Civil Rights Center Staff

Julius L. Chambers: Director Julius L. Chambers is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, University of Michigan and Columbia University School of Law. He received his law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill with high honors, where he was editor-in-chief of the North Carolina Law Review. Chambers is the nation's most renowned school desegregation attorney. For 15 years, he worked with community groups in Charlotte to chart the course of Swann v. Charlotte/Mecklenburg Board of Education, a case that eventually made Charlotte a national leader in school desegregation. At the same time, he and his law firm served as lead counsel in scores of school desegregation cases brought by African American communities throughout North and South Carolina. Upon becoming director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. in 1984, Chambers worked closely with virtually every major civil rights leader and organization in the nation, as well as with the nation's leading policymakers and scholars of public education. As chancellor of North Carolina Central University from 1991-2000, Chambers deepened his ties to the region's political and business leaders and to its local communities.

Charles E. Daye: Deputy Director Charles E. Daye is a graduate of North Carolina Central University. He received his law degree from Columbia University School of Law. Daye is a full-time faculty member at the UNC School of Law. He began his career as an associate with the firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer & Wood in New York City. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry Phillips, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, becoming the first African American to serve as a law clerk in that circuit. After the clerkship, Daye practiced as an associate with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He joined the law faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1972 where he was the first African American to hold a tenure-track position on the law faculty. In 1981 Daye was named dean of North Carolina Central University School of Law, where he served until 1985. He teaches torts, housing and community development, and administrative process and advocacy. He is the senior editor of a course book, Housing and Community Development (with Professors Mandelker, Hetzel, Kushner, McGee, Washburn, Salsich, and Keating).

S. Ashley Osment: Senior Attorney S. Ashley Osment is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. She received her law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1995. From 1987-1990, Osment was assistant legislative director for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in Washington, D.C., where she coordinated grassroots lobbying throughout the United States and wrote position papers on a number of issues for the organization's membership. After graduating from law school, Osment litigated civil rights cases with the Chapel Hill law firm McSurely & Osment, focusing on employment, housing discrimination, education and police misconduct. In January 2005, Osment joined the Center as a senior attorney focusing on education.

Mark Dorosin: Senior Attorney Mark Dorosin is a graduate of Duke University. He received a Master's Degree from UNC-Greensboro and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1994. Prior to joining the Center for Civil Rights, Dorosin worked for the Duke University School of Law as the Supervising Attorney in the Community Enterprise Clinic. As supervising attorney, he worked with law students to provide direct legal representation to community organizations working to promote economic development in under resourced and predominantly minority communities. Before joining the clinical program at Duke, Mark worked as an attorney and loan servicing officer at Self-Help, a leading North Carolina community development corporation. He was an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and the Interim Director of the UNC Law School Community Development Law Clinic during the 2003-04 academic year. From 1994-1997, he was a partner at Chapel Hill law firm concentrating on civil rights, constitutional law, and employment discrimination. In 2008, Dorosin joined the Center for Civil Rights as a Senior Attorney focusing in Community Inclusion and Economic Development.

 Adrienne M. B. Davis: Director of Research, Community Services and Student Programs Adrienne Davis is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, FL. She received her master's of public administration degree from the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the Center, Davis was a project manager with Wake County Government in Raleigh, N.C. As project manager, Davis worked with County departments to implement technological solutions that would improve and enhance Wake County services and operations. Davis joined the Center in June 2006; she manages the Center's research grants, communications and student programs.

Diane M. Standaert: Fellow Diane M. Standaert is a graduate of Florida State University. She received her law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2006 where she was a recipient of the Chancellor's Scholarship, the Law School's highest merit scholarship. Standaert was a housing policy analyst with the Florida Housing Finance Corporation in Tallahassee, FL, a law clerk for the NC Court of Appeals and a summer associate with Brown, Goldstein, and Levy in Baltimore, MD. She was a research assistant with the UNC Center for Civil Rights during the summer of 2004. She is the recipient of the inaugural Winston Crisp Award given to the graduating student who has had a lasting impact on public service while a student at the UNC School of Law. A fellow at the Center since August 2006, Standaert focuses on community inclusion and economic development.

Leah C. Aden: 2008 AT&T Education Fellow Leah C. Aden is a graduate of Columbia University. She received her law degree from Howard University Law School in 2006, where she was a Merit Scholar and twice recipient of the Dean's Public Interest Law Summer Fellowship. During law school, Aden was a Student Attorney with the D.C. Law Students in Court Program, a constitutional law instructor in a D.C. charter school, and a research assistant to Professor Andrew E. Taslitz. Further, Aden served as a legal research intern with the Mississippi Center for Justice, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., and the ACLU Women's Rights Project. After graduation, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable John T. Nixon of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Prior to attending law school, Aden was a middle school teacher in a D.C. public school. A fellow at the Center since October 2007, Aden focuses on education.

William A. Tobin: Coordinator of the Center's Fulfilling the Dream Higher Education Diversity Initiative, William A. Tobin is a graduate of Moravian College. He received his law degree from UNC, Chapel Hill in 2006 and his PhD in History (with concentrations in Education and Sociology) from Stanford University in 1994. He has taught History and Education at Stanford, Mills College, The National University of Ireland and is presently a Visiting-Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Duke University. Prior to attending graduate school, Bill was an elementary school teacher in Boston and Baltimore City.

2008 Summer Fellows

Vanesa Hernandez: 2008 Summer Fellow, Vanesa Hernandez graduated from the University of Florida in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. After graduation she worked with Voices for Children in Nebraska, a non-profit children's advocacy organization, as a Policy Research Associate. As a member of the class of 2010 at the University of North Carolina School of Law, she serves as the co-President of the Hispanic Latino Law Student Association. Hernandez focuses on education.

Harriet L. Huell: 2008 Long Civil Rights Movement Fellow, Harriet L. Huell is a graduate of Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC. She received her master's degree in Communication Law and Policy from The Pennsylvania State University. While in graduate school, she was a Bunton-Waller Fellow and Eugene S. Goodwin Scholarship recipient. Huell is a member of the class of 2010 at the University Of North Carolina School of Law, where she is a merit scholarship recipient, a teaching assistant with the UNC Writing Center and secretary of the Black Law Students Association. Her areas of interest include property law, community development and labor and employment law.

Jennifer W. Marsh: 2008 Summer Fellow, Jennifer W. Marsh is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the class of 2009 at UNC-Chapel Hill. During law school she has been active in many organizations including The Conference on Race, Class, Gender and Ethnicity, Carolina Public Interest Law Organization, and Parents as Law Students. Marsh served as a legal clerk to the Honorable Carl R. Fox in North Carolina Superior Court during the summer of 2007. Marsh focuses on community inclusion and economic development.

Travis L. Packer: 2008 Summer Fellow, Travis L. Packer is a graduate of North Carolina State University. In 2005 he received his degree in Political Science. He is currently a member of the class of 2009 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law. He has published articles for the UNC Banking Journal and the Environmental Law Symposium. Packer focuses on education.

Sarah Pfau, MPH: 2008 Summer Fellow, Sarah Pfau earned a Bachelor of Science degree from James Madison University in 1992 and a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995. Pfau has worked in non-profit, health department, and university settings and has experience in health education, health policy, and program planning, research, and evaluation. She completed her 2007 legal internship with the National Health Law Program, a public interest organization that serves uninsured and underinsured low income populations. She is a member of the class of 2009 at the North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Heather Quinn: 2008 Summer Fellow, Heather Quinn is a graduate of Drury University in Springfield, MO. She received her master's of theological studies degree from the Divinity School at Duke University. She will graduate with a law degree in May 2009 from Elon University School of Law as a member of the charter class. As a law student, Quinn is a Legal Research and Writing Scholar, Research Assistant to Professor Catherine Dunham, and recently completed an externship with Judge Bob Hunter of the NC Court of Appeals. Quinn focuses on education.

For more information about the Center, please contact:

Adrienne M. B. Davis: ambdavis@email.unc.edu or (919) 843-3921

Board of Advisors

• Julian Bond
  Distinguished Adjunct Professor in Residence
  American University
• William Darity, Jr.
  Director
  UNC Institute of African American Research
• Leslie Dunbar
  Washington, D.C.
• Martin Eakes
  President & CEO
  Center for Community Self-Help
• William Friday
  President Emeritus
  University of North Carolina
• William Johnson
  Partner
  Johnson & Johnson, P.A.
• James Johnson, Jr.
  William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor
  UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
• Elaine Jones
  Former President & Director Counsel
  NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
• Irving Joyner
  Professor
  North Carolina Central University School of Law
• Thomas Lambeth
  Senior Fellow
  Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
• William Leuchtenburg
  Professor Emeritus
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Norma Houston
  Lecturer in Public Law and Government
  UNC School of Government
• James Peacock
  Kenan Distinguished Professor
  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Beverly Perdue
  Lieutenant Governor
  State of North Carolina
• Jane Pigott
  Managing Director
  R3 Group LLC
• Teresa Roseborough
  Chief Litigation Counsel
  Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
• John Rosenberg
  Director Emeritus
  Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, Inc.
• Charles Sanders
  Chairman & CEO (Retired)
  Glaxo, Inc.
• Adam Stein
  Partner
  Ferguson Stein Chambers
• Charles Stone
  Walter Spearman Professor
  UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication