Education:

• J.D., Mississippi College School of Law
  - Graduated first in her class
  - Associate Editor, Law Review
• M.A., University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School of Business, Philadelphia, PA, S.S. Huebner Fellow
• B.S., Jackson State University, Jackson,MS
  summa cum laude
  

Judicial Clerkships:

• Judicial Law Clerk for Senior Judge Paul Roney(former Chief Judge), Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, St. Petersburg, FL
• Judicial Law Clerk for(Former) Chief Judge Charles Clark, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Jackson, MS
• Clerking Intern for (Former) Justice Fred L. Banks, Jr., Miss. Supreme Court

Professional Experience:

• Professor of Law. Mississippi College School of Law, since 1995


• Visiting Professor of Law. Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, IN, Fall 2001- Spring 2002


• Distinguished Visiting Professor of Teaching Excellence. Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, Spring 2001


• Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Boston College Law School, Boston MA Fall 2000


• Assistant Professor of Finance. University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS.


• Assistant Professor of Finance, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS


• Consultant. Appellate Litigation.


• Associate,Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, MS.


• Associate, Arnold & Porter, Washington, DC.


• Intern. Constitutional Torts Department of the Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
  
  

Areas of Expertise:

• Constitutional Law
• Civil Rights
• First Amendment
• Race and the Law
• Race and the First Amendment
• Women and the Law
  

Memberships and Admissions:

• Mississippi Bar
• District of Columbia Bar
• American Bar Association
• Magnolia Bar Association
• National Bar Association
• Mississippi Supreme Court List of Mediators
• Society of American Law Teachers
  
  

Publications:

• Loss of Innocence, Essay, publication forthcoming in book Voices of the Brown Generation (Vanderbilt University Press)
  
  
• A Metaphorical Contract between Blacker and Whiter America, University of Memphis Law Review (forthcoming 2007)
  
  
• Seeking Different Treatment, or Seeking the Same Regard: Remarketing the Transracial Adoption Debate, 26 Boston College Third World Law Journal 97 (2006)


• Moving from Fear to Courage, and Replacing Preaching with Reaching, published by the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations, University of Florida Levin College of Law (2006)


• To Whom this May Concern: Re: Brown III, 27 North Carolina Central University Law Journal 216 (2005)


• Voices and Choices: On Choosing to Stir from the Bottom (Marginalized Citizens and Globalization), introductory essay published in online book, Democracy and Globalization, Symposia on Democracy Series, #4, edited by Charles L. Nieman (2005), http://upress.kent.edu/books/Nieman.htm.


• Diversity: Do You Really Want It? (Essay), 21 Law & Inequality Journal 415 (2003) (University of Minnesota).


• On Teaching Constitutional Law When my Race is in their Face (Essay), 21 Law & Inequality Journal 215 (2003) (University of Minnesota).


• For White Women: "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine," but we all hide our faces and cry: Literary illumination and questioning for black and white sister/friends, 22 Boston College Third World Law Journal 67 (2002).
  
  
• Law, Life and Literature: A critical refection of life and literature to illuminate how laws of domestic violence, race, and class bind black women; A critical refection of Alice Walker's book The Third Life of Grange Copeland, 42 Howard Law Journal (1998) (Lead Article).


• Law, Life and Literature: Using literature and life to expose transracial adoption laws as adoption on a one way street (with former students A. Thrash, J. Riley Collins, L. Dukes, S. Lewis, and R. Dixon),17 Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal 43 (1998).


• Aren't Two Parents Better than None: Whether Two Single African American Adults (who are not in a traditional marriage or a romantic or sexual relationship with each other) should be allowed to jointly adopt and coparent African American children, 35 University of Louisville Journal of Family Law 703 (Fall 1997).


• Aren't Two Parents Better than None, part II: Contractual and statutory basics for a "new" African American coparenting and joint adoption model (with former students A. Wallace, J. Travis, B. Dorsey and B. Guy), 9 Temple's Political and Civil Rights Law Review 59 (1999).


• Making Traditional Courses more Inclusive: Confessions of an African American female professor who attempted to crash all the barriers at once, 31 University of San Francisco Law Review 975 (Summer 1997).


• Why Isn't What's Good for the Goose, Also Good for the Gander ?: Confronting the truth and reframing the affirmative action question,24 Southern University Law Review 141 (1997).


• A New Standing Requirement for First Amendment Litigants?: Bar Owners Resting on Their own Bottoms or still Resting on the Bare Bottoms of Nude Dancers (with former students L. Barry and M. Fijman), 8 Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 81 (1998).


• Remand Law: An Unfair Burden (with Judge W.L. Kidd), 28-4 Trial Lawyers Quarterly 14 (Summer/Fall 1998).


• Establishing Federal Appellate Jurisdiction by Filing A Timely and Effective Notice of Appeal or Petition, (with Attorney L.T. Munford),11 Fifth Circuit Reporter 313 (March 1994).


• After the Election, Where do we go from here?, Op'ed, The Jackson Advocate, Mississippi, November 11, 2004, at A4.


• Unchaining Ourselves from Chronic Illnesses ... and Other New Slaveries, Health Op'ed, The Reporter Newspaper, Ohio, July 10, 2004, at B1.


• Unchaining Ourselves from chronic illnesses, Part I and II, Health Oped, The Jackson Advocate Newspaper, Mississippi, June 24, 2004, at A12, and July 1, 2004, at A12.


• Why I Teach?, Op/ed piece,The Law Teacher at 12 (Fall 2003).


• Where Do We Go From Here? Indirect Affirmative Action and Direct Positive Action-the Way out of the New Slavery? Op/ed, The Reporter Newspaper, Ohio, July 12, 2003, at A2
  
  
• Law School Professors Comment on the Campus Boycott of Justice Clarence Thomas: Did they Do the Right Thing?, Remarks, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Autumn 2002, number 37, p. 115,118.
  
  
• Risking Collaborative Learning, The Law Teacher (spring 2002), http://www.law.gonzaga.edu/ILST/newsletters/spring02/kupenda.htm

Lectures, Panels & Presentations :

• Potential of the Law for Realizing Equality:  Past, Present and Future, Lecturer/Panelist, Medgar Evers/Ella Baker Civil Rights Lecture Series, Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, December 2007
  
  
• Race, Professionalism, Ethics and Moral Commitment, Invited Fellow, National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism Workshop, Georgia State University, November 2007 
  
  
• Diversity and Education, Visiting Scholar, Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Presenter, Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 2007 
  
  
• Examining the Black Female Struggling Class through the lens of Life and Literature, Presentation, 2007 Obermann Humanities Symposium, From Bourgeois to Boojie; Black Middle Class Performances, University of Iowa, October 2007
  
  
• Learnig from Family Law to Address America's Family-Like Race Dysfunction, Presentation, International Society of Family Law, North American Regional Conference, Vancouver, Canada, June 2007
  
  
• Race, Gender, and Class, Participant, Class Crits II Workshop, Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School, New York, May 2007
  
  
• "An Affirmative Response to Hate Speech: Promoting Positive Race Speech as a Policy Solution," Presentation, Southeastern/Southwestern Law Faculty of Color Conference, Florida A&M University College of Law, Ontario, Florida, March 2007; Presentation, Third International Globalization, Diversity and Education Conference, Washington State University, Spokane, Washington, March 2007; Presentation, Heresy, Blasphemy, and Freedom of Expression, an International, Multi-Disciplinary Conference, University of Central Florida, Orlando, January 2007
  
  
• Striving for Balance: Racial Sensitivity, Fairness and Recognition, R. Jess Brown Chapter of the Black Law Students Association Program, Panelist, MCSOL, February 2007
  
  
• "Will you be a player, or will you be Played in the Legal System," Constitutional Speaker, Alcorn State University, Lorman, MS, September 2006
  
  
• Co-moderator, "How to Raise and Discuss Issues of Race in the Classroom," Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Teaching Conference, Boston Massachusetts, September 2006
  
  

• "Dispelling Misconceptions, Presentation on Race and Teaching," American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Mid-year Conference: New Ideas for Law School Teachers: Teaching Intentionally, Vancouver, Canada, June 2006
  
  

• "A Metaphorical Contract  between White and Black America," Presented at Southeast/Southwest People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 2006; Presented at Inaugural Spring International Contracts Conference, Diversity of Contract Law, Fort Worth Texas, February 2006
  
  

• "Gaining Admission to Law School," Panelist at Minority Pre-Law Day, Mississippi College/University ofMississippi co-sponsored program, February 2006
  
  

• Inaugural Fellow, National Institute for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism, Georgia State, September 2005
  
  

• Constitutional/Citizenship Day Speaker, "Full Citizenship Rights: Are We There Yet?", Jackson State University, September 2005
  
  
• On keeping the torch glowing ... Speaker, R. Jess Brown Black Law Students’ Association Graduation Banquet, Mississippi College School of Law, May 2005.


• A Metaphorical Contract Between White and Black America, Panelist, Fourth Biennial International Conference, on Intercultural Research, Kent State University, May 2005


• Seeking Different Treatment, or Seeking the Same Regard: Remarketing the Transracial Adoption Debate, Invited Panelist, Boston College Third World Law Journal Symposium, March 2005


• Moving from Fear to Courage, and Replacing Preaching with Reaching, Invited Panelist, Race and the Law Curriculum Workshop, University of Florida Levin College of Law, February 2005


• To Whom this May Concern: Re: Brown III, Responder, Mississippi College School of Law, Brown v. Bd. of Education Program, October 2004


• Voices and Choices: On Choosing to Stir from the Bottom (Marginalized Citizens and Globalization), Invited Discussant, Fourth Annual Symposium on Democracy, Kent State University, April 2003.


• Addressing Issues of Diversity in the Classroom: Do We Really Want “It”? Presented Faculty Administrators workshop, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, February 2001.


• One Black Woman’s Story: Lessons from the past for understanding for the future. Speaker for Black Law Students’ Association Black History Program, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, February 2001.


• Diversity, Part II: Constructing “Our Path” to Diversity. Presented Faculty/Administrators workshop, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, April 2001.


• Scholar-in-Residence. Pine Manor Women’s College, Chestnut Hill, MA, Addressing Issues of Diversity in the Classroom, Do You Really Want It? Presented Faculty / Administrators workshop, November 2000; Preparing for and Surviving Law School, panelist on Student workshop, November 2000; Seeing the “I” in Us: On race, gender, the law and change, lectured in Women and the Law class, November 2000.


• For White Women: "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine," but we all hide our faces and cry: Literary illumination and questioning for black and white sister/friends, Delivered a public lecture as an invited scholar at Stephen F. Austin University, Nagodoches, Texas in April 2000.


• Law, Life and Literature: The law, race and domestic violence, Delivered a public lecture as an invited scholar at Florida International University, Miami, Florida in March 2000.


• Different, Challenged, But Determined, Keynote Speaker on a Leadership Forum for Black Professionals at the Maudsley Hospital, London, England, September 1999.


• Uniting the Young Leaders of Tomorrow, Panelist at the 29th Annual Black Law Students of Notre Dame Alumni Weekend, April 2002.


• I Can Do It !, Presented on Minority Law Recruitment Day (for high school students), Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, IN, February 2002.


• Especially for Minorities: How to Prepare for Law School from the Inside Out, Presented at Minority Law Forum (for college students), Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, IN, in November 2001.


• Succeeding in Law School, Presented for First Year Black Law Students of Notre Dame in September 2001.


• Law, Life and Literature: A critical refection of life and literature to illuminate how laws of domestic violence, race, and class bind black women, presented at Fourth Annual Mid Atlantic Law Faculty of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Rutgers Camden Law School, Camden, New Jersey, February 1998; presented at the Gender, Sexuality and Law Conference held at Keele University, Staffordshire, England, June 1998; presented at the Eighth Symposium of the International Association of Women Philosophers, Boston University, August 1998; presented at the International Critical Legal Studies Conference, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom, September 1998; presented at Women and Power Conference, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, February 1999; presented at Visible Women and Southern History II Conference, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, October 1999.


• Law, Life and Literature: Using literature and life to expose transracial adoption laws as adoption on a one way street, presented at 1999 International Critical Legal Studies Conference, Birbeck College,University of London, England,September 1999.


• Conversations: Grading Law Faculty of Color. Facilitator for Mid-Atlantic Faculty of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Penn State-Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle, PA, February 2001.


• One black woman's story: Lessons from the past for understanding for the future, lecture to the Experimental Race Relations Class at Mississippi College, Jackson, Mississippi in April 2000.


• Aren't Two Parents Better than None: Whether Two Single African American Adults (who are not in a traditional marriage or a romantic or sexual relationship with each other) should be allowed to jointly adopt and coparent African American children, presented at Third Annual Mid Atlantic Law Faculty of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 1997; presented at International Critical Legal Studies Conference, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom, September 1998; presented at National Conference on the Black Family in America, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, March 1999; discussed as guest on the Community Connection Radio Talk Show, WLOU 1350 AM,Louisville, Kentucky, March 1999; presented at International Society of Family Law Conference (North American Region), Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 1999; presented at 24th International Association of Law and Mental Health Congress, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, June 1999.


• Making Traditional Courses more Inclusive: Confessions of an African American female professor who attempted to crash all the barriers at once, presented at the University of San Francisco Symposium on Legal Education in memory of Professor Trina Grillo, San Francisco, California, March 1997; presented at Pine Manor College\'s Center for Inclusive Leadership and Social Responsibility, Conference on New Ways of Learning and Leading in the Classroom, the Workplace and the Community, Chestnut Hill,Massachusetts, April 1998; presented at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska, April 1998.


• Black Women in the New South, Moderator of panel at the 24th International Association of Law and Mental Health Congress, University of Toronto, Canada, June 1999.


• Ways Women Thrive in the Legal Academy, panelist at the invitational "Summit on Women in Legal Education: Gentlemen No More," November 1997, Mills College, Oakland, California.


• Especially for Minorities: How to Prepare for Law School from the Inside Out,prsented to Pre Law seminar Class at Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, Mississippi, in February 1998, November 1999; presented at Minority Pre Law Day, at Mississippi College School of Law, in February 1998,February 1999, February 2000, February 2005; presented to Pre Law seminar class at Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, in November 1999.


• Establishing Federal Appellate Jurisdiction by Filing A Timely and Effective Notice of Appeal or Petition, presented at Continuing Legal Education Seminar, State and Federal Appellate Practice Seminar, sponsored by Mississippi College School of Law, February 1994.


• State and Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, CLE presentation at Civil Trial Procedures Seminar sponsored by National Business Institute, Jackson, Mississippi, January 1995.


• Appeals in Circuit and Chancery Courts, CLE Presentation at Appellate Practice Seminar sponsored by Mississippi College School of Law, March 1995.