Dean Eboni S. Nelson (Ebony)

Biographical information

Eboni S. Nelson became dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law on July 31, 2020. She came to UConn from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she taught for 13 years. From 2018 onward, she served as the associate dean for academic affairs. At South Carolina Law, she received the Best Classroom Teacher and Outstanding Faculty Service awards. In 2021, she was recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut by the state conference of the NAACP.

Before joining the South Carolina Law faculty in 2007, Dean Nelson taught at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and practiced employee benefits law at Bracewell LLP in Houston, Texas. She teaches in the fields of Contracts; Commercial Law; Consumer Law; and Race, Class and Education. Her scholarship focuses on education law and policy, and she is especially interested in the availability of equitable educational opportunities for students of color and those from economically challenged backgrounds.

Dean Nelson graduated summa cum laude from Wake Forest University and earned her JD from Harvard Law School, where she served as a Contracts teaching assistant to then-Professor Elizabeth Warren.

Throughout her career, Dean Nelson has been committed to public service. She served as the chair of the South Carolina Commission on Consumer Affairs and vice chair of the South Carolina State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She has also been a member of the Law School Admission Council Finance and Legal Affairs Committee, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and the American Bar Association Sabbatical Review Site Team. She currently serves on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford Board of Trustees and the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity Board of Directors.