UF law professor earns top award from Taiwan government

August 18, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In keeping with the University of Florida’s emphasis on global outreach, Levin College of Law Professor Dennis A. Calfee recently was awarded one of Taiwan’s most prestigious honors, the Public Finance Specialty Medal, for helping over the past 20 years to develop public finance in the Republic of China and train local tax officers to deal with international tax affairs.

More than 650 of the country’s local and foreign finance officials have attended his classes in the International Training Program of the Ministry of Finance, and many of his former students have been promoted to key positions. The ceremony in Taiwan was attended by national tax agency heads and tax officers who have benefited from Calfee’s lectures.

“We are grateful for Professor Calfee’s continued support and dedication to the training institute, by making time from his busy schedule, traveling over thousands of miles to help the institute on a regular basis,” said Taiwan’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Ho Chih-chin. “We are truly blessed for his willingness and enthusiasm to come to Taipei almost every year since 1986 to provide lectures and seminars on important and timely tax law and tax policy issues to members of this big family, Ministry of Finance, Republic of China. I am also very grateful that Professor Calfee has provided substantial assistance in the design and improvement of the program of the International Taxation Academy, and made great efforts in bringing many leading tax experts around the world to participate in various lectures at the academy.”

Calfee has been teaching at the University of Florida since 1975 in the Levin College of Law’s Graduate Tax Program, which consistently ranks in the nation’s top two in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of tax specialty programs. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Leiden University, the Netherlands; Peking University, Beijing, China; Academy of International Tax, Taipei, Taiwan; and University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. He has published extensively on taxation in tax law journals, particularly on the subject of estate and gift tax, and is a principal author of the book “Federal Estate and Gift Taxation,” now in its eighth edition, and its supplemental study problem manual. He holds memberships in both the American Bar Association and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

“It is very rewarding to teach students in Taiwan,” said Calfee. “They are very enthusiastic and eager to learn, and work very hard to understand and retain everything I present to them.”

Calfee received a Bachelors of Business Administration degree (magna cum laude) in 1968 and Juris Doctor degree in 1982 from Gonzaga University — which awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Merit Award in 1999 — and LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Florida in 1975. He clerked for the Washington State Court of Appeals from 1972-1974, and practiced with the law firm of Holland & Knight in 1979. He was associate dean at the University of Florida Levin College of Law from 1988-1993.