1971 he has been a member of the Board of Visitors at the School of Law, and was its chairman in 1974-75. In 1970 he was awarded an LL.D., the University's highest honor and in 1988 was elected to the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows.
The C. Benjamin Dutton Professorship was established in 1989.