17
GETTING PERSONAL
black valedictorian, and went on to attend Harvard Law School.
After graduating from law school, she clerked for U.S. District
Court Judge John P. Fullam in Philadelphia, and practiced law in
New York and Alabama. She taught at the University of Houston,
The University of Baltimore, American University, and The
University of Memphis, and was professor at the University of
Mississippi since 2008. She served at UM until joining Stetson
in 2019.
Dean Alexandre was most recently the associate dean for Faculty
Development and Intellectual Life, as well as a professor of law
and the Leonard B. Melvin Jr. Lecturer, at the University of
Mississippi School of Law.
During her professional and academic career, Dean Alexandre
received Fulbright and Watson fellowships; won the Ben A. Hardy
Faculty Excellence Award for outstanding teaching, scholarship and
service; was selected as an SEC-U Academic Leadership
Development Program Fellow; was named one of Ebony Magazine’s
Top 100 Influential African Americans of 2013; and was named one
of the 50 “Most Influential Minority Law Professors 50 Years of Age
or Younger” by Lawyers of Color Magazine.
Having grown up in a country where free speech and civil rights did
not exist and violence was commonplace, and then having endured
the challenges of starting over in a new country, Dean Alexandre
now carries a sense of fearlessness and urgency. Very little can be as
frightening as what she experienced in her youth, and she is keenly
aware of just how much of a difference teachers, education and
lawyers can make in a person’s life – because she is living proof.
Dean Alexandre brings that fervent belief to her role at Stetson Law
and hopes to ignite that passion in you – our dedicated alumni. She
wants to remind you of the difference you set out to make in the
world when you decided to become a lawyer and that Stetson Law
is here to help nurture those goals in you and all future students.
“The College of Law’s priorities regarding advocacy, social justice,
comprehensive practice readiness, academic rigor and student
engagement are dear to my heart. I am eager to work with all aspects
of the law school, the university, and with its amazing alumni to
help the law school continue to grow and reach new heights.,”
Alexandre said.
Academic Success and Student Support
Stetson Law’s pass rate for first-time takers exceeded the
statewide average for the July 2019 Florida Bar
Examination, but Dean Alexandre is motivated to improve
the rate significantly. She is in the midst of a national search for a
new Director of Academic Success and Bar Preparation and
increased the amount of direct involvement from faculty on Bar
prep. The Office of Bar Preparation Services also has full-time
attorneys who provide individual counseling on bar prep, and
Dean Alexandre welcomes any alumni interested in helping with
this effort.
One way Dean Alexandre hopes to increase comprehensive
practice readiness for students beyond the Bar is through
establishing an alumni-student mentoring program. While
internships offer great practical training opportunities, one-on-one
mentorship would give students a chance to glean more practical
guidance and potentially provide a lifelong resource to help shape
their careers. Sometimes the greatest gift really is time, and alumni
interested in sharing theirs can participate in this endeavor.
“Sometimes even the smartest, most talented students need the
outside perspective of someone who recognizes something in
them that they may not see in themselves,” Dean Alexandre said.
“That bit of encouragement or nudge in a new direction can
make all the difference.”
Dean Alexandre’s Bona Fides
Dean Alexandre knows just how much the right word, at
the right time, from the right source can impact a
person’s life because her life trajectory was propelled by
a key constituency: teachers.
She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1975 under the
dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, and came of age
during the tumult that drove Duvalier to flee and led to
subsequent government coups. She fled the violence when she
was 15, immigrating to Brooklyn with her mother and brother.
Though she spoke no English when she arrived, she was able to
utilize her exposure to Latin in Catholic school in Port-au-Prince
and her love of Toni Morrison’s books to become fluent in the
language and excel at Prospect Heights High School. The
teachers there opened her world in ways she could never have
imagined, exposing her to books, ballet, food, culture and more.
She enrolled at Colgate University at just 16, became its first
Alexandre is vegan and is a firm believer in practicing self-care, including
regular meditation. She also is an avid runner who has run with members
of Stetson’s running club and participates in local races.
She has a 4-year-old daughter and family in Orlando and Miami.
Her favorite TV show is The Good Place.
Her favorite book is The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the
Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The most pleasant thing about living in the Sunshine State so far:
the weather in November.