2021 Carla Pratt became dean at Washburn University School of Law in 2018. Prior to joining Washburn Law, Dean Pratt served as Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law where she was the Nancy J. LaMont Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law. Dean Pratt has taught courses in Constitutional Law, Federal Indian Law, Education Law, and Race and American Law. While at Penn State Dickinson Law, Dean Pratt received the law school’s Philip J. McConnaughay award for outstanding achievement in diversity related work.

From 2012 to 2018 Dean Pratt also served as an Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Fort Yates, North Dakota. In this capacity she heard appeals involving tribal members and those doing business with tribal members in cases relating primarily to tribal criminal law, family law, business law, and constitutional law.

Dean Pratt engages in scholarship examining racial diversity in law school and the legal profession. She is co-author of the book, The End of the Pipeline: A Journey of Recognition for African Americans Entering the Legal Profession, which reports the findings of a qualitative study of African American attorneys and challenges the assumption that blacks entering the profession today have a post-racial colorblind journey. In her most recent research project Dean Pratt partnered with Professor Eboni Nelson and Dr. Ronald Pitner at the University of South Carolina. The resulting article in the Iowa Law Review, “Assessing the Viability of Race-Neutral Alternatives in Law School Admissions,” explores the potential for race neutral law school admissions. The findings from the study aim to enhance law schools’ understanding of race-neutral admissions factors that may or may not contribute to their ability to assemble a racially diverse student body, and gives law schools the tools to experiment with trying to yield a racially diverse class without asking applicants about their race.

Prior to joining the law faculty at Penn State Dickinson Law, Dean Pratt engaged in private practice as a commercial litigator with the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP in Philadelphia and served as a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey.

2021 David Butts manages many of the daily operations of the University of Kentucky UK Center for Graduate and Professional Diversity Initiatives (CGPDI), and supports the unit’s strategic outreach and belonging-focused efforts that reach across seventeen colleges. He has served in significant diversity and inclusion roles and visiting faculty positions at institutions in Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa. He received degrees in Industrial Engineering and Communications from Cleveland State University and completed a graduate program in Organizational Communication at Purdue University. David’s office is in CGPDI suite on the lower level of the Ezra Gillis Building

As a part of the CGPDI, Brian manages community building programs such as OUTGrads and My Brother’s Keeper, professional development opportunities like the Graduate Diverse Organizations Collective (G-DOC,) and supports inclusive outreach and recruitment initiatives. He completed undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and later earned his Master of Education in College Student Personnel from the University of Louisville.

2021 Mark Bell is Director of Diversity Initiatives and Recruitment at University of Baltimore School of Law. Mark is responsible for the recruitment and retention of applicants to ensure diversity within the law school, building pipeline programs with regional high schools and advising potential applicants. Before accepting his current position, he previously served as assistant director and director for law school admissions. He teaches undergraduate Business Ethics at the Merrick School of Business and serves as a mentor for the university’s B.M.A.L.E. Program. He received his B.S. in criminal justice and his master’s in public administration from the University of Baltimore.

2021 Jade K. Agua, M.P.A., is the Chief Learning Officer at the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center. Before joining the center initially as Associate Director for Learning & Development, Jade served as Director of the Cross-Cultural Center the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and as the Program Director of the Office for Multicultural Learning at Santa Clara University (SCU), where she oversaw the Multicultural Center and Rainbow Resource Center. Jade’s body of work focuses on strategic planning and organizational development from a social justice framework. Jade earned her B.A. in Sociology, Master’s in Public Administration from USC, and is pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership at the USC Rossier School of Education with a research focus on unlearning racism, institutional readiness for change, and managing for racial equity.

2021 Jay L Austin is Senior Associate Dean of Enrollment and Financial Aid at Rutgers University Law School. Dean Austin will soon begin serving as executive director of Reaffirming Individuals Supporting Education (“RISE”) Alliance—a national center within LSAC that will enhance the work of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Schools and Institutions, and other LSAC departments to support the needs of student-facing law school staff. The center will initially focus on professional development aimed at advancing anti-racist approaches to supporting staff and the students they serve.

Previously, Dean Austin had been the inaugural dean of admissions and student financial services at the University of California, Irvine School of Law from January 2011 through June 2019. Before, joining UCI, he was the director of admissions, financial aid, and scholarships at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy School of International Affairs, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku, Azerbaijan from 2009-2011.

Dean Austin also served as the assistant dean of admission and financial aid at Penn State Dickinson School of Law 2002-2009, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law 1994-2002, the director of admissions at the University of California Hastings College of Law 1989-1994 and as an admission officer at both Columbia University School of Business (1985-1989) and Columbia Law School (1978-1985). Dean Austin has also served on various committee and leadership positions on the various campuses including president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association at UC Irvine, and as chair of the LGBTQ Board at the University of Pennsylvania. Dean Austin has also had extensive engagement with the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) including chairing Minority Affairs Committee (now known as the Diversity Affairs Committee), member of the Board of Trustees 1998-2001, 2003-2005 and 2012-2015 and a member of the Finance and Legal Affairs Committee and the Investment Committee. Dean Austin identifies as a man of the trans-experience and has presented extensively on such topics as diversity, LGBTQ+ issues and admissions policies and creating inclusive communities.

2021 Bryan Fair is Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law, University of Alabama School of Law. After earning his undergraduate degree from Duke and law degree from UCLA, Professor Fair worked as an associate with Bryan, Cave, McPheeters, McRoberts in Los Angeles. In 1987, he joined the UCLA law faculty as a Lecturer and co-directed its Academic Support Program. He served as a commissioner of the California State Bar Commission on Minority Access to the Legal Profession and as a Public Counsel legal services volunteer. Professor Fair joined the Alabama law faculty in 1991. He was named the Thomas E. Skinner Professor of Law in 2000. He is an eleven-time member of the law school commencement hooding team (selected by students), and has twice been named the law school’s outstanding faculty member (selected by students). He has also received the University’s Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award given each year by the National Alumni Association. Professor Fair has served as the faculty advisor to the Jessup International Moot Court Team, Black Law Students Association, Outlaw, Law Democrats, American Constitution Society, and other student groups. Professor Fair has also taught law courses at Seattle University, the University of Tennessee, the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and The Australian National University.

Professor Fair has held several administrative posts at the Law School and the University. At the Law School, from 1997 to 2010, he directed the University of Fribourg/UA Law cooperative exchange (the Swiss Program). He served as the Director of Diversity and International Programs in 2007 and 2011 and 2012, and Associate Dean for Special Programs from 2008-2010, supervising international, diversity, and public interest programs. He also served as an assistant vice president for Academic Affairs at the University from 1994 to 1997.

Professor Fair is the author of Notes of a Racial Caste Baby: Colorblindness and the End of Affirmative Action (NYU Press 1997). Professor Fair’s research agenda remains focused on equality theory under the Fourteenth Amendment, with the central theme that equal protection jurisprudence has lost its anticaste moorings, rendering it largely obsolete to address significant forms of American caste. He is a member of the American Law Institute and has served on ABA, AALS, and LSAC committees. He has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Poverty Law Center

2021 Jeffery Ash Originally from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Kent County, Maryland (small town of Millington, Maryland) From Kent County, I migrated to Towson State University, ( Now Towson University) There I met my wife of 31 years, Charisse. I am father of two amazing children, (Evan/ Faryn Ash) both college graduates and alums of Georgia Institute of Technology, and The Ohio State University, respectively.

I have always been fond of learning and the classroom experience and started employment in the University System of Maryland, in 1998 at the University of Maryland, College Park, initially starting as a retirement counselor. After several years in College Park, I accepted a faculty position at UMBC, in the Erickson School for Management of Aging Services (MAgS). Currently, I am the Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion, and Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore,(UMB) School of Nursing. The School of Nursing has received Insight into Diversity, highly acclaimed Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED Award) for Healthcare professions for the years of 2018, 2019, and 2020. Additionally, I am currently on the Board of Trustees at Broadmead Senior Living, Hunt Valley, Maryland, and the Board of Directors at The Green House Project. Further, I have served on the Board of Trustees at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia, (2014-2020). I have published in Journal of Professional Nursing, The Changing Face of Academic Nursing: Nurturing Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity, and a chapter “Dimensions of Diversity” in the Ronch, Weiner text, Person Centered Elder Care. My experience and education includes: Diversity and Inclusion consultations, podium and plenary presentations, Bachelor of Science, (Economics) Master of Science (Human Resources Management, Organizational Development and Training, and Doctor of Education, (Ed.D.)Urban Educational Leadership.

2021 Ana E. Núñez, Ana E. Núñez, MD is a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Director of the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and Women’s Health Education Program at Drexel College of Medicine in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Dr Núñez received her training at Hahnemann University in Internal Medicine where she completed her residency and chief residency. Her post-graduate training includes fellowships in medical education (Michigan State University); health services research (AAMC/RWJ) and health policy (AAMC/Commonwealth). She also completed a fellowship in Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) at Drexel University. As a national recognized medical education and health services researcher, she has developed novel curriculum across the health professional training spectrum and beyond to lay audiences. Her cultural competency curriculum was cited as an exemplar of excellence in the Institute of Medicine’s health disparities report, Unequal Treatment. Her curricular expertise includes topics in sex and gender medicine, primary care, trauma/violence prevention and cultural competence.

She has served as Principal Investigator on numerous educational and health services grants. Her U.S. Dept. of Education’s Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education’s Disseminating Proven Reforms award was selected to replicate her sex and gender medical education model nationwide. Her NHLBI K07 award on cultural competency education in medical education included sex and gender as well as diverse populations in her model. She has had numerous health services awards for improvement of the lives on women in areas such as those living with HIV/AIDS; intimate partner violence; healthier sexual health lifestyles; barriers for engagement in research and nutritional advocacy. Her health services initiative, The DHHS/OWH funded Coalition for a Healthier Community grant built upon the success of her preceding project ASIST2010: Mind, Body, Spirit, Health – The Philadelphia Ujima project. Dr Núñez created the Philadelphia Ujima model and network with faith based and social service agencies. Ujima today has 28 organizations in the network working to improve health of Philadelphians. It engages community organizations and their membership; creates community embedded lay health ambassadors; promotes individual and group participation and advocacy in health and aids in health policy changes. The Philadelphia Ujima Health collaborative was able to promote individual and group behavior changes, utilized newly developed novel health games and promote policy changes in nutrition in faith-based members. Her NIH funded K-08 grant, “Culture Matters” resulted in a longitudinal model for socioecological change for diverse learners across the health spectrum. In her role of Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, she spearheads an agenda of organizational change and provides leadership to promote excellence in the College of Medicine’s mission of quality education and care through augmenting diversity and inclusion with faculty, students, residents, staff and administrators. She collaborates and promotes researchers, educators and community members to address critically needed and practically-focused health disparity issues. Her current work includes innovations in STEM pipeline programs, specifically, the Drexel Pathway to Medical School.

Dr. Núñez has received numerous awards. Most recently, she was awarded the prestigious, Herbert J. Nickens award from the AAMC given to the physician who most promotes social justice and medical education. She was recently the National Hispanic Medical Association’s National Hispanic Health Foundations Leader of the year and the Al Día City of Philadelphia Hispanic Heritage Honoree in Health. She was one of fifty women leaders in Pennsylvania, Voices. The book was designed to showcase role models for youth. As a recognize of her leadership, teaching of students, care of patients and status as a role model for women in medicine, she is the 2018 Phyllis Marciano Women Role Model award. She has received numerous teaching awards, including Distinguished Alumni Teaching Award and Health Literacy Fellowship Award. For her work in community service leadership, she has been recognized with Distinguished Leadership Awards and the Vince Zarro MD Community Outreach Award. She is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. She is the editor-in-chief of the journal Health Equity a new open access, indexed journal highlighting inter and multidisciplinary innovations. She also serves on the board of Women Against Abuse as Vice Chair. Her research interests include organizational and system change that augments diversity and equity, health promotion/ disease prevention; sex/gender health disparities; girls/women’s health; minority health and culturally effective care.

2021 Dr. Serenity Wright earned her doctorate from the University of Kentucky in Policy, Measurement and Evaluation. Wright’s research interests include equity and access to opportunities. Dr. Wright employs a hard science approach through a lens of cultural competency for her theoretical orientation. She is passionate about advocating for those who struggle to access opportunities available for them. She taught high school for eight years, served as the Associate Dean for Diversity and International Students Services at Transylvania University, worked in city government, and is currently serving as the Gatton Honors Pathway Director for the University of Kentucky.

2019 Speaker Robert Solomon is a graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He began his legal career as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. He also served as a Franklin County Municipal Court Magistrate before joining The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law to work in administration. During his tenure at the College of Law, he has served as Assistant to the Dean, Director of the Moot Court and Lawyering Skills Program, Assistant Dean for Admission & Financial Aid, an advisor to the Black Law Student Association and as an adjunct professor focusing on Evidence, Trial Advocacy and Appellate Advocacy. In 1999, he left the university to work as an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2001, he returned to the College of Law to assume the role of Senior Assistant Dean for Admission and Financial Aid and to establish an Office of Minority Affairs within the law school as its Director and Chief Diversity Officer. In 2015, Robert assumed his current role as Assistant Vice Provost in the University’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Robert has also been active in the community, currently serving on the Board of Trustees for the Mansion Day School and Ohio Valley University. Past Board service has included the Equal Justice Foundation, the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) and the Columbus Academy. Robert has been an active volunteer with LSAC in other capacities as well, including service on the Misconduct & Irregularities in Admission Sub-committee, Finance & Legal Affairs Committee, Diversity Committee and the 2011 Annual Meeting Planning Committee. He also served on the Diversity Committee of American Bar Association. Robert has been active in the local Bar as well, having served as Chair of the Law School Liaison Committee for the Columbus Bar Association (CBA), the Long Range Planning Committee and the Minority Clerkship Task Force. He has served on the Executive Board of the John Mercer Langston Bar Association (the local National Bar Association chapter) as Parliamentarian, Chair of Professional Development Committee and as President. Robert is a President Emeritus of 100 Black Men of Central Ohio and is a Board Chair Emeritus of the Africentric Personal Development Shop. His past honors have included being appointed by former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to serve on the Ohio Ethics Commission in 2010, selected by Congress to represent the District at the 2006 National African American Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., the 2015 National Hispanic Bar Association Region X President Award and the 2016 George V. Voinovich Public Service Award from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Robert has been married for 28 years to Dinessa Solomon. He serves as Associate Minister and an Elder for the Genessee Ave. church of Christ. Robert & Dinessa co-founded the nonprofit Foundations for Families and lead the Marriage and Family Ministry. The have two children, Robert III (“Lee”), a graduate of Lipscomb University and a minor league baseball player in the San Diego Padres organization, and Allegra, a junior at Ohio University.

2019 Speaker Shani Richards is a wife, mother, natural introvert, practiced extrovert and self-proclaimed foodie. She is a staff member at University of the Pacific (Pacific) in northern California where she serves as the Assistant Director of Learning + Development, a department within Human Resources. She serves Pacific’s three campuses as the Diversity Leadership Team Chair and designs and facilitates diversity and inclusion training and learning experiences for staff and faculty. With over 21 years of experience in the non-profit and public sector, Shani uses her eclectic toolbox of experiences and resources for her various personal and professional roles within and beyond higher education. These roles include serving as a pastor, motivational speaker and coach. Shani finds fulfillment through supporting others as they discover and pursue living a life filled with purpose.

2019 Speaker Leo Trujillo-Cox is the UCLA Law’s Executive Director of Academic Outreach, Founding Director of the Law Fellows Program and Associate Director of Admissions and Recruitment. He earned B.A. degrees in political science and ethnic studies from the UC Berkeley and a J. D. from the UCLA, specializing in Critical Race Studies and Public Interest Law & Policy. Leo’s belief in the transformative power of lawyers to affect positive social change led him to establish the Academic Outreach Resource Center at UCLA Law as well as its groundbreaking Law Fellows Program. The program, initially born out of a desire to contribute in deep and fundamental ways to UCLA Law’s twin pillars of access and excellence in legal education, now reflects a deeper understanding that a country as diverse as ours should be led by advocates of all backgrounds. For over twenty years Leo has invested in bright, diverse scholars, to ensure that they have the opportunity to become tomorrow’s legal changemakers and to empower the next generation of lawyers, judges, and activists in creating a more diverse, fair justice system. He is proud to provide an incubator for aspiring law students and to serve as a champion of diversity in the legal profession. More than 1,700 people have begun their participation in the multi–year program and more than 650 of those have already either completed law school or are currently students at legal institutions nationwide. The American Bar Association, the State Bar of California, the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Mexican American Bar Association have honored Leo and the program. In the past year, the program won the California ChangeLawyers Award and Leo was conferred the inaugural Council on Legal Education Opportunity’s (CLEO) EDGE Award for the profound impact that he has made on increasing diversity in the legal profession. Leo has served the LSAC’s Diversity Committee, the Subcommittee on New Initiatives, the Pipeline Models Conference Planning Committee and as Chair of the Latino Issues Subcommittee. He is an affiliated Faculty/Staff member of UCLA Law’s Critical Race Studies program.

2019 Speaker Marion Cloete [klu’ti] served as Director of Diversity Services at California Western School of Law from 2003 to 2018. Her work in legal education was focused on: access, empowerment, and excellence for underrepresented students; institutional advancement in Diversity and Inclusion; and mentoring new attorneys. She expanded her efforts to work with a national network of Diversity and Inclusion professionals engaging thought leadership and best practices in legal education. In 2006, Cloete co-founded the Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals. She served on the National Advisory Council for the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE). She has been a speaker for the LSAC Annual Meeting, the National Black Pre-Law Conference, and the Bar Association of San Francisco. Marion Cloete’s work and collaborations have been recognized by The ABA Judicial Clerkship Program, the Council on Legal Educational Opportunity (CLEO), and the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association. She studied French and Political Science as an International Institute of Education Fellow. She also holds several certifications in Telecommunications Systems and Voice Response Technology administration. Since retiring from academia in 2017, she works as a business consultant and writer in San Diego.

2019 Speaker Tarra Simmons is an Attorney and Skadden Fellow at the Public Defender Association in Seattle, WA, where her project seeks to eliminate barriers to reentry through direct representation and policy advocacy, and expand the law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD) program. She is also the founding Executive Director of Civil Survival, an advocacy organization led by formerly incarcerated individuals committed to ending mass incarceration. Prior to law school, Ms. Simmons was incarcerated related to her own struggles with childhood trauma and substance use. During law school, she interned with five public interest organizations working to advance the rights of people currently or formerly incarcerated. She graduated in May 2017, magna cum laude, with the Dean’s Medal and the Graduating Student Award, but was initially denied the right to take the bar exam because of her own criminal history. It was national news when the Washington State Supreme Court ruled unanimously in her favor, allowing her to take the bar exam and become a member of the Washington State Bar Association. Ms. Simmons has been appointed by Governor Inslee to both the Statewide Reentry Council and the Public Defense Advisory Board. She currently serves on the Legal Services Corporation Opioid Task Force and on the Board of Directors for the National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. She is a 2018 JustLeadership USA Fellow, and was recently named the 2018 WACDL Champion of Justice. She speaks frequently on issues relating to access to justice, criminal justice, sentencing and prison reform. Ms. Simmons lives in Bremerton with her husband and children.

2019 Speaker Dr. James M. Binnall is an Associate Professor of Law, Criminology, and Criminal Justice at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). His scholarship focuses on the civic marginalization of formerly incarcerated citizens, parole and post-release restrictions, and conditions of confinement. His current research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the American Bar Association, examines the exclusion of individuals convicted of felonies from the jury process. The leading scholar on felon-juror exclusion, Dr. Binnall has testified to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and presented his research to the American Bar Association Jury Commission. He is the author of numerous articles published in both law reviews and social science journals, and since 2008, has maintained a pro-bono law practice representing law students in the California State Bar Moral Character and Fitness Determination process. A formerly incarcerated person himself, Dr. Binnall has successfully advised or formally represented over 30 formerly incarcerated individuals who have gained admission to the State Bar of California. At CSULB, Dr. Binnall is also the Faculty Advisor to Rising Scholars and Project Rebound, organizations dedicated to advancing the educational interests of formerly incarcerated and system impacted students.

2019 Speaker Briana Zweifler is a Fellow on the California Youth Justice Initiative team at the National Center for Youth Law in Oakland, CA. As a part of
the Initiative, Briana works to ensure that all youth in California are treated in a manner that is trauma-responsive and developmentally-appropriate when they come into contact with the juvenile delinquency system. She has previously worked with many organizations dedicated to advancing social justice, including the W.Haywood Burns Institute, ACLU of Northern California, and All Of Us Or None. Briana holds a JD from UC Davis School of Law and a BA from UC Berkeley. She is a 2018 UC Presidential Public Service Fellow.

2019 Speaker Antavius Weems Before being known as the legal brand master he is today, Antavius Weems has always made history wherever he goes. From first making history as the youngest Attorney to serve as the vice President of the Gate City Bar, to then successfully being elected as the 9th and youngest ever President of The Georgia Alliance of African American Attorneys, the largest minority Bar Association in Georgia, Antavius has always found a way or made one. During his tenure as a Child Cdvocate Attorney at Fulton Country Juvenile Court, Antavius founded The male mentoring program, My Brother’s keeper, which focused on exposing the young men who came before the court to African American male Attorneys in a mentoring setting. The program was hugely successful. Following his term at Juvenile Court, Antavius founded The Weems Firm, P.C., focusing on family law and civil litigation. However, today the firm is known Nationally for Entertainment Law and Brand Management, representing World renown brands, celebrities and other high-profile individuals, including Toni Braxton, Angie Stone, Trina Braxton and others. Antavius is very proud of all of the accolades that he’s received, including the Judge Damon Keith Award, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Whitney M. Young School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University, the Justice Brenham award and the President Willie Lovett Award from Gate City Bar Association, to name a few. Frequently called to speak at various conventions and events, Antavius is also a frequent expert on the television and radio networks across the nation.

2019 Speaker Andriel Dees serves as the System Civil Rights/Title IX Compliance Officer for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. She works as the system lead to guide compliance efforts for federal and state nondiscrimination laws, along with the policies and procedures relevant to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Previously, Dees was the Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Capella University. Dees also served as Chief Diversity Officer for the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, and was a recipient of the UW System Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award. She began her career in higher education as the Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs at William Mitchell College of Law. With a highly collaborative and thoughtful style, she has led efforts in strategic diversity leadership within higher education. Her strong personal and intellectual commitment to social justice and to advancing excellence through diversity has shown her to be a transformational leader in higher education. Dees earned her Juris Doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.

2018 Speaker Dorothy Evensen is Professor of Education Emerita at Penn State University. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology at New York University in 1991. Her dissertation explored reading strategies used by law students who differed significantly in terms of their first-year academic performance. She has had three books published among which is: The End of the Pipeline: A Journey of Recognition for African Americans Entering the Legal Profession, co-authored with Carla Pratt, Associate Dean of the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State. She has received funding for many of her research projects, most of which focus literacy development, teaching, and learning in professional educational contexts. Her most recent work centers on the role of instructional interventions on the development of law students’ reading and reasoning capabilities

2018 Speaker Shirley Jefferson joined Vermont Law School in 1999. She served initially as a special assistant to admissions and later became the Director of Alumni Affairs. Dean Jefferson is now the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Diversity and an associate professor currently teaching Race and the Law. As the Dean for Student Affairs, Dean Jefferson serves as the law school’s senior student affairs officer. She reports to the dean/president on fostering and advancing a strategic and integrated approach to student affairs. She also is responsible for advising and mentoring the Student Bar Association and 60 other student organizations as they develop leadership abilities and practice life skills, self-governance and organizational management, and student activities. As the Dean for Diversity, Dean Jefferson serves as a member of the president’s/dean’s administrative cabinet creating a unique environment for manifesting a commitment to cultural diversity, promoting law school-wide diversity goals and initiatives and highlighting the value of diversity throughout the school as it relates to the school’s diversity plan. Prior to joining Vermont Law School, Dean Jefferson served as General Counsel for the United Black Fund, Inc.; as Associate Counsel in the Law Office of Wilhelmina J. Rolark; and as a legislative assistant, Committee on Judiciary, to Council Member Wilhelmina J. Rolark. While attending Vermont Law School, Dean Jefferson received both the Alumni Association Award and was a Debevoise Family Scholarship recipient. Dean Jefferson also founded the Minority Student Group at Vermont Law School. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southeastern University and was named to the Dean’s List. On a more personal note, as a young girl, Dean Jefferson met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. At the age of 17, Dean Jefferson integrated her high school in Selma, Alabama.

2018 Speaker Dwayne Kwaysee Wright is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) in the Higher Education Program in the College of Education at Penn State University. His research and social activism seeks to advance educational opportunity and equity for all students. His areas of research interest include access, diversity, and equity policies for underserved populations in higher education; the use and influence of social science research in/on law; undergraduate and professional Black Greek Life; and critical race theory and critical pedagogy in post-secondary education. His legal interest focus on education law and equal protection theory.
Currently he is working on a doctoral dissertation which, utilizing ethnographic methods, examines the influence of diversity and inclusion on the cultural of learning and living for marginalized/minoritized students in Law School. Dwayne joined the Ph.D. program after having earned a Juris Doctor from The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law (Penn State Law), a Masters of Education from Penn State’s College of Education, and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from The Norfolk State University.
While at Penn State, Atty. Wright co-facilitates the University’s Black/Latino Male Empowerment Group, serves on Penn State’s President’s Commission for Racial/Ethnic Diversity, and is a board member of the Collegian Inc. (which publishes the school’s newspaper (the Daily Collegian)). Dwayne is a past regional board member of the National Black Law Students Association. He is currently a member of the National Bar Association, the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Critical Race Studies in Education Association, and the New Jersey State Bar Association.

2018 Speaker Michael A. Lawrence is Professor of Law and Foster Swift Professor of Constitutional Law at Michigan State University College of Law, where he teaches courses on Constitutional Law and International Law. He frequently lectures and teaches courses on these and other topics in various countries around the world. He served as Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs from 2009-2013; and he was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2001-2003. In 2005, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Beijing, China. Professor Lawrence’s research interests are in the field of constitutional law and racial justice. His scholarly articles and OpEds have appeared in numerous law reviews and major newspapers; and he has participated in high-profile amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts. His book, Radicals in Their Own Time: Four Hundred Years of Struggle for Liberty and Equal Justice in America, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011; and his book, Model Problems and Outstanding Answers: Constitutional Law (with Kevin Saunders), was published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Professor Lawrence was chair of the elected MSU College of Law Faculty Advisory Council (FAC) from 2007-08 and 2016-17; and he has chaired and participated on numerous other law school committees. He was 2004-05 Chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Post-Graduate Legal Education, and 2006-07 Chair of the AALS Section on Pre-Legal Education. Professor Lawrence holds a B.S. degree from Indiana University, an M.B.S. from the University of Colorado, and M.S. and J.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated with honors and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Wisconsin Law Review. Prior to joining the MSU College of Law faculty in 1994, he practiced at the Washington, D.C. office of Baker & McKenzie.

2018 Speaker Rachel W. Patterson joined the Center as Director, Programs for Diversity in 2017. Rachel comes to the Center from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as Assistant Director of Admissions. At Georgetown, Rachel oversaw diversity recruitment initiatives, reviewed files, attended forums and helped plan diversity-related events for prospective students. Rachel earned her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania where she played Division I basketball, and a Master of Science in Teaching degree from Pace University. Rachel began her career as an 8th grade English teacher in the Bronx with Teach for America and shortly thereafter attended law school at the University of Michigan where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Journal of Race and Law. After graduating from law school, Rachel worked for several non-profit organizations including the Association of American Law Schools as Assistant Director in Washington, DC and The Law and Leadership Institute as the Program Director in Columbus, Ohio. At AALS, Rachel provided ongoing support to members of the Executive Committee and Membership Review Committee, particularly as it related to assessing whether schools were complying with the organization’s diversity requirements. At LLI, Rachel recruited 8th grade students to participate in a four-year pipeline program designed to help students from underserved communities to get into college and ultimately law school. In addition, Rachel trained and evaluated instructors and created and edited the curriculum.

2018 Speaker Carla D. Pratt serves as Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion and holds the title of Nancy J. LaMont Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, in Carlisle, PA where she has taught courses in Constitutional Law, Federal Indian Law, Professional Responsibility, and Race and American Law. Dean Pratt has worked to improve diversity at Penn State University by serving on the university President’s Commission for LGBTQ Equity, chairing a university committee charged with review and implementation of Penn State University’s Diversity Strategic Plan, and providing oversight of the development and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies at Dickinson Law. She is the recipient of the law school’s Philip J. McConnaughay award for outstanding achievement in diversity related work.
Dean Pratt also engages in scholarship examining racial diversity in law school and the legal profession. She is the co-author of a book entitled: The End of the Pipeline: A Journey of Recognition for African Americans Entering the Legal Profession which reports the findings of a qualitative study of African American attorneys and challenges the assumption that blacks entering the profession today have a post-racial colorblind journey. In her most recent research project, she partners with Professors Eboni Nelson and Ronald Pitner at the University of S. Carolina to explore the potential for race neutral law school admissions. The findings from this study will enhance law schools’ understanding of race-neutral admissions factors that may or may not contribute to their ability to assemble a racially diverse student body, and will give law schools the tools to experiment with trying to yield a racially diverse class without asking applicants about their race.

2018 Speaker As Director of Diversity Affairs and Outreach at the John Marshall Law School, Troy Riddle brings an abundance of experience and passion to service. Previously, he served as the Assistant Dean and Multicultural Affairs Officer at Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. Prior to joining Widener, he served as Assistant Director for Diversity Initiatives with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) where he was responsible for DiscoverLaw.org content, programming and Campus Coordinator activities. Mr. Riddle was also instrumental in launching LSAC’s Diversity Matters Award, which encourages and recognizes the diversity efforts of LSAC’s ABA-approved member law schools. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Administration and a JD from Widener University School of Law. Mr. Riddle is a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

2018 Speaker Dr. Terrell Strayhorn is Professor and Founding CEO of Do Good Work Educational Consulting LLC. Most recently, he was on the faculty at The Ohio State University, where he also served as Director of the Center for Higher Education Enterprise (CHEE) and Founding Director of the Center for IDEAS within the College of Education and Human Ecology.
An internationally-recognized student success scholar, highly acclaimed public speaker, and award-winning writer, Strayhorn is author of 10 books and over 200 book chapters and journal articles and other scholarly publications. He has given hundreds of invited keynotes and lectures at more than 500 universities and conferences across the globe.
Dr. Strayhorn maintains an active and highly visible research agenda focusing on major policy issues in education: student access and achievement; issues of race, equity and diversity; impact of college on students, and student learning and development. His most popular book, College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success, sold record copies nationally and a 2nd edition will be released in 2018. His scholarship has informed the development of effective campus climate interventions, campus-wide community initiatives, and (re)creation of new or existing campus policies and procedures for fostering belonging at universities across the country. Known for using the hashtag #DoGoodWork on social media, Strayhorn was named one of the country’s top diversity scholars by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education in 2011, one of Business First’s “Top 40 under 40,” one of the “Top 20 to Know in Education,” and became the youngest full professor in Ohio State’s history in 2014. He has been quoted in major news outlets including the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside HigherEd, Huffington Post, and newspapers across the nation. Prior to Ohio State, Strayhorn was Special Assistant to the Provost at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Research Associate at the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington, DC. Strayhorn received a bachelor’s degree (BA) from the University of Virginia (UVA), a masters degree (MEd) in educational policy from the Curry School of Education at UVA, and doctorate (PhD) in higher education from Virginia Tech. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated and a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

2018 Speaker Tracey West is the Associate Dean for External Relations, Diversity & Inclusion at Boston College Law School, where she oversees initiatives designed to address the various obstacles that impact the lack of diverse leadership throughout the legal profession. Many of the students that work with Dean West have found these programs, which specifically focus on assisting the diverse student population with their transition to law school and the legal profession, directly responsible for their academic and professional success. In April 2015, The National Association for Law Placement professionals [NALP], recognized Dean West as a Diversity Champion, with specific focus on her 1L LAHANAS pipeline initiative.As the former Assistant Dean for Students and Academic Affairs, Dean West has extensive experience assisting students with their academic, personal and professional developmental goals. She also works closely with BCLS’ Admissions office, overseeing outreach and recruitment projects that focus on diversity initiatives.Born and raised in New York City, Dean West attended Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center. A former trial attorney, she has worked in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining the Boston College Law School community, Dean West was a clinical law instructor at Harvard Law School. She also teaches two courses that focus on experiential learning: Legal Interviewing and Client Counseling and Semester in Practice, an externship course.

2017 Speaker Aaron N. Taylor is an associate professor at Saint Louis University School of Law. He joined the SLU LAW faculty in 2011, after a career as a higher education administrator. Professor Taylor’s primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of education law and legal ethics. Since 2014, Professor Taylor has also served as director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE), a national study that seeks to measure the effects of legal education on students. Professor Taylor’s scholarly articles have appeared in journals published by American University, Howard University, Stanford University, University of Notre Dame, and University of New Mexico. His commentaries have appeared in numerous publications, including the Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times. He is a frequent media commentator on education and diversity topics. Professor Taylor received a bachelor of arts in political science from North Carolina A&T State University, a juris doctor from Howard University, and a doctorate in higher education leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard University Administrative Fellowship Program. He is a member of the Florida Bar.

2017 Speaker Stephanie H. Carlos is associate director of admissions at the University of San Francisco School of Law. She earned her bachelor’s degree in literature and Chicana/o studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, and her master’s degree in organization and leadership from the University of San Francisco, where she is currently a doctoral student in organization and leadership with an emphasis in higher education. Previous to her position at San Francisco, Ms. Carlos worked in undergraduate admissions at the University of La Verne and also worked in admissions and financial aid at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. She has served the Law School Admission Council as a member of the Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues Subcommittee; the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group, and on the New Admission Personnel and Faculty Members Workshop Planning Work Group.

2017 Speaker Jamal Collins is the Financial Aid Outreach and Communication Liaison in the Student Financial Support Unit of Student Affairs at the University of California Office of the President. Since completing his B.S. in Business Administration at California State University-Hayward, he has spent over 15 years working at many different types of educational institutions as a financial aid administrator. Prior to joining the Student Affairs department at UCOP, Jamal was the Associate Director of Financial Aid at UC Berkeley Law School, where he managed the office operations and policies for administering financial aid.

2017 Speaker Dr. Yamonte Cooper is an associate professor of counseling and a faculty coordinator of the career center at El Camino College. Further, Dr. Cooper is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) and a National Certified Counselor (NCC) who is well respected throughout the country in the field of Career Counseling.
Dr. Cooper currently serves on the California Career Development Association (CCDA) Board as president and chairs the Committee on Diversity Initiatives and Cultural Inclusion with the National Career Development Association (NCDA). Further, he co-chairs the California Community College Counselor Group interest based council of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC). In addition, Dr. Cooper is a faculty appointee to the Chancellor’s Office Advisory Group of Counseling (COAGC). He has had the opportunity to work with higher education programs and institutions in Botswana. Further, Dr. Cooper was honored with a prestigious Fulbright International Education Administrator Seminar Award in Germany where he exchanged best practices in career counseling and development.

2017 Speaker Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D., is a nationally known consultant who has focused for more than thirty-five years on organizational change, diversity, and white privilege. Author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, Kendall was recently named a “Pioneer of Diversity” by Profiles in Diversity Journal and a “Legend of Diversity” by the International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals.Because she believes that personal and organizational change is possible, Kendall is committed to facilitating the core changes necessary to create work and learning environments that are hospitable to all people. She doesn’t skirt the deeper challenges inherent in helping organizations accomplish that mission, yet she approaches the conversations with warmth and humor in an accessible and approachable manner. One of her long-time clients recently described her style as that of a “seasoned warrior, bringing her experience and wisdom to her interactions with audiences and workshop participants.”Kendall tailors all of her work to meet the needs of individual clients, which include educational institutions-colleges, universities, and K-12 schools-corporations, and not-for-profits. In the last ten years, she has focused her work on offering workshops and delivering keynote addresses on facilitating and creating intentional organizational change, addressing issues of diversity in organizations, and aiding white people in understanding the impact of their skin color in systemically providing opportunities and privileges not granted to others. In addition to speaking and facilitating workshops, Kendall consults with institution’s senior leaders, implements climate surveys for their institutions and organizations, and assists them in developing strategic plans and initiatives to achieve the type of institutions they envision. Kendall received her M.S. from Bank Street College of Education and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

2017 Speaker Meera E Deo, JD, PhD, is currently a Visiting Scholar at UC Irvine School of Law (on research leave from Thomas Jefferson School of Law). Her scholarship, which utilizes empirical methods to interrogate institutional diversity and affirmative action, has been published in leading law journals and cited in numerous amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Deo is currently writing a book drawing from her landmark Diversity in Legal Academia project, a study that examines how the intersectionality of race and gender affect tenure and promotion, work/life balance, institutional support, and other aspects of the personal and professional lives of American law faculty. While a law student at the University of Michigan, she was an Intervening-Defendant and member of the legal team supporting integration/affirmative action in Grutter v. Bollinger. She later practiced civil rights law with the ACLU National Legal Department in New York City and the California Women’s Law Center in Los Angeles. Her doctorate in Sociology from UCLA was supported by the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and numerous internal grants and awards. Professor Deo serves on the Executive Committee for the AALS Section on Law and the Social Sciences and is an appointee to the California Commission on Access to Justice. She also is an empirical research consultant to the South Asian Network (SAN) and the ACLU of Southern California.

2017 Speaker Billy Curtis is a committed community activist and advocate. In 1999, Billy was hired as UC Berkeley’s first full time Director for LGBT Resources and is currently the Director of the University’s Gender Equity Resource Center.
During his tenure Billy has evolved campus resources for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff and mentored a host of LGBTQ leaders. Among his accomplishments at Berkeley are: the implementation of the annual Lavender Graduation, advocating for Trans inclusive health benefits, facilities, athletic policies and creating a more trans inclusive workplace at Cal. In 2005, Billy co-authored the pioneering article, “Transgender Issues on College Campuses”, which provided universities a blueprint for creating Trans inclusive spaces. He provides training on gender identity inclusion in the workplace to campus departments and to various agencies and businesses across the nation. In 2010, the GLBT Historical Society honored Billy as one of the 25 people, “who made our history, who in effect created the community we live in today”. In 2012, he received the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club Trailblazer Award for his accomplishments and dedication towards advocating for equality and justice.

2017 Speaker Jessica Pettitt
Audiences are inspired to stand up and take action as Jessica Pettitt leads them down the path to understanding they are good enough to make the changes they seek. Challenging long held assumptions about the type of people who drive change and are successful, Jessica eradicates excuses and provides strategies to communicate openly and actively seek success. Let’s roll up our sleeves, make space for real talk, develop reality based plans, for actual change. Humor is a great equalizer and is often the quickest way to diffuse conflict and move toward real connection. With a background in stand up comedy, Jessica Pettitt, frames even difficult subjects in an engaging and welcoming way. As a professional speaker, her expertise earned her the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association. A designation held by fewer than 800 people world-wide. As a facilitator, she provides the framework for open, welcoming, and productive conversation. Whether she provides a motivational keynote, an in-depth workshop, facilitates group interaction, or frames an entire conference as emcee, Jessica brings humor, a high level understanding of adult learning, and an ability to engage participants and encourage them to engage with each other. Participants walk away focused and confident in their role to make change now. By moving the discussion away from daily squabbles or task oriented challenges, to a larger vision of what is possible and how best to engage people of diverse experiences, Jessica provides the context to evaluate the situation now and move forward successfully to what could be.
For more than a decade, Jessica has been educating college and university staff members to support and guide diverse students to success. Her social justice and diversity curricula are used nationwide. This background uniquely qualifies her to educate employers on building welcoming, productive, and innovative teams. The ability to communicate, listen, learn, take responsibility, acquire and retain talent and resources will lead to and maintain a welcoming, and dare we say, fun workplace environment. This has a direct impact on your bottom line NOW.

2016 Speaker Linda L. Ammons is dean emeritus at Widener University. She served as counsel to the president of Widener for legal education, after retiring as associate provost and dean of the law school in 2014. She was the first woman and the first African American to lead the two-campus, two-state, Widener University School of Law, and was the senior African American female dean in the nation when she stepped down after serving eight years. Ammons came to Widener in 2006 from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was associate dean and professor of law. During her 15 years at Cleveland-Marshall, she chaired and served on a number of university committees and taught Administrative Law, Legislation, Mass Communications Law, and Women and the Law. In 2006, the Cleveland-Marshall Alumni Association chose her as their Stapleton Award recipient. In addition, Ammons has been on the faculty of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, since 1993. In 2007, she was named a Senior Scholar in the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, PA, and that same year was appointed by Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robin Weissmann to the e-Treasury Blue Ribbon Advisory Commission on Productivity Management. In 2010, she was named to the Legal Education Development Committee of the American Bar Association, and she served three years as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar. Ammons also served a three-year term on the Government Relations Committee of the Association of American Law Schools, and is a Life Member of the American Bar Foundation. Ammons’s awards are numerous including the December, 2014, Top Woman in Business Award by Delaware Today Magazine, the March, 2013 Community Leadership Award from Best Buddies Delaware, the October 2013, Pennsylvania Multi-Cultural Leadership Award, the November, 2012, “Excellence in Education Award” from the Delaware Barristers Association, and from February 2012 to February, 2014, she has been included among “The Power 100” African American attorneys in the U.S. In October of 2011, she was honored with the Service to Children Award at the Christopher W. White Distinguished Access to Justice Awards program presented by the Delaware State Bar Association. Ammons has also received the Delaware Leadership Award from the American Council on Education, Office of Women in Higher Education. In August 2010, Senator Tom Carper forwarded Ammons’ name to the Department of Justice for consideration by the White House for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. In January 2010, Ammons was appointed by Governor Jack Markell of Delaware to be the special investigator in the case of the alleged child molestations by pediatrician Earl Bradley. Her work resulted in a package of twelve legislative reforms, nine of which were passed unanimously by the Delaware General Assembly. In August 2009, she was named among the 14 Most Influential People in Delaware by Delaware Today magazine. Her Board memberships include the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce serving as the chair of its ethics committee, WHYY TV and Radio of Philadelphia, and she is a Trustee of Christiana Hospital. Prior to joining the faculty at Cleveland-Marshall, Ammons served as executive assistant to former Ohio Governor Richard F. Celeste, from 1988 to 1991, advising him on legal and policy matters in the criminal justice, regulatory and administrative areas. A 1974 graduate of Oakwood College, and a 1997 alumna of the year, she was a TV anchor-person in Huntsville, Alabama, in the 1970’s, and worked for several media outlets. A 1987 Ohio State University Moritz College of Law graduate, Ammons was selected out of 8,000 of her peers to be the recipient of the 2004-05 Moritz Alumni Society’s Community Service Award. She also holds emeritus status on the Moritz National Advisory Council, and is listed among Ohio State’s Distinguished Alumni.

2016 Speaker Maria Beckman is the Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Programs at the University of Central Florida. She also served as UCF’s Title IX Coordinator until November 2015. She is an attorney with over twenty years of experience in the civil rights area. She has previously served as attorney for a federal agency advising on EEO and Title VI issues. Ms. Beckman has also worked as an attorney in a New York City firm specializing in civil rights cases, as well as having her own private practice. Ms. Beckman received her Bachelor of Arts degree (summa cum laude) and her Juris Doctor degree (with honors) from The Ohio State University. She is currently teaching and has taught undergraduate civil rights law courses at UCF and the University of Tampa. She was an advisory editor of and contributor to an affirmative action encyclopedia and the author of a book chapter about affirmative action in another publication.

2016 Speaker Professor Khaled A. Beydoun is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Barry School of Law. He previously served on the UCLA School of Law faculty, and currently serves as affiliated faculty with the UC-Berkeley Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project. Professor Beydoun has extensive experience as an attorney, working within the realm of civil rights, criminal defense, and international law practice. A Critical Race Theory scholar, Professor Beydoun examines Islamophobia from a legal, race-based and intersectional perspective. His scholarship examines the racial construction of Arab and Muslim American identity, criminal and national security policing, and the intersection of race, religion and citizenship. His work has been featured in top law journals, including the California Law Review, the UCLA Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, and the Harvard Journal of Race & Ethnic Justice. A native of Detroit, Professor Beydoun earned his law degree from the UCLA School of Law, and his BA from the University of Michigan. His also holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Toronto. A regular commentator on pressing issues, Professor Beydoun contributes regularly to Al-Jazeera English, serves as an expert consultant for the US Census Bureau, and has featured his opinion pieces in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the BBC.

2016 Speaker Dr. Stefan Bradley
Born and reared in Yakima, Washington, Dr. Stefan Bradley is currently director of the African American Studies Program and an associate professor in the Department of History and at Saint Louis University. Bradley received his Ph.D. in 20th Century US History with an Emphasis on the Black Experience from the University of Missouri-Columbia; an M.A. in the same from Washington State University; and, a B.A. in History from Gonzaga University. An educator at heart, Bradley’s life ambition is to personally teach/mentor/inspire the young people who change the world for the better. Some of Bradley’s recent publications include the books, Alpha Phi Alpha: A Legacy of Greatness, The Demands of Transcendence and Harlem vs. Columbia University: Black Student Power in the Late 1960s that won the Phillis Wheatley Book Prize. His articles have been featured in the Journal of African American History, the Journal of Civil and Human Rights, and American Studies. To discuss his research, he has appeared on C-Span BookTV; the Tavis Smiley Radio Show; STL TV’s City Corner; as well as at universities and colleges throughout the nation. Bradley’s newest book project, Blackened Ivy: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League in Postwar America will be published with New York University Press. He has received numerous honors and awards including the Don Brennan Humanitarian Award; the Better Family Life Excellence in Educational Leadership Award; the SLU Faculty Excellence Award; the Ernest A. Calloway, Jr. Teaching Excellence Award; the St. Louis American’s Salute to Excellence Young Leaders Award. He was selected as one of Delux Magazine’s Power 100. In 2011, he was selected to deliver SLU’s Last Lecture. Generous with his time, Bradley frequently volunteers on and off campus. On campus he serves on the President’s Access and Success team; is the co-founder and advisor of the African American Male Scholars (AAMS) Initiative; and, is co-advisor of the Black Student Alliance. In the larger community, he is a member of the Young Citizens Council of St. Louis and Urban League, as well as a life member of the NAACP and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Bradley frequently addresses audiences in high/middle schools, houses of worship, and museums. In wake of the tragic events in Ferguson and St. Louis, he engaged in discussions with representatives from the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Commission, and Department of Education. As a voice from the community, Bradley has appeared in the New York Times and on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, BET, and Hot 97 fm (New York City). Bradley is married to Dr. Traice Webb-Bradley and is the father of the intelligent, beautiful, and mischievous Simone Andora Bradley.

2016 Speaker Nora V. Demleitner is the Roy L. Steinheimer Jr Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University, where she served previously as the dean. She teaches and has written widely in the areas of criminal, comparative and immigration law as well as on issues of legal education. She lectures regularly on matters of sentencing and collateral sanctions, often in a comparative context, and on issues pertaining to the state of legal education in the United States and Europe. Professor Demleitner served on the faculties of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she was the dean for five years and St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. She was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Freiburg, Germany, St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, and the Sant’ Anna Institute of Advanced Research in Pisa, Italy. She was selected as a Fulbright awardee and received two grants from the German Academic Exchange Service to do research at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Germany. Professor Demleitner, who holds degrees from Yale Law School, the Georgetown University Law Center and Bates College, is an editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, and served on the executive editorial board of the American Journal of Comparative Law. She is the lead author of Sentencing Law and Policy, a major casebook on sentencing law, published by Wolters Kluwer/Aspen Law & Business. Her articles have appeared in the Stanford, Michigan, and Minnesota law reviews, among others.
Professor Demleitner is an elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, the American Law Institute, the European Law Institute, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. After law school she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., then a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

2016 Speaker Valerie Hall is the Interim Dean of Students, Title IX Coordinator and Criminal Justice Professor at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Office of the Dean of Students interacts in ways that contribute to an exceptional and comprehensive co-curricular student experience. Students are exposed to unlimited opportunities for engagement, leadership and personal exploration through Ms. Hall’s Office. Dean Hall has also served for 25 years in law enforcement prior to entering academia.

2016 Speaker Janet K. Levit
As Dean of The University of Tulsa College of Law, Janet K. Levit led the school to unprecedented strength, resulting in a marked rise in national rankings, from number 147 to number 72 (U.S. News & World Report). The College of Law has remained in the top 100 since that time largely due to improvements in the academic credentials of the students as well as improved bar passage rates and employment outcomes that surpass the national average. Other major initiatives during Levit’s tenure include: the Access to Legal Education Scholarship program, online Master in Jurisprudence degrees in Indian Law and Energy Law, a Minor in Law, Policy and Society for TU undergraduates, renovation of John Rogers Hall, and the Lobeck Taylor Family Advocacy Clinic.
Janet K. Levit earned her undergraduate degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and her M.A. and J.D. from Yale University. She served as a law clerk for Stephanie K. Seymour, Chief Judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and for the Chair of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. She practiced law in the international trade and finance areas at the Export-Import Bank of the United States and in the private sector. As a law professor, she wrote about international finance and international human rights issues and published articles in numerous journals, including: the Emory Law Journal, Yale Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, and the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Levit has taught in the areas of international law, international commercial law, international human rights, contracts and administrative law, directing the TU College of Law’s inaugural Summer Institute in International Law in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Levit is deeply connected to the Tulsa community. Levit is currently co-chair of the Teach for America Northeast Oklahoma Board and, in that role, also serves on Teach for America’s National Council. She has also served as a board member of the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, the Booker T. Washington Foundation for Excellence, and the Tulsa County Bar Association Board of Directors. Levit has been a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) Tulsa Chapter since 2010 and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Women’s YPO Network. Levit is a Director of YellowFolder, LLC. In 2012, the Women’s Law Caucus presented Levit with the Judge Linda Morrissey Award for her service to the legal profession, and in 2015 the Tulsa County Bar Association presented her with the James C. Lang Mentoring Award. Levit is also a 2012 inductee into The Journal Record’s “50 Making a Difference” Circle of Excellence. In 2015, in honor of her service as Dean, alumni, friends and colleagues endowed the Janet K. Levit Endowed Scholarship in Law.
Levit is currently enjoying a sabbatical from her obligations at The University of Tulsa. During this year, she has served as a consultant for maternal mortality litigation in Uganda, enrolled in and successfully completed accounting courses, read a lot of fiction, become a regular at the yoga studio, and spent quality time with her family. Levit is looking forward to leveraging her leadership experience and network to empower women–whether law students, emerging business leaders, or underprivileged women—to realize their full potential.

2016 Speaker Athornia Steele
Former Dean and Professor of Law Athornia Steele earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics at Capital University and his J.D. degree from Capital University Law School. He is admitted to the practice of law in Ohio, Northern and Southern United States District Courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining the faculty at Capital University Law School,he worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Charitable Foundations and Workers’ Compensation Sections of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. He taught at Capital University Law School and Washington and Lee University School of Law before he became Dean and Professor of Law at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law. Steele has taught Business Associations, Corporate Finance, Securities Regulations, Comparative Corporate Governance, The Law of Higher Education, and Wills and Estate Administration. He has broad service to legal education including serving as Director of Student Activities, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Interim Dean at Capital University Law School. In addition to serving on most traditional law school committees, he has actively served on many Law School Admission Council (LSAC) standing committees and recently completed a two-year term as LSAC Board of Trustees chair. He has also served the legal profession on two committees (Law School Administration and Annual Questionnaire) of the American Bar Association Council on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and significant involvement with the Association of American Law Schools (AALS Section on Law Schools with Part-time Programs and the AALS Section on Academic Support). Before leaving Ohio, he was a member of the Ohio State Bar Association Council of Delegates and the Ohio State Bar Association Commission on Judicial Candidates. Outside of legal education, he has had extensive involvement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) serving on its national church council, Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, and Committee on Appeals. As a dean and professor of law, Steele has counseled a number of students on how to be successful in law school and on career enhancement, worked with junior faculty on teaching and navigating the promotion and tenure process, and advised professors interested in legal education administration.

2016 Speaker Tracey West is the Associate Dean for External Relations, Diversity & Inclusion at Boston College Law School, where she oversees initiatives designed to address the various obstacles that impact the lack of diverse leadership throughout the legal profession. Many of the students that work with Dean West have found these programs, which specifically focus on assisting the diverse student population with their transition to law school and the legal profession, directly responsible for their academic and professional success. In April 2015, The National Association for Law Placement professionals [NALP], recognized Dean West as a Diversity Champion, with specific focus on her 1L LAHANAS pipeline initiative.
As the former Assistant Dean for Students and Academic Affairs, Dean West has extensive experience assisting students with their academic, personal and professional developmental goals. She also works closely with BCLS’ Admissions office, overseeing outreach and recruitment projects that focus on diversity initiatives.
Born and raised in New York City, Dean West attended Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center. A former trial attorney, she has worked in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining the Boston College Law School community, Dean West was a clinical law instructor at Harvard Law School. She also teaches two courses that focus on experiential learning: Legal Interviewing and Client Counseling and Semester in Practice, an externship course.

2015 Speaker Andriel Dees is Director of Learner Engagement and Success at Capella University. She served as Chief Diversity Officer, University of Wisconsin River Falls Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 2010-2013, and was herself a recipient of the UW System Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award in 2013. She has also served as an adjunct professor at William Mitchell, teaching the course Race and the Law and Appellate Advocacy. Dees earned her juris doctorate from William Mitchell and a bachelor’s degree in English from Hampton University. Andriel has unique experience with issues of diversity in higher education, legal education, and the corporate sector. With a highly collaborative and thoughtful style, she continues to lead efforts in strategic diversity leadership within higher education. Her strong personal and intellectual commitment to social justice and to advancing excellence through diversity has shown Andriel Dees to be a transformational leader in higher education.

2015 Speaker
A native of North Carolina, Amber attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies. Immediately following graduation, Amber began work at VIF International Education – the largest cultural exchange program for K-12 teachers in the U.S. Her work as an admissions counselor and recruiter took her to San Jose, Costa Rica where she lived and worked for nearly two years. During that time, she traveled throughout Central and South America, as well as to Europe and Asia, recruiting teachers for the program. In 2013 Amber joined the Charlotte School of Law as the International Student Coordinator and then the Assistant Director of Student Engagement. Recently Amber became the Director of International Programs at Wake Forest University School of Law where she manages the admissions and recruitment of international students into a variety of programs, as well as other international initiatives at the law school.

2015 Speaker Cristina A. Gapasin is the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Northwestern University School of Law. Ms. Gapasin earned a BS in political science and a BA in Sociology from the University of Iowa and earned her JD from Chapman University School of Law where she served as president of the Student Bar Association. Ms. Gapasin began her career in law school admissions over a decade ago first at Chapman University School of Law where she served as both the Assistant Director of Student Services and Assistant Director of Admissions. From Chapman, she went on to work as the Associate Director of Admissions and Outreach at the University of California School Of Law, Davis (King Hall). From 2007 until she left King Hall, she directed the King Hall Outreach Program
(KHOP/PLUS) and the Pre-Law Boot Camp, two programs aimed at diversifying the legal profession. She is a member of the State Bar of California. She is a frequent presenter at national conferences on admissions, financial aid, and diversity in the legal profession.

2015 Speaker Professor Katrina Lee joined the faculty at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2011 after an accomplished career in corporate litigation spanning more than 12 years. At a national law firm based in California, she was elevated to equity partner in her seventh year of practice, making her one of the youngest ever in that firm’s history to achieve that distinction. Professor Lee chaired her former law firm’s recruiting committee, participated on the diversity committee, and ran her office’s summer associate program. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, as the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s liaison to the American Bar Association’s Commission On Youth At Risk, and as a mentor in the School-To-College program. She is a board member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio and Chair of its Mentorship Committee. She also serves as Faculty Advisor to Moritz’s APALSA and SALSA student organizations. Professor Lee triple-majored at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in 1994, and received her J.D. from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley in 1997.

2015 Speaker Sean Lew is an Assistant Professor at the Charlotte School of Law, where he also directs the law school’s Pro Bono Program and is the Faculty Advisor for the Asian American Law Students Association. An advocate for the underserved, he received the inaugural North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) “Citizen Lawyer” Award for Public and Community Service in the state in 2007. He has been recognized by the Mecklenburg County Bar’s Volunteer Lawyers Program for his legal efforts in the Charlotte community. He is a past co-Chair of the NCBA’s Pro Bono/Poverty Issues Committee, which works to organize, plan, and deliver free legal clinics across the state on a monthly basis. He is also committed to access to justice initiatives in the state, especially among immigrant communities unable to secure quality legal representation. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina School of Law.

2015 Speaker Dr. Ivan W. Banks received his BA in History and Sociology from Case Western Reserve University; M. Ed from John Carroll University and Ed. D., Instructional Design and Educational Technology from the University of Kentucky. He is currently employed at Alcorn State University (ASU) as the Executive Director of the Vicksburg Expansion Program and the Director of Online Education. As Executive Director, he provides administrative oversight for the ASU campus located in Vicksburg, Mississippi; and, oversight for all efforts to substantially increase the number of students, residents and organizations utilizing the facilities to meet educational, professional or continuing education goals aligned with the mission of the University. As the Director of Online Education/Initiatives, Dr. Banks provides leadership for online curricular offerings at Alcorn State University. In addition to the day-to-day management of all aspects of online instruction, he is responsible for planning, marketing, student and faculty training, and assessment and reporting for the unit. In addition, he serves as the liaison with outsourced services and provides leadership to all academic units in delivery of electronic learning for educational purposes, in addition to supervising instructional technology staff.
Prior to Alcorn State University, Dr. Banks served as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. He has also served as Assistant Dean and the Dean of the College of Education at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ; and, Associate Dean and Acting Dean at Jackson State University. In addition to the many administrative positions held, Dr. Banks was appointed by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to serve on the Higher Education Taskforce; the Mayor’s Committee on African and Caribbean Affairs, Philadelphia Pennsylvania; and, the Pennsylvania Articulation Oversight Committee.
Dr. Banks has numerous publications and presentations at regional, national and international conferences. Most of his research has been focused on issues of diversity and equity. Currently, Dr Banks works with the Regional Education Lab Southeast and RMC Research Corporation as part of the Improving Schools in Mississippi Research Alliance.

2015 CONFERENCE GUEST SPEAKER
Erick W. Harris is an Assistant Attorney General for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office. As an Assistant Attorney General, Erick works in the Public Utility Unit and represents the state of Oklahoma before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission by representing and protecting the interests of the state’s utility customers in rate-related proceedings. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Erick is licensed to practice law in all state courts in Oklahoma and is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association. A very community-oriented individual, Erick is a volunteer for several organizations and is a member of the Stephenson Cancer Board of Advocates and the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees. He is also a member of the Oklahoma City Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., and a member of Fairview Missionary Baptist Church where he serves as a Deacon and Trustee. Erick is also a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma.
Erick is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Law and served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology. He received a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma as well. Erick received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Tuskegee University where he served as Student Government Association President and was an initiate of the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

2015 Speaker Janice L. Austin is assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at University of California, Irvine School of Law. She earned a BA degree from Columbia University and a postgraduate diploma in international management from the University of Liverpool.
Dean Austin began her admissions career as assistant director of admissions at Columbia Business School and admissions officer for the Columbia University School of Law. She later became director of admissions for University of California, Hastings College of the Law before assuming the position of assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she co-chaired the university’s Faculty, Administration, and Students Advisory Board for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center. She then became dean of admissions and financial aid at the Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law. Prior to accepting her current position at University of California, Irvine School of Law, she was director of admissions, financial aid, and scholarships at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy School of International Affairs in Baku, Azerbaijan. Dean Austin has been a regular presenter at annual meetings and conferences of the Law School Admission Council, Association of American Law Schools, the National Association of Pre-Law Advisors, and the Association of Higher Education and Disability. She was a presenter to the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Minnesota State Bar Association CLE presenter on diversity. Her work on minority admissions and diverse applicants has been published in various journals, including the Journal of Legal Education, St. John’s University School of Law Review, and most recently, The End of the Pipeline at the Millennium–A Journey of Recognition for African Americans to the Profession of Law. She has served as a member of the Debt Management Advisory Board for the Access Group and as a board member (and past president) of the Center for Civil Rights in Philadelphia, which litigates on behalf of gay, lesbian, and transgender Pennsylvanians.
Dean Austin began her service to the Law School Admission Council as a member of the 1991 New Admission Personnel and Faculty Members of Admission Committees Planning Work Group. From 1995–1999 she served on the Gay and Lesbian Issues Work Group and later served on the 1997–1998 LSAC Services and Programs Committee and the Alternative Decision-Making Models Work Group.

2015 Speaker Dr. Sean Eversley-Bradwell is an assistant professor at Ithaca College. He serves as the co-coordinator for the African Diaspora Studies minor in the Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity and has research/teaching interests in educational policy, race theory, and hip hop culture.
Dr. Bradwell is an alumnus of Amsterdam High School (N.Y.); received a B.A. in political science from the University of Rochester; an M.S. in education from Rochester’s Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development; and a Ph.D. in policy analysis and management from Cornell University.
He has worked in for-profit education, public schools, and higher education. In 2012, Dr. Bradwell was re-elected to serve a second 3-year term on the Ithaca City School District Board of Education. Through his professional, research, and personal involvement in education as well as his work with community organizations, Dr. Bradwell is committed to working towards more meaningful learning and teaching.

2014 Speaker Bowen Marshall is a Program Manager in the Office of the Vice President for Student Life and the Multicultural Center and is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program at The Ohio State University. In his professional role, he manages university wide diversity initiatives, presents at state and national levels on issues of diversity, bias, and discrimination, and supports division wide strategic partnership in the Office of Student Life. He earned his B.S. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Kansas and an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from The Ohio State University. Bowen has worked in several departments across Student Life including the Student Wellness Center, Recreational Sports, and Facilities. Bowen currently manages the Open Doors Program, Stories for Students from Students Program, Play It Forward and supports Graduate Student Development in the Office of Student Life.

2014 Speaker José Gabilondo
Born in Santiago de Cuba, José Gabilondo joined the College of Law after working in financial market regulation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the World Bank. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2009-2011. Professor Gabilondo teaches tax and corporate finance. His scholarship focuses on debt markets and (separately) heterosexual subject formation in law and has appeared in the Journal of Corporation Law, Wake Forest Law Review, Seton Hall Law Review, Maryland Journal of Business & Technology Law, and the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender, and Society, among others. He has presented his research at the Universities of Chicago, Buffalo, Columbia, Maryland, DePaul, Emory, Florida State, Georgetown, and Wake Forest, and American University. He is co-author of Corporate Finance: Debt, Equity, and Derivative Markets and their Intermediaries in the American Casebook Series. He has been a featured speaker at meetings of the American Society for International Law, the American Association of Law Schools, the Latin American Law and Economics Association, the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, the Georgetown University Conference on Socio-Economics, Law and Society, the American Association of University Professors, LatCrit, and the Latin American Studies Association. He is a nationally recognized commentator in the Spanish-language media on financial and economic matters.

2014 Speaker Professor Reyes earned an LL.M. from the Harvard Law School, a J.D. summa cum laude from Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center and a B.S. in Accounting magna cum laude from Florida Atlantic University. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Harvard Latino Law Review. Professor Reyes teaches Civil Procedure, Evidence, Immigration Law, Advanced Topics in Immigration Law, Latinos and the Law, and Professional Responsibility. She also serves as faculty advisor to the Hispanic American Law Students Association. Her areas of research and writing interest include immigration law and policy, crimmigration, ethics, evidence, the federal courts, and Latinos and the law. Professor Reyes is admitted to practice in Florida and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida. Professor Reyes grew up in Florida and, prior to joining academia, worked in the commercial and international litigation groups of Holland & Knight LLP; was employed as a career law clerk and staff attorney in the federal courts; and served as a certified legal intern in the United States Attorneys’ Office where she prepared briefs that were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She has provided pro bono and volunteer services individually and through the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Lawyers for Children America, the Florida Democratic Lawyers Council and Children First. Prior to attending law school, Professor Reyes worked for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. Professor Reyes believes in the importance of education as a means to improve individual lives and society in general. At Harvard, Professor Reyes served as General Editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review and as External Affairs Coordinator of La Alianza. She held a Harvard Law School Post-Graduate Research Fellowship (2008-2011) and was awarded a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Graduate Scholarship. At Nova, Professor Reyes attended law school on a full-tuition merit scholarship as a Goodwin Scholar, served as Articles Editor of the Nova Law Review, won a Best Brief Award in the Moot Court First Year Appellate Writing Competition and earned membership in the Moot Court Honor Society. She received a Public Interest Pro Bono Award, the Student Bar Association Academic Achievement Award, the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Law Student Award and recognition in Who’s Who: American Law Students (2000 ed.). During her undergraduate accounting studies, she was inducted into the Beta Alpha Psi, Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Societies.

2014 Speaker Gabrielle Lyse Brown is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the New York City Bar, where she leads the Association’s efforts to enhance diversity in the legal profession across a broad range of legal employers through initiatives that foster diverse and inclusive work environments. Previously, she founded the City Bar’s Pipeline Initiative, which provides comprehensive programming for inner-city students to address academic support and enrichment, professional and substantive skill development, networking/mentoring opportunities and exposure to the legal profession. Gabrielle is committed to diversity in the profession and is active in several like-minded organizations. She is a member of the Executive Board of Directors of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students, Inc. (PALS), The Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP), The Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), and the Bronx School of Law and Finance Advisory Board. She has spoken on numerous panels about professional readiness, mentoring, and developing diversity pipeline initiatives.

2014 Speaker Elizabeth M. Glazer, an Associate Professor of Law at Hofstra University Law School and the Co-director of the Hofstra LGBT Rights Fellowship, received B.A. and M.A. degrees in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001. Professor Glazer received a J.D. in 2004 from the University of Chicago, while serving as a member of the Law Review. Following graduation from law school, Professor Glazer was associated with the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Professor Glazer’s research examines the topic of exclusion in the First Amendment, anti discrimination law, and property law. Recent work has focused on the legal treatment of sexual minorities—specifically, bisexuals, transgender individuals, and polyamorists—who do not fit precisely into antidiscrimination law’s established identity categories. Glazer’s recent work has appeared in the Northwestern University Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review Colloquy, the Columbia Law Review Sidebar, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Pennumbra, the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review, and the Hofstra Law Review, among other journals. Glazer has also been invited to deliver lectures at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Illinois College of Law, the University of Minnesota Law School, among other schools, and to Morgan Stanley, Nixon Peabody LLP, The City of New York’s Department of Juvenile Justice, among other organizations. In 2010, Glazer was selected by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of the “Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40.” Professor Glazer teaches courses in First Amendment, Jurisprudence, Property, Law & Sexuality, Business Drafting, and Transactional Lawyering.

2014 Speaker John Michael Lee, Jr is the Vice President for the Office of Access and Success at the Association for Public & Land-grant-Universities. In this role, he is responsible for implementing a national agenda to improve readiness, access and outcomes for students and help transform member institutions through the use of 1) quality research, 2) a robust advocacy and policy agenda, 3) outcome-based convenings with key stakeholders, and 4) designing and implementing complex initiatives to lead change at colleges and universities. He leads national advocacy boards with diverse constituents, and he also designs and implements cross-organizational efforts while leading a complex set of partners and collaborators. OAS is primarily responsible for supporting the APLU Council of 1890 Universities, the Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence (CADE), Hispanic Serving Institutions and the OAS Advisory Board. Under his leadership, the office has established a record of quality publications, created national initiatives, provided effective federal and state advocacy, increased fundraising, expanded collaboration with partners and increased the engagement of minority-serving institutions at APLU. John’s research interests include student access, participation and success in higher education, student recruitment, retention and graduation, student development, minority serving institutions (HBCUs, HSIs and Tribal Colleges), higher education diversity and education policy. He has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and he is the author of the book American Higher Education without Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (2011). John earned a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Steinhardt School of Culture Education and Human Development at New York University, a MPA with a concentration in economic development from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, and a bachelor of science in computer engineering from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering at Florida A&M University. John is a member of several professional associations including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).

2014 Speaker Dr. Dawn Robinson-McDonald completed her doctorate in Counselor Education and Practice at Georgia State University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Nationally Certified Counselor, and is certified as a Professional School Counselor and Special Education Teacher in the states of Georgia and Texas. She has over thirteen years of experience in working with at-risk children and adolescents. She obtained a Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Education at the University of Texas at Austin and completed her Specialist degree in Education at Georgia State University. Her primary areas of interest include working with clients who have experienced microaggressions, as well as counseling children, adolescents, and women who have experienced trauma. Dr. Robinson-McDonald works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Foundations, and Leadership at Columbus State University where she teaches and trains community and school counselors. She has previously served as the assistant to the editor for the Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education. Her current research interests include the perceived relationship between racial microaggressions and wellness in African American and Latina American females, sexual objectification experiences of African American females, student retention in higher education, and systemic interventions with at-risk youth.

2012 Speaker Dr. Terrell L. Strayhorn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Higher Education at The Ohio State University (OSU), where he also serves as Faculty Research Associate in the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity and Senior Research Associate in the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center for African American Males. He also holds a faculty appointment in OSU’s Department of African and Africana Studies. Dr. Strayhorn maintains an active and highly visible research agenda focusing on major policy, major policy issues in education: student access and achievement, equity and diversity, impact of college and student learning and development. Specifically, his research and teaching interests center on two major foci: (a) assessing student learning and development outcomes and the ways in which college affects students and (b) identifying and understanding factors that enable or inhibit the success of historically underrepresented and misrepresented populations in education, with a particular accent on the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities, college men, economically disadvantaged individuals and marginalized groups in postsecondary education. Professor Strayhorn is sole author or lead editor of 5 books/volumes, including Frameworks for Assessing Learning and Development Outcomes (2006), Money Matters: Influence of Financial Aid on Graduate Student Persistence (2006), African American Student Persistence (2008), The Evolving Challenges of Black College Students (2010), and the forthcoming Theoretical Frameworks in College Student Research. He has published more than 75 refereed journal articles, book chapters, scholarly reviews, and commissioned reports, and presented more than 130 papers at international and national conferences. External grants totaling approximately $800,000 from agencies such as the US Department of Education. Strayhorn has received the 2007 ACPA Emerging Scholar Award, NASAP Benjamin L. Perry Professional Service Award, SACSA Outstanding New Professional Award, 2008 ACPA Annuit Coeptis Emerging Professional Award, 2009 UTK Helen B. Watson Faculty Research Award, 2009 Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), and most recently, Diverse Issues in Higher Education named him one of the nation’s Top Emering Scholars. Member of the editorial boards for the Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Student Affairs Research & Policy, The Review of Higher Education, and College Student Affairs Journal. Strayhorn is actively involved in professional service as ACPA Director of Research & Scholarship, Chair of the Council on Ethnic Participation within ASHE, Associate Editor of the NASAP Journal, and Faculty Liaison to the NASPA Men and Masculinities Knowledge Communty. Dr. Strayhorn received a bachelor’s degree (BA) from the University of Virginia (UVA), a masters degree in educational policy (M.Ed.) from the Curry School of Education at UVA, and doctorate (PhD) in higher education from Virginia Tech. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and he is the proud father of two kids.

2012 WORKSHOP: OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS: INFORMED AND TAILORED SUPPORT FOR NON-TRADITIONAL, ACCOMMODATED AND UNDOCUMENTED LAW STUDENTS
Raquel Aldana, Esq., Professor Aldana is the Director of the Pacific McGeorge Inter-American Program, a pedagogically innovative program committed to educating bilingual and bicultural lawyers who wish to pursue a transnational career with a focus on U.S-Latin America relations. The inaugural Inter-American Program was held in Guatemala in the Summer of 2009 during which McGeorge law students received intensive comparative legal instruction in Spanish and a course on legal Spanish and then traveled for 10 weeks in Guatemala to enroll in law courses at the University of Landivar and to complete externships with Guatemalan legal institutions focused on trade, environmental justice, human rights, immigration, and labor law. A Fulbright scholar, Professor Aldana has taught several courses in the human rights L.L.M. program at Landivar in Guatemala and conducted research on femicide. She also has taught an experiential, comparative law course titled Domestic Violence in a Post-Conflict Society while conducting field research in Nicaragua about the implementation of mediation to resolve domestic violence issues. As well, as an immigration scholar, professor Aldana emphasizes through her teaching and scholarship the transnational factors that drive migration and should influence immigration policies. Her transnational scholarship has been focused on rule of law reforms implemented in Latin America and on victim’s rights. Prior to teaching, she was a human rights lawyer for the Center for Justice and International Law where she litigated human rights cases involving Latin American nations and the Caribbean before the Inter-American System on Human Rights.

2012 WORKSHOP: OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS: INFORMED AND TAILORED SUPPORT FOR NON-TRADITIONAL, ACCOMMODATED AND UNDOCUMENTED LAW STUDENTS
Yvonne Amrine, Esq., Ms. Amrine graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. She is licensed to practice law in the state of California. The need to make a difference in the lives of others brought her to San Diego and the study of law in 2006 where she attended law school at California Western School of Law. While at California Western, Ms. Amrine played a key leadership role in establishing the student organization OWLS (Older, Wiser law Students) in support of non-traditional students at the law school. She obtained a concentration in Elder Law focusing her course work on Estate Planning; Community Property; Estate & Gift Tax and Federal Income Taxation.As the trustee for her mother since 2001, she gained invaluable empathy for families dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease and finding the resources for proper care and support. Her personal experience allows her to identify with and best provide for her client’s needs.Ms. Amrine is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), Elder Law Answers, and California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR). She is accredited by the Veteran’s Administration to represent clients before the VA Regional Office or the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.She volunteers weekly at the San Diego Legal Aid Society’s Conservatorship Clinic helping parents of disabled children continue to make decisions for them after they become adults. She also volunteers as a Pro Bono Attorney for Elder Law and Advocacy. She is married to Dan Outcalt and has three children and one grandchild. She loves music, travel, golf, cycling, and living in San Diego where being outdoors with her husband, family and friends is a favorite pastime.

2012 WORKSHOP: OPEN MINDS, OPEN DOORS: INFORMED AND TAILORED SUPPORT FOR NON-TRADITIONAL, ACCOMMODATED AND UNDOCUMENTED LAW STUDENTS
Dr. Salome Heyward, Esq. – Dr. Salome Heyward is a civil rights attorney with over 30 years of experience and is a nationally recognized and respected speaker and trainer in the area of disability discrimination law and disability management. She frequently provides legal opinions and information on disability issues to colleges and universities, in addition to providing legal background to many major news organizations. Dr. Heyward helps postsecondary institutions, agencies and employers navigate the complexities of disability law compliance. She provides program and function audits; case evaluations; ADA consulting; and complaint review and analysis. She is the president of Salome Heyward & Associates.

2012 WORKSHOP: CONTINUING TO COMPLETE THE CIRCLE: INCLUSION AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICAN INDIAN LAW STUDENTS
Lawrence Baca, Esq. – Lawrence Baca is a past President of the Federal Bar Association. A Pawnee Indian, he was formerly a Deputy Director of the Office of Tribal Justice, United States Department of Justice. During his 32 years with the Department he also served as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division for 28 years. When he retired in 2008, he was presented the Attorney General’s Medallion – the highest award the Attorney General can present to a retiring employee. The Award was only presented seven times in the last decade. His civil rights work on behalf of American Indians in the areas of Credit, Voting Rights and Education was groundbreaking. The Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights has said that Mr. Baca filed more civil rights cases on behalf of American Indians than any other attorney in the history of the Civil Rights Division. A 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School, Lawrence was one of the first American Indians to graduate from Harvard and he was the first American Indian ever hired through the Department of Justice’s Honor Law Program. He is a nationally recognized authority on Federal Indian Law and has taught Federal Indian Law at American University Washington College of Law and at Howard University School of Law. In April 2008, the Indian Law Section of the Federal Bar Association created the Lawrence R. Baca Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Federal Indian Law to honor his career and contributions to the Federal Bar Association. He was, of course, it’s first recipient. Baca has also received the American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award recognizing his work in mentoring minority attorneys and opening doors and opportunities for Native American attorneys at the Department of Justice. Baca has served three terms as the national President of the National Native American Bar Association.

2012 WORKSHOP: CONTINUING TO COMPLETE THE CIRCLE: INCLUSION AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICAN INDIAN LAW STUDENTS
Katy Grounds, Esq. – Katy Grounds, is the Assistant Director of Admissions & Financial Aid, at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. She is Navajo/Euchee-Creek, originally from Pawnee, Oklahoma. Katy graduated from Dartmouth College in 2006 with an A.B. in Native American Studies. She received her J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2010, with a certificate in Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy. She clerked for Perkins Coie Brown & Bain, Fennemore Craig, and The Honorable Susan G. Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims while in law school. Katy joined the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law as the Assistant Director of Admissions & Financial Aid in 2010.

2012 WORKSHOP: CONTINUING TO COMPLETE THE CIRCLE: INCLUSION AND ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICAN INDIAN LAW STUDENTS
Devon Lomayesva, Esq.- Devon Lee Lomayesva is a member of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel. Devon is currently the Executive Director of California Indian Legal Services. Before accepting her current position, Devon worked as In-house Counsel for the Santa Ysabel Tribe where she worked on a variety of Federal Indian law issues; including gaming, cultural resource protection, Indian Child Welfare, Tribal Court and code development. Devon was also employed at California Indian Legal Services from 1998 to 2004 and held positions from Law Clerk to Directing Attorney. Devon’s primary focus has been in federal Indian law, particularly the areas of ICWA, Cultural Resource protection, Gaming and Tribal Government issues. Devon is also the co-founder and Board Chair of the American Indian Recruitment (AIR) Program. This program assists Indian high school students reach their higher education goals with a semester based tutoring and mentoring program. This program is based in San Diego County and its partners include USD, SDSU, UCSD and Palomar colleges, in addition to various Tribal and local Indian education and resource centers. Devon served on the Santa Ysabel Tribal Council for four years, from 1998-2002. She is a Steering Committee member for the National Association of Legal Services, as well as a member of the Native American Lawyers Association of San Diego and California Indian Law Association.Devon graduated from SDSU in 1994 with a B.A. degree in History and in 1999 received her J.D. from California Western School of Law.Devon graduated from SDSU in 1994 with a B.A. degree in History and in 1999 received her J.D. from California Western School of Law.

2012 WORKSHOP: ILLUMINATING THE HYPE: THE ELITE LAW SCHOOL PORTFOLIO
Dean Rodney Fong, Esq. – Rodney O. Fong is the Assistant Dean for Bar Exam Services at Golden Gate University School of Law. He has directed the academic support programs at Golden Gate, Santa Clara and the University of San Francisco Schools of law and served as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Academic Support Programs. Dean Fong is active in diversifying the profession. Dean Fong is a former Chair of the State Bar of California’s Council on Access & Fairness and currently serves on the Board of Directors of For People of Color, Inc., an organization dedicated to empowering people of color to enter law school and become attorneys. In addition, Dean Fong is a member of the ABA’s Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the administrative and programmatic oversight body for the three major ABA entities that focus on racial and ethnic diversity issues.Dean Fong has spoken extensively on inter-generational dynamics, designing and directing academic support programs, increasing bar passage rates, and diversity pipeline issues. Dean Fong is a two-time recipient of the San Francisco Minority Bar Coalition’s Outstanding Service to the Legal Community Award (1999 & 2004). His areas of research include generational diversity, learning styles and teaching methods, and diversity in the legal profession. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of San Francisco. He was the first person in his family to obtain a college degree and Juris Doctor.

2012 WORKSHOP: ILLUMINATING THE HYPE: THE ELITE LAW SCHOOL PORTFOLIO
Professor Russell McClain – Professor Russell McClain graduated Order of the Coif from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1995. From 1995 until 2005, Professor McClain was a civil litigator in Los Angeles, California. His practice areas included commercial, entertainment, consumer, and bankruptcy litigation. In the fall of 2005, Professor McClain accepted a two-year appointment to the faculty of Howard University as a legal writing instructor. In the fall of 2006, Professor McClain accepted a one-year part-time appointment to the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Law as a Visiting Law School Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Academic Achievement Program. In 2007-2008, Professor McClain was a full-time Visiting Law School Assistant Professor and Director of the Academic Achievement Program. In 2007-2008 he taught Sales and Payment Systems in the fall semester, in addition to fall and spring courses connected to the Academic Achievement Program. Professor McClain’s developed a work in progress relating to the discharge of student loans in bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, expected to be completed during the summer of 2007. His research agenda includes a follow-up to this article, relating to the student lending paradigm generally, and, specifically, comparing student lending to predatory consumer lending. Ultimately, Professor McClain hopes to develop further articles in this area as they relate to education financing and equal access to higher education. Professor McClain was recently honored by the University of Maryland Chapter of the Black Law Students Association as the 2006-2007 Alumnus of the Year. Professor McClain was born in Kailua, Hawaii, and he has also lived in Nebraska, Guam, Maryland, and California. In addition to his scholarly interests, he also enjoys singing and songwriting.

2011 WORKSHOP: LAW SCHOOL DIVERSITY AND THE ECONOMY
José Bahamonde-González: Administrative Affairs & Student Services, University of Maryland School of Law
Associate Dean José Bahamonde-González was Assistant Director for Career Services at the Georgetown University Law Center from 1992 to 1994. He then served as Assistant Dean for the Career Planning Center at the University of Miami School of Law from 1994 to 1997. He joined the University of Maryland School of Law as Assistant Dean for Career Development in August 1997. In January of 1999, he was appointed Assistant Dean for Administration and Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs & Student Services in July 2001. In this position, Dean Bahamonde-González is responsible for all the financial, budget and human resources matters, as well as the Admissions, Student Affairs and Career Development functions. Since joining Maryland Law, he has served as faculty advisor to the Latino/a Law Students Association. Prior to pursuing his law degree, Dean Bahamonde-González held the positions of Internal Auditor and Human Resources Officer for two financial services corporations in Boston, Massachusetts. While in law school, he was a Career Counselor and Pre-Law Advisor for the College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University. He was a summer associate and, after graduation, was briefly affiliated with a law firm in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Dean Bahamonde-González has been an active member of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) since 1992 and has held numerous leadership positions including Vice-President, Director and Chair of the Leadership/Membership Diversity Task Force. Additionally, he is also an active member of the Association of American Law Schools, Student Services Section, the ABA Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Education Division.

2011 WORKSHOP: LAW SCHOOL DIVERSITY AND THE ECONOMY
Kathy S. Northern: Associate Dean For Admissions and Associate Professor of Law, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Professor Northern served as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert M. Duncan, Southern District of Ohio, following graduation from law school, and then became an associate with the law firm of Porter, Wright, Morris, & Arthur in Columbus.In 1990, she joined the law faculty of Ohio Northern University, moving to Ohio State in 1991. She served as chair of the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism and was a member of the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.Her research areas include the use of tort law in social policy formation, the application of traditional tort principles to mitigate the effects of environmental racism, and products liability.She teaches Advanced Topics in Tort Law, Environmental Justice, Law & Technology, and Torts.

2011 WORKSHOP: LAW SCHOOL DIVERSITY AND THE ECONOMY
Fred Thrasher is the Deputy Director of NALP (National Association for legal Career Professionals), having previously worked for twelve years in legal career services at The George Washington University Law School, William and Mary School of Law, and Brooklyn Law School. Fred received a JD from The George Washington University School of Law in 1993 where he was a member of the Moot Court Board and served as a Dean’s Fellow in the first-year legal research and writing program. He also holds a Masters in Education in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern California and a BS from Tufts University where he majored in geology. Prior to attending law school, he worked as the Assistant Coordinator for Career Planning at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. During his tenure in legal career services, he served as a member of NALP’s Board and as a Chair and member of several NALP committees. 2011 WORKSHOP: WOMEN PIONEERS IN THE LEGAL FIELD
California Western School of Law Professor Barbara Cox has been awarded the Clara Shortridge Foltz Professorship, one of California Western’s six California Heritage Professorships. These endowed professorships, developed as part of the law school’s research initiative, recognize and honor leading scholars who help make California Western what law school ought to be. “The contributions Barbara Cox has made are in the fine tradition of Clara Shortridge Foltz,” said Dean Steven R. Smith. “Both women challenge traditions of gender inequality and point the way to a future that helps correct the mistakes of the past. These women blaze the trail to achieving the American dream.” Cox is a nationally recognized authority on gender issues and legal recognition for same-sex couples. She testified before New Hampshire and California legislative committees about domestic partnership and interstate recognition of same-sex couples’ relationships. As a commissioner on the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission in Wisconsin, Cox helped draft one of the earliest domestic partnership ordinances in the country. She has written numerous articles on reproductive rights, sexual orientation discrimination in legal education, and interstate recognition of same-sex couples’ relationships between different states. In addition, she teaches Civil Procedure, Property, Comparative issues in Gender, Family and Sexuality, and Women and the Law. Cox is currently serving on the ABA Accreditation Committee and was deputy director of the Association of American Law Schools.“I am deeply honored to be named the inaugural Clara Shortridge Foltz Professor of Law,” said Cox. “Foltz was the first woman admitted to the bar in California and was responsible for adding clauses to California’s Constitution that allowed women equal access to education and employment. These are remarkable achievements and illustrate the legacy of a woman who worked to advance women’s rights.” Cox, one of the founding members of the Faculty Diversity Committee at California Western, began teaching at the law school in 1987. She provides leadership and guidance on issues of diversity throughout the law school. Throughout her 20 years at California Western, Cox has contributed to deepening the understanding of gender-based discrimination and same-sex couples’ legal relationships. Cox obtained her B.A. with highest honors from Michigan State University and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Wisconsin.

2011 WORKSHOP: WOMEN PIONEERS IN THE LEGAL FIELD
Rita Sanders Geier is Associate to the Chancellor and Senior Fellow at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville where she leads efforts to achieve the university’s intercultural and diversity goals and to examine and promote solutions to critical public policy issues. She assumed these positions following an extensive career in Federal service, most recently as Executive Counselor to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) from 2001 to 2007 and Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner for Hearings and Appeals from 1992 to 2001. Prior to joining SSA, Ms. Geier was General Counsel for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), a Federal-State economic development partnership from 1988 to 1992. Her experience at ARC was preceded by work at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Division, as a Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Director for Commercial Litigation, where she specialized in civil prosecution of fraud cases. Before DOJ, Ms. Geier directed operations in seven western states and Micronesia as Regional Director for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Seattle, Washington and later served as Director of LSC’s first national research and demonstration office, funding projects to improve the quality of legal services for low income people. Born in Memphis, Ms. Geier graduated from Memphis Melrose High School before entering Fisk University in Nashville. After earning her Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, she returned to Tennessee to teach at Tennessee State University. Her experience there convinced her the State of Tennessee continued to operate a dual and distinctly unequal system of higher education, one for blacks and one for whites. Ms. Geier and other faculty and students filed a class action lawsuit in Federal court seeking the eradication of the vestiges of past legal segregation and the creation of unitary system of higher education to provide greater access and equity for African Americans throughout the state’s colleges and universities. The Federal court’s order that the State of Tennessee had an affirmative duty to dismantle its dual system became a model for successful challenges to other higher education systems throughout the South. Ms. Geier holds a B.A. degree from Fisk University, a M.A. degree from the University of Chicago and a J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University. She is admitted to the Bar in the States of Tennessee and Washington and to practice in numerous Federal courts. Ms. Geier received the Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award from President William Clinton and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

[The above are a sampling of AMDiP speakers in recent years]