By Angelita Faller and the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law
From an early age, Adjoa Aiyetoro learned the virtues of helping others.
“I was raised by parents who believed strongly in public service,” said Aiyetoro, a UALR professor of law. “My whole life my father said the purpose of life was to serve. It’s in my nature.”
Aiyetoro has been a leading voice in ending racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Her public service focuses on researching and resolving racism and its effects in the United States, with a particular focus on the need for racial justice.
Ever since joining UALR in 2004, Aiyetoro has continued her lifetime of public service, which was recognized when she received the 2016 award for Faculty Excellence in Public Service and a $5,000 prize.
She said serving as the director of the Racial Disparities in the Arkansas Criminal Justice System Research Project was one of her greatest accomplishments.
Aiyetoro developed a team and began researching records of hundreds of Arkansas prisoners to determine the reasons for significant racial disparities within the state’s criminal justice system.
Their findings concluded blacks were more likely to receive capital murder charges than whites and were more likely to receive more severe punishment, especially the death penalty, even for the same type of conviction.
Aiyetoro’s work on this project resulted in a conference in August 2015 sponsored by the Racial Disparities Project’s Steering Committee and has contributed to legislation to obtain support for racial impact.
She has also worked as a board member of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and served as the inaugural director of UALR’s Institute on Race and Ethnicity.
“I think that public service is one of the purposes of our lives, and we have to provide community service on any of the issues that we are passionate about,” she said. “I think public service is important to create a viable and healthy society.”
“We have been very lucky to have Professor Aiyetoro as a faculty member and an inspiration,” said Michael Hunter Schwartz, Dean of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. “Her hard work, passion and concrete public service achievements are a credit to the law school and a human demonstration of Bowen’s core values. This award is richly deserved.”
