Professor Trucios-Haynes Appointed as Director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice

Professor Enid Trucios-Haynes has been appointed as Director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of Louisville as of August 1, 2014. Professor Trucios-Haynes is a Professor of Law at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, and a nationally recognized scholar in immigration law. Her teaching focus is in constitutional law, immigration law, international law, and race and the law with an emphasis on issues affecting Latinos. Professor Trucios-Haynes has received numerous awards during her career at Brandeis School of Law including the 2012 Distinguished University Award in Service, the 2012 Richard and Constance Lewis Fellows Award, the University of Louisville 2001 Award for Exemplary Multicultural Teaching, the 2001 Alumni Teaching Excellence Award, and the Ann Oldfather Fellowship for Public Service, among others.

Professor Enid Trucios-Haynes has been appointed as Director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of Louisville as of August 1, 2014.   Professor Trucios-Haynes is a Professor of Law at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, and a nationally recognized scholar in immigration law.  Her teaching focus is in constitutional law, immigration law, international law, and race and the law with an emphasis on issues affecting Latinos.  Professor Trucios-Haynes has received numerous awards during her career at Brandeis School of Law including the 2012 Distinguished University Award in Service, the 2012 Richard and Constance Lewis Fellows Award, the University of Louisville 2001 Award for Exemplary Multicultural Teaching, the 2001 Alumni Teaching Excellence Award, and the Ann Oldfather Fellowship for Public Service, among others.

 

Professor Trucios-Haynes, in addition to her role as Interim Director, also serves as President of the board of the ACLU of Kentucky, on the Metro Louisville Ethics Commission, and as a board member of the Hispanic Latino Coalition of Louisville.  She is the recently elected Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate.  Professor Trucios-Haynes directs an Immigration Externship at the Brandeis School of Law and a Public Service Placement which is affiliated with National Immigrant Justice Center.  Professor Trucios-Haynes is a regular speaker on immigration issues and is active in local immigrant rights organizations.  She leads teams of volunteers including law students, local immigration attorneys and local volunteers from religious and other community organizations to conduct “Know Your Rights” Presentations at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center at the Boone County Jail in Boone County, Kentucky.   Professor Trucios-Haynes is the co-author, with other distinguished scholars in immigration law, of the only student-oriented book Understanding Immigration Law.

 

As Interim Director, Professor Trucios-Haynes looks forward to assisting the work of Ali Scholars, as “future leaders in their communities.”  The Ali Scholars have just returned from a visit to Rwanda in June 2014, which is a key part of the program designed to give the undergraduate student scholars a global perspective on issues relating to peace and social justice.  http://louisville.edu/uofltoday/campus-news/playing-in-the-mud-ali-scholars-in-rwanda-make-unexpected-discovery

 

The Ali Institute plans to serve as a hub linking the many efforts that focus on peace and social justice at the University of Louisville.  Professor Trucios-Haynes’ looks forward to expanding the academic focus of both the Ali Scholars and affiliated faculty to address the local, national and international impacts of violence affecting teens.  This includes a plan to reconfigure the Institute’s Faculty Resource Group and identify collaborative research projects focused on local community issues.  At the national level, the Ali Institute plans to investigate the issues relating to the violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador affecting children that has led to the humanitarian crisis of the large scale migration of unaccompanied children and families to the United States in 2014.  The Ali Institute looks forward to continued collaboration with the Muhammad Ali Center, working on international issues related to the education of girls in Africa and local events such as the Hello Neighbor program.