McGill and Boeing launch Initiative in Air and Space Law

McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) and The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] are pleased to announce the Boeing Initiative in Air and Space Law. Through a gift of U.S. $500,000 over five years, Boeing will fund a series of Boeing Fellowships as well as support the Boeing Educational Outreach Program. It is one of the largest investments the company has made in the social sciences at any university.

The initiative will be announced today, Feb. 8, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., at McGill’s Faculty of Law, 3644 Peel St. The Hon. Michael M. Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada; Robert Gordon, Vice-President Space and Defense, Boeing Capital Corporation; Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University; Nicholas Kasirer, Dean of Law; and Professor Paul Dempsey, Director of the IASL, will attend.

"This gift is an historic alliance between two great world leaders that both McGill University and The Boeing Company will celebrate for years to come,” Dean Kasirer said. “For Boeing, it represents the first time the corporation has offered a major gift to legal education and research, and sends a strong signal that expertise in law is an essential feature to success in the aviation and space industries around the world. For the Institute of Air and Space Law, this gift is a compelling reminder that McGill University sets the standard for graduate studies and research in these fields internationally.”

The Boeing Fellowships will be awarded annually on the basis of academic merit to outstanding graduate students in the Master’s or Doctoral program at the IASL. These renewable Fellowships will have an estimated value ranging from $18,000 for Master’s students to $20,000 for Doctoral students. During the five-year term of the Boeing Fellowship program, the IASL will also administer the Boeing Educational Outreach Program in underdeveloped parts of the world, the first installment of which will be held in New Delhi in April 2008.

The investment in McGill is part of Boeing’s C-17 Industrial Benefits Program. Through this arrangement, Boeing is matching nearly $800 million invested by the Canadian government for its fleet of C-17 strategic airlift aircraft, with contracts or investments of equal value to Canadian industry partners and institutions. This obligation is consistent with the Canadian Government’s Industrial Benefits Policy, which provides the framework for using federal procurement as a lever to promote industrial and regional development objectives of the federal government. “This is precisely the type of partnership our government’s policy is designed to encourage and facilitate,” Minister Fortier said. “On behalf of the Departments of Public Works and Industry Canada, let me be the first to congratulate McGill University and Boeing on this innovative and exciting venture.”

"This is very good news for Canada's aerospace industry and for McGill," Principal Munroe-Blum said. "It marks the beginning of a new and interesting partnership between industry and academia in the expanding field of air and space law, which offers interesting possibilities in the future.”

"Boeing believes that intellectual capital will define the future of the aerospace industry,” Mr. Gordon said. “The new partnership between McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law and Boeing will become a testament to what can be achieved by bringing together the best minds of industry and academia to focus on questions of critical importance.”

Boeing is the world's leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Additionally, Boeing designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defence systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems. Boeing employs more than 1,500 highly skilled employees in Canada, who work in support of the company’s major business units – Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Integrated Defence Systems.

Boeing is recognized by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada as one of the four pillars of the Canadian aerospace industry.

For its part, McGill’s IASL has a rich history of education, public service and scholarship. Its loyal graduates today serve in some of the highest legal positions in the bar, the industry, and governmental institutions in some 120 nations around the world. The Boeing/McGill partnership is inspired by the ideal of helping future generations of McGill Boeing Fellows to address important air and space law issues throughout their careers.