William H. Bowen School of Law
Charles C. Baum Distinguished Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development
Mr. andré douglas pond cummings is the Charles C. Baum distinguished professor of law and associate dean for faculty research and development at the William H. Bowen School of Law. Along with professor Anastia Boles, he founded and directs the Center for Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform at the law school.
Cummings co-founded and co-directs the Center for Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform with Boles. The center was launched in September 2021 to advance racial equity, access to justice, and fairness in Arkansas and the region through academic legal research. The mission of the Center aligns with Bowen’s core values of access to justice, public service, and professionalism. Cummings and Boles have secured more than $1.3 million dollars in grants and gifts for the center from organizations such as the Walmart Foundation, Winthrop Rockefeller, and Building Black Communities just to name a few. With this funding, and along with law school students, they have developed five primary center projects, which includes preparing more than 80 students of color to take the LSAT and the development of the Center for Racial Justice Speaker Series. Overall the center has employed more than 44 law schools in social justice work.
Cummings has also developed a national reputation as a scholar on social justice in regards to the law. His work has been widely received and has been downloaded over 13,150 times from the Bepress Bowen Law Repository and 11,250 times from the Social Sciences Research Network. Since joining the law school, he has published or is in the process of publishing 13 law review articles, two books, four book chapters, and one Amicus Brief filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Cummings received a J.D. from Howard University School of Law and B.S. in sociology from Brigham Young University.