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Northwestern University School of Law celebrated Professor Joyce A. Hughes 30th year teaching law at this year's Minority Alumni Dinner. The dynamic Honorable R. Eugene Pincham, retired Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court and member of the class of 1950, was the keynote speaker.

In 1971 Professor Hughes became the nation's first African American female tenure-track law professor at a majority school. Professor Hughes recounts her experiences in the chapter "Neither A Whisper Nor a Shout," in Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers (1998).

This year the student body also chose to establish a team leadership award in her honor. Each year the Joyce A. Hughes Leadership Award will be presented to two LLMs.

Professor Hughes received her JD at the University of Minnesota and then clerked for Judge Earl R. Larson, U.S. District Court. After working as an attorney at Howard, LeFevere, Lefler, Hamilton and Pearson, in Minneapolis, she taught law at the University of Minnesota from 1971 to 1975.

Professor Hughes joined the Northwestern law faculty in 1975 and teaches courses in civil procedure, evidence, immigration law, and refugees and asylum. Her other recent publications include: "Reverse Discrimination and the Academy," in the Michigan Journal of Race & Law (1998); and "Different Strokes: The Challenges Facing Black Women Law Professors in Selecting Teaching Methods," in the National Black Law Journal (1999).

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