Center for Race and Law to Welcome Its Inaugural Scholar in Residence

Next month, the Law School’s Center for Race and Law will welcome SMU Dedman School of Law Professor Carliss Chatman as its inaugural Scholar in Residence. The new program expands the Center’s efforts to help students, academics, practitioners, and community members examine race and its intersection with the law through lectures, symposia, dialogue, and scholarship.

At SMU Dedman Law, Professor Chatman teaches Business Enterprises, Race, Entrepreneurship & Inequality, and Professional Responsibility. Her work explores how corporate power, contract law, and governance norms reinforce racial capitalism and inequality. During her weeklong residency, she will present her forthcoming scholarship, “A Tale of Two Contracts: Plessy v. Lochner,” at a faculty workshop and guest lecture in Professor Taifha Natalee Alexander's Race and the Law class, Professor Miriam A. Cherry's Contracts class, and Professor Cheryl L. Wade's Law, Legal Policy and Black Culture seminar. 

Looking ahead to her time at St. John’s Law, Professor Chatman says, “I’m delighted to serve as the inaugural Scholar in Residence. My work asks how law structures economic and institutional power, and this residency creates a rare opportunity to explore those questions across fields—from corporate governance and democracy to contracts, race, and Black legal thought. I’m especially looking forward to the sustained engagement with St. John’s faculty and students that the residency makes possible."

Professor Renee Nicole Allen, who has directed the Center for Race and Law since its start in 2022, also welcomes the new program. “Professor Chatman's scholarship has influenced the way scholars think about race and law,” she notes. “We’re excited to have her serve as our first Scholar in Residence and engage with students and faculty around her research and writing. The Center continues to evolve in support of its mission, and the Scholar in Residence program is an exciting next step.”