2010 SALT Great Teacher

At this year's Annual Dinner, January 9, 2010, at the Hotel Monteleone, SALT  honored Professor Francisco Valdes with its Great Teacher Award.

Click here to read SALT's introduction at the 2010 annual dinner.

Click here to read Frank's dinner remarks: “Pedagogy and Technology:  Bringing Values Back into the Law School Classroom.”

Over the last 20 years, through teaching, scholarship, and service, Professor Valdes has exemplified the values and priorities of SALT.  His scholarship has broken new ground and opened up new inquiries aboutquestions of subordination and justice.  His self-styled "outsider jurisprudence" is perhaps the most robust intervention in questions of racial justice, sexual self-determination, gender equity, and economic emancipation.  Never the "lone warrior," Professor Valdes has consistently, even insistently, worked to build a community with the agenda of anti-subordination activism within and beyond the legal academy.  He is recognized as an effective and empathic teacher both within and outside the classroom.

Professor Valdes is not only been an inspirational teacher to students, but has mentored a generation of young faculty as a co-founder of Latina/o Critical Legal Theory, better known as LatCrit, a vital and dynamic community of progressive legal academics with which SALT shares many members. Professor Valdes' tireless efforts over a dozen years were the driving force behind many of the projects that comprise LatCrit's portfolio.  

Students from all over the world and from many disciplines have become involved in the work of LatCrit because of Professor Valdes.  He has been a tireless lecturer and mentor to students.

Frank's dedication to grooming progressive scholars of color, gay and lesbian, women, once "outsiders" to the academy plays a critical role in the joint SALT-LatCrit Junior Faculty Development Workshop, an annual event that precedes the opening of the LatCrit conference.  This year the Junior Faculty Development Workshop is on October 1, 2009, and is hosted by American University, Washington College of Law.  The Workshop
has succeeded in moving progressive and diverse scholars through the tenure process. 

For his extraordinary leadership, scholarship, teaching, and community building, SALT is proud to honor Professor Valdes with this Great Teacher Award.

Download a bibliography of Professor Valdes' scholarship.