Title: Dean and Professor of Law, American University
Nelson is the Dean of the Washington College of Law at American University, a position that she assumed in 2016. She previously served as the Dean of Suffolk University's School of Law in Boston and was a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she taught courses in Comparative Criminal Law and Transnational Law. Nelson was also a Dean's Scholar in Residence and visiting Professor of Law at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where she taught courses in Contracts and Criminal Law. Nelson began her education at the University of Toronto, and then went on to the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law to receive her law degree. She then completed a Master of Laws from Columbia Law School in New York. She was the first Black woman to clerk for the Supreme Court of Canada, the first woman and person of color to have been appointed dean at Suffolk University Law School, and the first Black person ever to be appointed dean at American University Washington College of Law. A prolific researcher, Nelson is an expert on the intersection of critical race theory and cultural studies with particular emphasis on criminal law and procedure, health law, and comparative law.
