Professor andré douglas pond cummings has been named the next associate dean for faculty development at the UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He succeeds Professor Terrence Cain, who has served as associate dean since 2018. Cummings joined the law school faculty in 2018 and was recently named the Charles C. Baum Distinguished Professor of Law.

“During dre’s time here, he has made a meaningful impact at Bowen,” said Theresa Beiner, dean of the law school. “In addition to his prolific scholarship, he has spoken about his work both in and outside of Arkansas. He is also an innovative teacher who uses formative and summative assessments in his classes, including experiential drafting.”

Before arriving at Bowen, cummings was a visiting professor of law at The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, where he taught contracts I and II, hip hop & the American constitution and sports law. Prior to that, he also worked as a professor of law at the West Virginia University College of Law, where he taught business associations, civil procedure, entertainment law and securities regulation.

Cummings has written extensively over his career, including three books and over forty law review articles. His areas of expertise span corporate law, constitutional law, civil rights law, sports law and entertainment law, with his focus in each seemingly diverse area anchored in social justice and economic equality. Examples of this work include his books “Hip Hop and the Law” and “Corporate Justice” as well as his recent articles including “Reforming Policing” and “Roadmap for Antiracism: Unwind the War on Drugs Now.”

Cummings’s service activities include working with decArcerate, the Arkansas Cinema Society, and as Board President of Abolish Private Prisons. He is the co-director of Bowen’s new Board of Trustees approved Center for Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform, a center that will focus on improving the justice system here in Arkansas.

“I am deeply honored to have been asked by Dean Beiner to serve as the associate dean for faculty development and am very enthusiastic about working individually with my fellow faculty members,” said cummings. “I view faculty research and scholarship to be the lifeblood of a law school as transformative scholarship informs not just law practice, but also classroom teaching and the legal academy. I chose to come to Bowen because of the deep commitment that our faculty holds to teaching our students with great skill, but also in the dedication that many of our faculty have to producing meaningful scholarship that is cited by judges in their written opinions and quite literally impacts the state and nation in positive ways leading to more fair and just outcomes.”