Cynthia E. Nance, Dean Emeritus and Nathan G. Gordon Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, has been named chair-elect of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation (ABF). Nance joined the Arkansas Law faculty as an assistant professor in 1994 and served as dean of the law school from 2006-2011.
Established in 1955, the Fellows comprise a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities.
Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Fellows are recommended by their peers and elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation. Fellows support the research of the American Bar Foundation through annual contributions and sponsor seminars and events of direct relevance to the legal profession.
Nance will be chair-elect for the Fellows for the next year, alongside the chair, Honorable Eileen A. Kato (ret.), of Seattle, Washington; secretary, Darrell G. Mottley, of Washington, DC; and immediate past chair, Ellen M. Jakovic, of Washington, DC.
Nance teaches Labor and Employment Law, Workplace Legislation and Poverty Law. She earned her B.S. degree, magna cum laude, from Chicago State University. She holds a J.D., with distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law and an M.A. from the University of Iowa College of Business.
Professor Nance is the former Eighth Circuit Member of the Association (ABA) Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and represents the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section in the House of Delegates. Nance is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and an elected member of its Board of Governors. She is also an elected member of the American Law Institute and The Labor Law Group and serves on the Arkansas Advisory Committee to the United States Civil Rights Commission. She is also a former Council Member of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.
Nance is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association Commission on Diversity and the Arkansas Bar Foundation Trust Committee. An Association of American Law Schools Founding Fellow, she is a former chair of the Association’s Labor and Employment Law and Employment Discrimination sections. Nance also previously served on the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, the National Association of Law Placement Foundation Board and the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program Committee. Nance is a member of the Harold Flowers Law Society, an affiliate of the National Bar Association, the International Women’s Forum, Arkansas Forum and a Board Member of the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame. She formerly served on the boards of Welcome Health and Bikes, Blues and Barbecue of Northwest Arkansas.
A member of the Phi Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Professor Nance currently serves on the Graduate Advisor’s Council and as Faculty Advisor to the Kappa Iota Chapter. She previously served in leadership roles including the positions of Vice-president and President and is a charter member of the Phi Alpha Omega Chapter. Additional examples of her commitment to service include her past roles as a member of the Law School Admissions Council Board of Trustees, the Interfaith Worker Justice Board, the Advisory Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and as an Anti-Racism Trainer for the Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. She served as a member of the Greensboro Massacre Truth and Reconciliation Commission Advisory Group, and the Boards of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Arkansas ACLU, Sources for Independent Living, the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, and the Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Center.
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About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.