Adrien Katherine Wing

Adrien Katherine Wing, Bessie Dutton Murray Professor, Associate Dean for Faculty Development, University of Iowa.

"Dean Wing is the Bessie Dutton Murray Professor at the University of Iowa College of Law. Additionally, she is the Associate Dean for Faculty Development as well as the Director of the Summer abroad program in Arcachon, France. She will be the onsite director for the spring 2010 semester abroad program in London.

"After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton with high honors in 1978, Professor Wing earned her Master of Arts degree in African studies from UCLA in 1979. She obtained her Doctorate of Jurisprudence degree in 1982 from Stanford Law School, and was awarded the Stanford African Student Association Prize. While in law school, she served as an editor of the Stanford Journal of International Law, as an intern with the United Nations Council on Namibia, and as Southern Africa Task Force Director of the National Black Law Students Association.

"Prior to joining the College of Law faculty in 1987, Professor Wing spent five years in practice in New York City with Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle and with Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, specializing in international law issues regarding Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. She also served as a representative to the United Nations for the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

"Professor Wing presently teaches International Human Rights,  and Law in the Muslim World. She has taught US Constitutional Law, Critical Race Theory, Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Race, Racism & American Law, Law in Radically Different Cultures, and the International and Domestic Legal Aspects of AIDS. She is, in addition, a member of The University of Iowa's interdisciplinary African Studies faculty. During fall 2002, she was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

"Author of more than 100 publications, Wing is the editor of Critical Race Feminism -- A Reader (New York University Press, 2d edition 2003) and Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader (New York University Press 2000). Her US-oriented scholarship has focused on race and gender discrimination, including topics such as the impact of Hurricane Katrina, gangs, mothering, affirmative action, the war on terrorism, and polygamy in Black America. Her international scholarship has emphasized two regions: Africa, especially South Africa; and the Middle East, in particular the Palestinian legal system.  Constitutionalism, women’s rights, rape in Bosnia, Muslim headscarves in France, Tunisian secularism, and Turkish democracy are among the topics of recent articles.

"Professor Wing has advised the founding fathers and mothers of three constitutions: South Africa, Palestine, and Rwanda. She organized an election-observer delegation to South Africa, and taught at the University of Western Cape for six summers.  She also advised  the Eritrean Ministry of Justice on human rights treaties.

"An accomplished public speaker, Wing has lectured all over the world. Having studied French, Portuguese, and Swahili, she served on delegations to  many nations including Angola, Cuba, Egypt, Grenada, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Palestine, Panama, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. She has conducted additional research in China, France, Hong Kong, Brazil and London.

"Further, Wing has received numerous honors, and held  leadership positions in various organizations.  She is a current Vice President of the American Society of International Law. Additionally, she has served as Chair of the International Section of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, as a member of the TransAfrica Forum Scholars Council, and on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Peace Institute and the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, as well as the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors. Iowa Governor Vilsack appointed Professor Wing to the Commission on the African American Prison Population in 1999. She was the Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Minority Section in 2002. She currently serves on the Board of the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law and is  on the Board of Editors of the American Journal of Comparative Law as well.

"She is a life member of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations and a law school inspector for the American Bar Association.

"Professor Wing is a member of the New York Bar." CV

Other Affilations

 * Council on Foreign Relations (term member) 1985-1990
 * American Society of International Law Vice President 2007-2009, Executive Council 2007-2009, 1986-89, 1996-99
 * Human Rights Watch Africa Division Advisory Committee 2007-
 * Iowa Peace Institute 1993-1995
 * Transafrica Forum Scholars Council 1993-1995
 * Iowa City Foreign Relations Council 1989-1994

Foreign Posts

 * Advisor: African National Congress (South Africa) Constitutional Committee 1991-1994
 * Consultant: USAID in West Bank and Gaza 1996 - Independent contractor hired by the State University of New York at Albany to assist the Palestinian Legislative Council with drafts of the Basic Law, a constitution for autonomous Palestine
 * United Nations/ERITREAN MINISTRY OF JUSTICE 2000 - consultant on international human rights treaties
 * US Department of State 2001 - consultant specialist at Rwanda Conference on Constitutional Development assisting Rwandan Constitutional Commission in developing a post-genocide constitution

Select Publications

 * Democracy, Constitutionalism & the Future State of Palestine: with a case study of women's rights (PASSIA Institute, Jerusalem 1994)
 * Judicial Review for Palestine (with Qais Abdel-Fattah and Sonya Braunschweig) (Birzeit University Law Center, Ramallah, Palestine 1996)
 * Critical Race Feminism: A Reader (New York University Press 1997)
 * Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader (New York University Press 2000)
 * International Human Rights Treaties for Eritrea=s Consideration (with Yohannes Ghebremedhin) (2000)