Professor Robert Chang Named 2022–2023 McGoldrick Fellow

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

I am very pleased to announce that Robert Chang, professor of law and executive director of the Fred T. Korematsu Center, is the 2022–2023 recipient of the James B. McGoldrick, S.J., Fellowship. Named for Father McGoldrick, who died in 1983 after devoting 50 years of distinguished teaching and dedicated service to Seattle University, the fellowship is given to faculty who exemplify Fr. McGoldrick’s commitment to students and the values of the Jesuit educational tradition. It is the most prestigious honor Seattle University confers upon its faculty. 

Professor Chang is an outstanding and nationally recognized teacher, scholar, lawyer and civil rights advocate. He co-edited Minority Relations: Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation, authored Disoriented: Asian Americans, Law, and the Nation-State and has written numerous articles, book chapters, essays and op-eds. Matching the abundance of Professor Chang’s scholarly works is their influence in effecting change and making progress toward racial justice.

An accomplished civil rights attorney, Professor Chang has engaged in a number of efforts to combat racial discrimination and bias. Among other examples, he helped challenge an Arizona statute banning a high school Mexican American Studies Program and served as primary organizer of a task force on race and Washington’s criminal justice system, whose influential report was recently presented to the Washington Supreme Court.

Professor Chang was the driving force behind the creation and the mission of the Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. Under his leadership, the center has become a national model for bringing research, advocacy and education together to fight racial inequities in the legal system. Perhaps most importantly, Professor Chang, through this classroom teaching and the work of the center, has trained countless new lawyers in civil rights advocacy and litigation, instilling in them the value of pro bono work and a commitment to social justice. 

Among many other recognitions and distinctions, Professor Chang has received the 2021 Kathleen Taylor Civil Libertarian Award from ACLU – Washington, the 2019 Derrick Bell Legacy Award from the Critical Race Studies in Education Association, and the 2018 Community Service Award from the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington.

In the center, the classroom and the courtroom, Professor Chang is making a difference and helping create a judicial system and society that is more equitable and just. We look forward to celebrating Professor Chang as our 2022–2023 McGoldrick Fellow at the Provost's Celebration of Faculty Scholarship and Achievements on May 19. As our McGoldrick Fellow, Professor Chang will also receive a one-semester sabbatical.

Please join me in congratulating and thanking him for representing our university at its very best.

Sincerely,

Shane P. Martin, PhD
Provost