Michèle Alexandre is the First African-American Dean of the Stetson University College of Law

Michèle Alexandre has been named the first African-American dean of the College of Law at Stetson University in Gulfport, Florida. She will assume her new duties in June 2019.

Currently, Professor Alexandre serves as the associate dean for faculty development and intellectual life, professor of law, and the Leonard B. Melvin Jr. Lecturer at the University of Mississippi School of Law. She first joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 2008 as an associate professor.

Professor Alexandre’s teaching and scholarly interests include constitutional law, international law, civil rights law, disability law, critical race theory, human rights, and gender. Additionally, she works on issues of sustainability and economic independence for small farmers in Mississippi’s Delta and other area of the rural South. Since 2012, she has organized the Race and Sustainability conference hosted by the University of Mississippi.

Professor Alexandre is the author of the civil rights textbook, The New Frontiers of Civil Rights Litigation (Carolina Academic Press, 2019), and Sexploitation: Sexual Profiling and Illusion of Gender (Routledge, 2014). In 2016, she received the Ben A. Hardy Faculty Excellence Award for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service. Earlier in her career, she received both Fulbright and Watson Fellowships.

“I am thrilled to join the Stetson family,” Professor Alexandre said. “Stetson’s commitment to training global citizens and practice-ready lawyers represents a galvanizing vision for legal education in the twenty-first century. The College of Law’s priorities regarding social justice, academic rigor and student engagement are dear to my heart. I am eager to work with all aspects of the law school, the university and with its amazing alumni to help the law school continue to grow and reach new heights.”

Professor Alexandre was the first Black valedictorian of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. She holds a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School.