Assistant Professor of Clinical Law Alina Das ’05, co-teacher of the Immigrant Rights Clinic, received a 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award from New York University on February 6. The award recognizes professors who exemplify King’s spirit through scholarship, research, and teaching, and also reflects their positive impact in the classroom and the greater NYU community. Students submit nominations, which are then considered by an award committee.
A longstanding and tenacious advocate for immigrant rights, Das, along with co-teacher Nancy Morawetz ’81, has been instrumental in promoting civil liberties for those affected by immigration law at the agency, federal court, and Supreme Court levels, as well as in immigration rights campaigns both local and far-flung. Her scholarship is focused on deportation and detention issues. Before teaching in the clinic, Das was an attorney and Soros Justice Fellow for the Immigrant Defense Project, where she advocated and litigated strategically in the area of immigration penalties resulting from drug convictions and participation in alternatives to incarceration. Last September, the Immigrant Rights Clinic was honored by the National Law Journal on its annual list “Lawyers Who Lead by Example.”
Professor Kim Taylor-Thompson won the faculty award last year, and Professor Anthony Thompson received it in 2010. This year, Das was one of six faculty from the entire University to be recognized.
Posted on February 8, 2013