Founding the CRS Program
A brief history of the founding of UCLA Law's Critical Race Studies.
The first law school program in the United States dedicated to critical race theory in legal scholarship and related disciplines, the Critical Race Studies program is unequaled in American legal education. The cornerstone of the program is the CRS specialization, a competitive academic course of study engaging top students who are committed to racial justice scholarship and legal practice. The CRS specialization enhances coursework with a variety of collaborative and interdisciplinary experiences to integrate theory and practice. The Critical Race Studies program hosts an annual symposium that draws top scholars from around the country for discussion of cutting-edge topics and works with student-led clinics to provide students with on-the-ground training and opportunities for representation and advocacy.
Please join our Critical Race Studies mailing list for our latest news and information.
More information about the CRS Symposium and our multimedia archives of past programming.
Intersecting Race and Law
In 2021, CRS launched CRT Forward, an initiative to address the current attacks on Critical Race Theory while also highlighting the past, present, and future contributions of the theory.
The signature event of the CRS program, highlighting strategies to end racial injustice and promoting collaboration across disciplines.
Presenting recordings of past CRS events and symposia.
Combating the effects of mass incarceration on Los Angeles communities
Collaborating with Legal Aid at Work and the Black Worker Center on this employment law clinic serving low-wage workers and members of the center.
Supporting students dedicated to achieving equity for Los Angeles' African American communities.
Sustaining the research and professional development of students pursuing a career in teaching the law.
Who We Are
- Faculty Director
- Executive Director
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Core Faculty
Ahilan Arulanantham
Professor from Practice
Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law & PolicyLaToya Baldwin Clark
Professor of LawDevon W. Carbado
The Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of LawKimberlé W. Crenshaw
Distinguished Professor of Law
Promise Institute Chair in Human RightsFanna Gamal
Assistant Professor of LawAriela Gross
Distinguished Professor of Law and HistoryCheryl I. Harris
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Professor in Civil Rights and Civil LibertiesJerry Kang
Distinguished Professor of Law
Distinguished Professor of Asian American Studies (by courtesy)
Inaugural Korea Times – Hankook Ilbo Endowed Chair (2010-20)
Founding Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2015-20)Jasleen Kohli
Executive Director, Critical Race Studies ProgramHiroshi Motomura
Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law and PolicyK-Sue Park
Professor of LawSunita Patel
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, UCLA Veterans Legal ClinicAngela R. Riley
Carole Goldberg Endowed Chair of Native American Law
Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American and Indigenous Affairs
Director, Native Nations Law & Policy CenterAnna Spain Bradley
Professor of Law
Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Values to the EVC/P (2023-24)
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2020-23)Lauren van Schilfgaarde
Assistant Professor of LawNoah D. Zatz
Professor of Law and Labor Studies - Law Teaching Fellows
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Affiliated Faculty and Staff
Khaled M. Abou El Fadl
Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Professor of LawAlexander Arnold
Assistant Professor of LawShirin Bakhshay
Assistant Professor of LawJoseph Berra
Human Rights in the Americas Project DirectorBeth A. Colgan
Professor of LawGerloni Cotton
Lecturer in LawScott L. Cummings
Robert Henigson Professor of Legal Ethics
Professor of LawIngrid Eagly
Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Criminal Justice ProgramBlake Emerson
Professor of Law
Professor of Political Science (by courtesy)Joanna C. Schwartz
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and PolicyBrenda Suttonwills
Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion InitiativesSherod Thaxton
Professor of Law
Professor of African American Studies (by courtesy)
Professor of Public Policy (by courtesy)
Professor of Sociology (by courtesy)Tony Tolbert
Assistant Director of Admissions
Adjunct FacultyLeo Trujillo-Cox
Executive Director of Academic Outreach & Development
Associate Director of Admissions & Recruitment
Instructor, Law Fellows ProgramLindsay Wiley
Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Health Law and Policy ProgramSanford S. Williams
Lecturer in Law - Emeriti
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UCLA Wide Affiliated Faculty
Leisy Abrego
Professor and Department Chair in Chicana/o StudiesBryonn Bain
Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and Department of World Arts and Cultures/DanceMatt Barreto
Professor of Political Science and Chicana/o StudiesScot Brown
Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and Department of HistoryKeith Camacho
Associate Professor, Asian American StudiesMishuana Goeman
Professor of Gender Studies, American Indian Studies; Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American and Indigenous AffairsSarah Haley
Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies and Department of Gender Studies; Director, UCLA Center for the Study of Women Black Feminism InitiativeKelly Lytle Hernandez
Professor, Thomas E. Lifka Chair of History; Director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American StudiesRobin D. G. Kelley
Distinguished Professor of History and African American Studies, and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. HistorySherene Razack
Distinguished Professor and the Penney Kanner Endowed Chair in Women’s StudiesAnanya Roy
Professor of Urban Planning, Social Welfare, and Geography and The Meyer and Renee Luskin Chair in Inequality; Director of the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLAGary Segura
Dean of the Luskin School of Public AffairsMargaret Shih
Associate Vice Chancellor, BruinX, UCLA Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Neil Jacoby Chair in Management; Professor of Management and OrganizationsDaniel Solorzano
Professor of Education and of Chicano/a StudiesShannon Speed
Director of the American Indian Studies Center (AISC) and Professor of Gender Studies and AnthropologyAbel Valenzuela Jr.
Director of UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Luskin School of Public AffairsRichard Yarborough
Professor, Department of African American Studies and Department of English -
CRS Staff
Taifha Alexander, CRT Forward Project Director
Taifha Natalee Alexander was born and raised in southside Jamaica Queens where she attended college at St. John’s University. In 2017, Taifha earned her J.D. from Georgetown Law and later earned her LLM from UCLA School of Law in 2021, where she specialized in Critical Race Studies and graduated at the top of her class. Taifha’s legal studies, research, and career have focused on the advancement of equity, justice, and anti-racism within higher education, and she has been recognized by both national and state higher education organizations for her ability to create more equitable campus climates across the country. Taifha has published several articles including We Can’t Breathe: How Top Law Schools Can Resuscitate an Inclusive Climate for Minority and Low-Income Law Students in the Georgetown Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives (2017) and Chopped & Screwed: Hip Hop from Cultural Expression to a Means of Criminal Enforcement in Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law (2021). She is currently working on a chapter in to be included in the forthcoming book, Revising the Curriculum and the Co-Curriculum to Engage Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to assist colleges and universities in their efforts to incorporate Critical Race Theory and anti-racist pedagogy into multidisciplinary curricula.Ayda Haghighatgoo, CRS Program Coordinator
Ayda has been a longtime CRS and Promise Institute community member and volunteer. She is a UCLA alum with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, and she also completed UC Berkeley Extension’s Paralegal Studies program. She comes to the UCLA School of Law with extensive experience in project and events management with the J. Paul Getty Trust, having organized international colloquia and supported the management of graduate interns. She has worked in the Getty Foundation and the Getty Conservation Institute, with an integral role in coordinating the logistics of some of the Getty’s largest exhibitions, namely Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road. Ayda is a “1.75-generation” immigrant of Armenian and Iranian heritage. She has been a part of LA’s Southwest Asian North African (SWANA) community, along with cross-community activism, and a passion for social justice, Critical Race Theory, and civil rights advocacy for marginalized communities.Barbara Chen, Communications Lead
Barbara is a veteran communications professional with multi-disciplinary, mission-driven experience in higher ed, public sector, civic engagement and social justice organizations. She leads communications for CRS and for the Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, and comes to UCLA having held major communications roles at Columbia University, the NYPD, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Prior to UCLA Law, Barbara served as a marketing communications advisor and consultant to clients including New York University School of Law’s Policing Project; the national 30x30 initiative to advance women in law enforcement; municipal and regional government entities in Philadelphia, and Portland, Oregon; and arts and social justice organizations. Formerly an ABC News producer and vice president of the national Asian American Journalists Association New York chapter, Barbara graduated cum laude from California State University Fullerton, where she was commencement speaker for the College of Communications in 1999, and inducted into its Alumni Wall of Fame in 2017. She is an alumna of Columbia Business School's Police Management Institute, and of the Minority Writers Seminar hosted by the Freedom Forum Institute at Vanderbilt University. A first-generation Southern Californian whose parents emigrated from Hong Kong and South Africa, Barbara is thrilled to be working with colleagues at UCLA and lives with her husband, son and dogs conveniently near several Big Blue Bus lines to campus.
Our Past Faculty Directors
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CRS Faculty Directors
2023-24: LaToya Baldwin Clark
2022-23: Devon W. Carbado, Cheryl I. Harris, and Jerry Kang
2021-22: Noah D. Zatz
2020-21: Laura E. Gómez
2019-20: Laura E. Gómez
2018-19: Laura E. Gómez
2017-18: Cheryl I. Harris
2016-17: Cheryl I. Harris and Noah D. Zatz
2015-16: Chery I. Harris and Devon W. Carbado
2014-15: Cheryl I. Harris
2013-14: Devon W. Carbado
2012-13: Cheryl I. Harris and Jyoti Nanda
2011-12: Cheryl I. Harris and Kimberlé W. Crenshaw
2010-11: Kimberlé W. Crenshaw
2009-10: Kimberlé W. Crenshaw and Russell K. Robinson
2008-09: Jerry Kang
2007-09: Jerry Kang
2006-07: Cheryl I. Harris
2005-06: Cheryl I. Harris
2004-05: Cheryl I. Harris
2003-04: Devon W. Carbado
2002-03: Devon W. Carbado
2001-02: Jerry Kang and Laura E. Gómez
2000-01: Jerry Kang and Laura E. Gómez
