Dean Eboni S. Nelson has received the Edwin Archer Randolph Diversity Award from the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity. The statewide award, named for the first lawyer of color admitted to the Connecticut Bar, honors individuals who champion diversity and inclusion within the legal profession.
Nelson was recognized as a visionary and strategic leader who is committed to public service and empowers students, staff, and faculty to achieve their personal and professional goals.
“I’m extremely honored to receive the Edwin Archer Randolph Diversity Award from the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity,” Nelson says. “Helping to make law schools and the legal profession more accessible and inclusive is both a personal and professional commitment for me. I’m proud of UConn Law’s ongoing work to help advance this important mission.”
Margaret Murolo ’24 nominated Nelson for the award in recognition of the positive impact she has had on law students, UConn Law, and the broader legal community.
“I have been privileged to see firsthand how Dean Nelson turned her commitment to diversity, inclusion, and opportunity into meaningful action by expanding access, opening doors, and creating pathways for future generations of lawyers,” Murolo says.
Nelson is the School of Law’s first non-interim Black female dean. In her six years as dean, she has emphasized the importance of equity and opportunity in legal education. She often tells incoming students at orientation about her experience as a first-generation law student and stresses to them that they belong at UConn Law just as she belonged at her law school.
Under Nelson’s leadership, the School of Law enrolled its most diverse and academically accomplished class in history for two straight years. She established the Office of Diversity, Belonging, and Community Engagement and appointed the inaugural assistant dean to lead the new office. She created the Constance Belton Green Diversity Fund, the first law school fund to provide broad support for racial and social justice initiatives. Additionally, she has established new pathway and outreach programs such as the Lifting the Law program in collaboration with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford and Otis Elevator.
This summer, Nelson was nominated to become a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. ABF Fellows are a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession. The foundation says membership in the fellowship is a high distinction, limited to 1% of licensed attorneys. She is also a James W. Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.
In recent years, the Hartford Business Journal recognized her with the Top 25 Women in Business Award and included her on its Power 50 List of influential leaders in the Greater Hartford area. She was presented with the Visionary Award by the George W. Crawford Black Bar Association, and the state conference of the NAACP recognized her as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut.
