Honorary Members

Rhea Ballard-Thrower is Dean and University Librarian at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she provides strategic leadership for Chicago's only public Carnegie R1 research university library. She joined UIC in 2021 and oversees the vision and direction of the university's library system.

​

Prior to her appointment at UIC, Ballard-Thrower served as Executive Director of the Howard University Libraries and as Director of the Howard University School of Law Library. During her time at Howard University School of Law, she also served as an Associate Professor of Law, teaching Advanced Legal Research using the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pedagogy, an approach she continues today through her course Students in Jail at UIC Law.

​

Earlier in her career, she held positions at the Georgia State University College of Law Library and the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Cincinnati, a J.D. form the University of Kentucky, and an M.I.L.S. from the University of Michigan.

Okianer Christian Dark, Esq. is Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law and Associate Provost for Faculty Development at Howard University. She established the University's Office of Faculty Development in 2015, creating programs that support faculty scholarship, mentorship, and professional growth across Howard's schools and colleges.

​

Professor Dark previously served as Interim Dean of Howard University School of Law (2012-2014) and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (2005-2012), where she helped expand clinical programs, externships, and innovative course offerings to better prepare students for legal practice. She teaches and writes in the area of Torts, Products Liability, Health Law, and Antitrust, with scholarship focused on legal doctrines affecting vulnerable populations and diversity in legal education.

​

Before entering academia, Professor Dark served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. She earned her B.S., magna cum laude, from Upsala College and her J.D. from Rutgers University.

Ursula Tracy Doyle

Professor Ursula Tracy Doyle, a faculty member at Salmon P. Chase College of Law, focuses her research on the use of international law in United States domestic courts, business and human rights, the institutional capacities of the United Nations, the human rights dimensions of restorative justice, and the life of diplomat, academic, and politician Patricia Roberts Harris. She has presented her work both domestically and internationally.

​

Before joining the Chase faculty in 2011, Professor Doyle taught legal research and writing at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and practiced law in the areas of mass torts and complex litigation. She also served as a law clerk to Judge Theodore A. McKee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. In addition, she has taught literature and composition at Morehouse College, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

​

Professor Doyle earned her Juris Doctor from Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law, where she was the student commencement speaker in May 1997. She also holds a Master of Arts in English from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University. Her academic experience includes study abroad in Colombia, France, and Italy.

Attorney Dione Traci Duckett concentrates her practice in the areas of Estate Planning and Elder Law. Dione’s interest in and dedication to these practice areas developed as a result of her personal relationships and experiences with her father, who died of Alzheimer’s Disease, and her sister and nephew who both have Downs Syndrome. Through these personal experiences, she has gained first-hand knowledge and understanding of the concerns and challenges that individuals and their families have in caring for aging or disabled family members and the people whom they love. Dione’s goal is to help clients achieve peace of mind by providing quality legal services to address clients’ needs.

Dr. Marsha A. Echols is the Director of The World Food Law Institute and a Professor at Howard University School of Law, where she teaches commercial, international business and trade, and world food law. She is a recognized expert in the fields of international food regulation, international trade and dispute settlement.

​

Professor Echols has extensive international dispute resolution experience, having served terms as a Member of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and as a Panelist in a World Trade Organization dispute between India and the European Union, among other activities. She was the Vice Chair of the International Dispute Resolution Committee on the DC Bar.

​

She is the author of several books and law journal articles about international food regulation and frequently is invited in the United States and internationally to speak about food law and policy, and about international trade. Professor Echols has taught at the Graduate Institute of International Studies (HEI) in Geneva and in Beijing and Shenyang, China. She has lectured at HEC Paris, Harvard Law School, the University of Nantes in France and Eduardo Mondlane Faculty of Law in Mozambique, among others. She often participates on legal panels and on delegations to meetings of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

​

Dr. Echols studied and worked in Belgium, and worked in Switzerland and Washington, D.C. before joining the faculty at Howard University School of Law. She also served as an international trade negotiator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and specialized in international agribusiness transactions while engaged in the private practice of law.

​

Professor Echols is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law. She was the Liaison to UNIDROIT for the ABA Section of International Law, having previously served on the Section Council, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. She is a Board member of the Friends of the National Arboretum.

Alice Gresham Bullock is Professor Emerita and former Dean at the Howard University School of Law, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1979.​ ​

​

Ms. Gresham Bullock served as Dean of the Howard University School of Law from 1997 through 2002. She previously held the position of Interim Dean from 1996-1997, Acting Dean in 1990 and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from 1988 until 1992.

​

The School of Law realized several remarkable achievements under her leadership, management and vision as Dean. An impressive new state-of-the-art, four-story, 76,000 square-feet library was constructed. Giving by the School’s alumni increased fivefold. Admission standards were strengthened and a new student recruitment program was launched, resulting in increased quality and quantity of students who enrolled in the School. Ninety-seven percent of all graduates were successfully placed in employment. Several major renovation projects for the physical plant were completed. Information technology was also enhanced, creating improved academic administration and programs. The School underwent a vigorous accreditation review process under the scrutiny of the American Bar Association, resulting in the School earning continued accreditation.

​

In addition, Ms. Gresham Bullock was recognized by the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), which appointed her Deputy Director, and she served in that capacity from 1992 until 1994. While there, she implemented educational policy and program initiatives on behalf of 179 AALS member law schools, staffed major working committees, developed programs for professional development, and oversaw activities focused on the development of curriculum and research, among other activities. In particular, she worked on developing effective strategies for recruiting faculty of color for the nation’s law schools.

​

Ms. Gresham is the co-founder of the National Bar Institute (NBI). NBI was established to advance the understanding and practice of law by expanding access to legal education and strengthening pathways into the legal profession. 

Lenese Herbert teaches Evidence, Criminal Procedure (Investigation and Adjudication), Criminal Law, Social Media and the Law, and Administrative Law.  Prior to teaching, she practiced as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in both the Criminal and Civil Divisions, and served as agency counsel for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. Department of Transportation.

​

 A graduate of UCLA School of Law, Professor Herbert co-authors CONSTITUTIONAL CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, a problem-based casebook adopted by a number of law schools across the U.S.  Her scholarly work has appeared in law reviews and journals;  it is also cited in state and federal court pleadings, including amicus briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court's GPS tracking decision, U.S. v. Jones.

​

 Her media appearances include BBC World, The Washington Post, Voice of America, Al-Jazeera English, NBC News Channel 4 (Washington, DC), WTTG Fox 5 (Washington, DC).  Professor Herbert has also co-authored Lexis Nexis Skills and Values: Criminal Law.  On Twitter, she can be found @HowNowHerbert, heavily re-tweeting links and other content related to criminal justice, policing, social media, and SCOTUS.