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Prof. Ansley talks about what she enjoys about teaching at the UT College of Law.
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Teaching and Learning

Frances Lee Ansley

College of Law Distinguished Professor of Law
B.A., 1969, Harvard/Radcliffe College
J.D., 1979, University of Tennessee
LL.M., 1988, Harvard Law School

Discrimination, Community Legal Education, Public Interest Law, Property, and Community Partnership Development

ansley@libra.law.utk.edu

Professor Ansley's expertise reaches beyond the law school and into the community, where she has often found ways to unite her scholarship, teaching and service in collaborative projects aimed at understanding and addressing problems of social justice. Professor Ansley speaks frequently and is widely published and reprinted in the areas of civil rights, labor rights, impacts of globalization, and issues of race and gender, with a special interest in the Southeastern U.S. and the evolving economic and cultural relations between the U.S. and Latin America. She is a practitioner of "the scholarship of teaching and learning" and was part of the 2000-2001 cohort of interdisciplinary participants in the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, as reflected in the website she and Cathy Cochran of the UT Law Library faculty created on "Law Student Field Projects in Community Law." Professor Ansley's articles have appeared in a number of law reviews, including California, Colorado, Cornell, Georgetown, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, and she has contributed chapters to several interdisciplinary books on issues of race, gender, poverty, and economic restructuring. In addition to her legal scholarship, Professor Ansley is co-author of a memoir concerning a 1989 coal miners' strike in southwest Virginia, co-editor/author of an oral history of labor struggles in several East Tennessee coal mining communities, and co-author of the original edition of Our Bodies, Our Selves. She currently serves as principal humanities adviser to a video documentary on impacts of globalization in East Tennessee, directed and produced by independent videomaker Anne Lewis. Professor Ansley received the 2003 Carden Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship, the Marilyn V. Yarbrough Faculty Award for Writing Excellence in 1994, and the W. Allen Separk Award for Superior Achievement in Scholarship in 1993 and 2002. Professor Ansley has a particular interest in lawyering for and with organizations that are working to bring about grassroots, bottom-up social change. She has provided pro bono representation, has done legal and empirical research, and has worked as a community legal educator with a range of groups over the years, sometimes together with her students.

Publications

       Books & Chapters:

Local Contact Points with Global Divides: Labor Rights and Immigrant Rights as Sites for Cosmopolitanism Legality, in Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality (Boaventura de Sousa Santos & César A. Rodríguez, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Constructing Citizenship Without a License: The Struggle of Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S. for Livelihoods and Recognition, in Meanings and Expressions of Rights and Citizenship (Naila Kabeer & John Gaventa, eds., Zed Press, 2005).

Who Counts? The Case for Participatory Research, in Laboring Below the Line: The New Ethnography of Poverty, Low-Wage Work, and Survival in the New Economy (Frank Munger, ed., Russell Sage, 2002).

Recognizing Race in the American Legal Canon, in Legal Canons (J.M. Balkin and Sanford Levinson, eds., New York University Press, New York, 2000).

Putting the Pieces Together: Tennessee Women Find the Global Economy in Their Own Backyards, in Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain: Women, Food & Globalization (Deborah Barndt, ed., Second Story Press, Toronto, 1999).

What’s the Globe Got to Do with It?, in Hard Labor: Poor Women and Work in the Post-Welfare Era (Joel Handler & Lucie White eds., M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York, 1999).

Co-author with Susan Williams, Southern Women and Southern Borders on the Move: Tennessee Workers Explore the New International Division of Labor, in Neither Separate nor Equal: Women, Race and Class in the U.S. South (Barbara Smith ed., Temple University Press, 1999).

       Articles:

Book Review, _____ Journal of Appalachian Studies ____ (forthcoming
2006)(reviewing A Strike Like No Other Strike: Law and Resistance during
the Pittston Coal Strike of 1989-1990
(2002) by Richard A. Brisbin, Jr.)

Going On-Line with Justice Pedagogy: Four Ways of Looking at a Web Site (Villanova Law Review, 2005)(with Cathy Cochran).

Inclusive Boundaries and Other (Im)possible Paths Toward Community Development in a Global World, 150 U. Penn. L. Rev. 353 (2001); excerpts reprinted in Social Justice: Professionals, Communities and Law (Martha Mahoney, John Calmore, and Stephanie Wildman eds. 2003).

Borders, 78 Denver U.L. Rev. 965 (Part of LatCrit V Symposium) (2001).

Teaching Across Race, Class and Gender: The New Immigration in Tennessee, Center News, Center for Research on Women, University of Memphis, Fall 1999, p. 9.

Rethinking Law in Globalizing Labor Markets, 1 U. Penn. J. Lab. & Empl. Law 369 (1998).

Classifying Race, Racializing Class, 68 Colo. L. Rev. 1001 (1997).

Co-author with John Gaventa, Researching for Democracy and Democratizing Research, Change, Jan/Feb 1997, pp. 46-53. Reprinted in Doing Community-Based Research: A Reader (Danny Murphy and Madeleine Scammel, eds., Amherst, MA: Loka Institure, 1997).

The Gulf of Mexico, the Academy, and Me, 78 Soundings 69 (1995).

Starting with the Students: Lessons from Popular Education, 4 S. Cal. Rev. L. & Women’s Stud. 7 (1994).

Standing Rusty and Rolling Empty: Law, Poverty, and America’s Eroding Industrial Base, 81 Georgetown L.J. 1757 (1993). Excerpts reprinted in Poverty Law: Theory and Practice (Julie Nice and Louise Trubek, eds., 1997).

A Civil Rights Agenda for the Year 2000, 59 Tenn. L. Rev. 593 (1992). Excerpts reprinted in Critical White Studies (Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds., 1997).

North American Free Trade Agreement: The Public Debate, 22 Ga. J. Int’l Comp. L. 329 (1992).

U.S.-Mexico Free Trade from the Bottom: A Postcard from the Border, 1 Tex. J. Women and Law 193 (1992).

Race and the Core Curriculum in Legal Education, 79 Calif. L. Rev. 1511 (1991). Excerpts reprinted in Critical White Studies (Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds., 1997).

Stirring the Ashes: Race, Class and the Future of Civil Rights Scholarship, 74 Cornell L. Rev. 993 (1989). Excerpts reprinted in Critical White Studies (Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, eds., 1997).

Recent Professional Presentations and Service

Co-organizer of a conference on "The New Latino Immigration to Tennessee:
Opportunities and Challenges," attended by over 500 scholars, practicing
professionals, members of the immigrant community, policy makers and
advocates, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, March 31-April 1, 2006 (with
Dr. Jon Shefner, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director, Global
Studies Interdisciplinary Program, UTK). Archived conference website
accessible at: http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/imm-conf/.

Speaker on panels, "Reports from the Field on Immigrant Worker Organizing"
(with José Oliva, Ben Davis, and Jennifer Gordon), and "Immigrant Worker
Organizing in the Food and Agricultural Sectors" (with Báldemar Velazquez,
Lance Compa and Ben Davis), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, January
2006.

Speaker for Humanities Tennessee, in connection with the Smithsonian
Institutions's exhibit "Between Fences," traveling around the U.S. in 2006
as part of the Institution's project, Museums on Main Street. Venues for
these talks in fall, 2005, were small museums in Jonesborough, Maryville,
and Marynardville, Tennessee. The topic was Latino immigration to
Tennessee and the history of U.S. immigration policy.

Speaker on "The H2-A Guestworker Program as a Template for Immigration Law
Reform," UT College of Law Faculty Forum, Summer 2005.

Speaker on "Mexican Guestworkers: Opportunities for Transnational
Organizing," as part of a panel at the annual meeting of the Global
Studies Association, held this year in Knoxville at UTK, May, 2005

Speaker on panel, "Identity, Practice Setting and Political Commitment,"
at conference on Cause Lawyering and Social Movements, UCLA School of Law,
Los Angeles, March 2005 (with Brenda Blom and Cory Shdaimah)

Speaker at faculty colloquium, American University Washington College of
Law, talk on "Mexican Guestworkers in Carolina del Norte: Social Justice
Lawyering on Transnational Ground," Washington, D.C., February 2005.

Speaker on panel, "Teaching Outside the Classroom," at a conference on
Class in the Classroom, sponsored by the Society of American Law Teachers,
Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2004.

Presenter on "Justice-Seeking Networks as Channels for Going Public with
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning," at the 4th Annual International
Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, convened by the
Educational Development Centre, City University of London, May 2004.

Co-presenter with Cathy Cochran on panel, "Critical Pedagogies," at
LatCrit IX conference, Malvern Pennsylvania, April 2004.

Presenter on "Braiding Stories, Bending Law" at Tenth Annual Pedagogy &
Theater of the Oppressed Conference, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2004.

Moderator of panel on "Property in a Global Arena: The
Supernationalization of Property Processes," a program of the Section on
Property Law at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law
Schools, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2004 (with speakers Graeme Dinwoodie,
Thomas Merrill, Patrick Randolph, and David Schneiderman).

Speaker at concluding plenary on "Globalization and Markets: Implications
for the Profession and for Progressive Practice," at conference at
Northeastern University School of Law on "Ideology and Strategy:
Progressive Lawyering, Globalization & Markets, Boston, November 2003
(with Michael Hertz, Deena Hurwitz, James Rowan, Peter Enrich, and Ingrid
Nava).

Speaker on panel, "Identity, Practice Setting and Political Commitment," at conference on Cause Lawyering and Social Movements, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, March 2005 (with Brenda Blom and Cory Shdaimah).

Speaker at faculty colloquium, American University Washington College of Law, talk on "Mexican Guestworkers in Carolina del Norte: Social Justice Lawyering on Transnational Ground," Washington, D.C., February 2005.

Speaker on panel, "Teaching Outside the Classroom," at a conference on Class in the Classroom, sponsored by the Society of American Law Teachers, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2004.

Presenter on "Justice-Seeking Networks as Channels for Going Public with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning," at the 4th Annual International Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, convened by the Educational Development Centre, City University of London, May 2004.

Co-presenter with Cathy Cochran on panel, "Critical Pedagogies," at LatCrit IX conference, Malvern Pennsylvania, April 2004.

Presenter on "Braiding Stories, Bending Law" at Tenth Annual Pedagogy & Theater of the Oppressed Conference, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2004.

Moderator of panel on "Property in a Global Arena: The Supernationalization of Property Processes," a program of the Section on Property Law at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2004 (with speakers Graeme Dinwoodie, Thomas Merrill, Patrick Randolph, and David Schneiderman).

Speaker at concluding plenary on "Globalization and Markets: Implications for the Profession and for Progressive Practice," at conference at Northeastern University School of Law on "Ideology and Strategy: Progressive Lawyering, Globalization & Markets, Boston, November 2003 (with Michael Hertz, Deena Hurwitz, James Rowan, Peter Enrich, and Ingrid Nava).

Presenter at workshop on "Meanings and Expressions of Citizenship" convened by the Democratic Research Centre on Citizenship, Participantion and Accountability and the University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch, South Africa, June 2003.

Speaker on panel, "Social Justice Perspectives on Globalization and Technology" at a conference on information technology and globalization at Santa Clara University, April 24, 2003.

Pro Bono & Public Interest Work

Professor Ansley's pro bono and public interest law activities closely track her scholarly research and her teaching practice. She is particularly interested in ways that lawyers can strengthen grassroots groups and support the efforts of such groups to identify their own problems, define their own agendas, and carry out bottom-up research, education, organizing and advocacy. Some groups that she has worked with over the years, sometimes in collaboration with her students, include:

Appalshop Community Arts Center in Whitesburg, Kentucky

Austin East High School, English Department

Carpetbag Theater and its Knoxville American Festival Project

Catholic Hispanic Ministries

Church Street United Methodist Church

Circle Modern Dance

Citizens for Police Review

Commission on Religion in Appalachia

Cumberland Mountain Film Cooperative

East Tennessee Interfaith Network for Worker Justice

Federation for Industrial Retention and Renewal

Highlander Research and Education Center

Jefferson County High School, Mock Trial Program

East Tennessee Jobs with Justice

Latinos Unidos

Legal Aid of East Tennessee

Lisa Ross Birth & Women's Center

Muscular Dystrophy Association

National Conference for Communities and Justice

Project Change

Regional Economic Justice Network

Save Our Cumberland Mountains

Solutions to Issues of Concern to Knoxvillians

Southern Migrant Legal Services

Tanasi Girl Scout Council

Tennessee Committee for Occupational Safety & Health

Tennessee Economic Renewal Network

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

UTK Community Partnership Center

Union of Needletrades Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE)

United Campus Workers

West High School, SOcial Sciences Department

YWCA of Knoxville

Selected Achievements and Affiliations

2003 Carden Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship, University of Tennessee College of Law.

2000 Carnegie Fellow, Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Honorable Mention, Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach, New England Resource Center for Higher Education.

Member of Advisory Committee for Status of Women in Tennessee, a report prepared by the Institute for Women's Policy Research and the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, Fall 2000.

Chancellor's Award for Extraordinary Community Service, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Finalist, Knoxville YWCA Women of Achievement Award, 1995.

Marilyn V. Yarbrough Faculty Award for Writing Excellence, 1994.

W. Allen Separk Award for Superior Achievement in Scholarship, 1993 and 2002.

Member, Order of the Coif.

Member, Phi Kappa Phi.

Works in Progress

Research on the use of grassroots community placements as a teaching strategy in legal education, conducted as part of an interdisciplinary undertaking with the Carnegie Academy on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Principal humanities advisor to Anne Lewis, independent videomaker, for documentary on immigration and other impacts of globalization in Appalachia.

On-going research on domestic and international impacts of globalization on low- and moderate-income people in the United States and elsewhere, and the role of law in exacerbating or mediating those impacts.

June 1, 2006