Tulane faculty, staff receive prestigious university awards

Faculty and staff of Tulane Law School were honored with university awards recently for their outstanding contributions to the university’s mission and support of students. 

• Dean of Experiential Learning and Public Interest Programs Tonya Rhodes Jupiter (L’94) received the President’s Staff Excellence Award at the State of the University Address for her enhancement of the university’s processes and objectives and demonstration of humanitarianism through a high level of service, loyalty, and trustworthiness. 
• Professor Carla Laroche, the Felder-Fayard Associate Professor of Law, received the 2024 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the university’s Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Awards ceremony for research addressing societal inequality and the promotion of social change.
• Professor Frédéric "Freddy" Sourgens, Director of the Tulane Center for Energy Law, received the Convergence Award, also at the Achievement Award ceremony. The Convergence award recognizes Sourgens’ collaborations across schools, units, and departments to surpass traditional academic disciplines and further Tulane’s research mission. 

“These honors highlight the dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment that each of them brings to our community every day,” said law Dean Marcilynn Burke in announcing the awards. “Tonya, Carla and Freddy represent the best of Tulane Law School in their exceptional dedication to the law, legal scholarship, equity and inclusion, and the education of our students.”

Jupiter, as Dean of Experiential Learning, has oversight of public interest initiatives, pro bono work, and the full range of experiential learning programs for law students, which include Trial Advocacy and the Tulane legal clinics.  In nominating Jupiter, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Stacy Seicshnaydre focused on Jupiter’s humanity. 

“In addition to being an excellent administrator and adjunct teacher, Dean Jupiter is also a wonderful person and Tulane alumna, giving of her time and talents to every student and colleague,” she wrote. 

Since her arrival at Tulane in 2016, Jupiter has been the force behind making sure more than 600 law students at any given time connect with dozens of agencies and non-profits assisting underrepresented individuals. Under her supervision, Tulane Law students have logged a whopping 199,322 pro bono hours and she has been instrumental in upgrading the system of tracking the scope and impact of students’ public service work by piloting a data-rich platform, which is guiding similar efforts campus-wide.

In bestowing the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to Professor Laroche, nominators noted that she draws on the deep well of experience she has gained as a practitioner, clinical law teacher, and advocate to identify and tackle disparities at the intersection of criminal legal systems and voting regimes. 

 Her work is grounded in the effort to highlight the legal and nonlegal challenges individuals must navigate across multiple legal systems and to offer practical solutions to these barriers. Despite the impression that certain laws and policies provide access to justice, her research peels back the layers to expose the harsh realities behind these policies and the necessary interventions. 

“Professor Laroche’s law and policy research and recommendations address societal inequalities and promote social change,” Seicshnaydre wrote in her nomination letter. “In our view, Professor Laroche is demonstrating the kind of imagination and inspired action that is required to make real change in and beyond the legal system.”

The University selected Professor Freddy Sourgens, James McCulloch Chair in Energy Law and Director of the Tulane Energy Law Center, for the Convergence Award noting that he has been a leading force bringing together individuals across the university from law, business, science and engineering, environmental studies, and international and comparative legal studies to advance the study of energy transition.  

Nominated by multiple scholars from various disciplines across the university, they praised Sourgens for his role in developing the university’s Future of Energy Forum, which brings together thought leaders from politics, business, the sciences, civil society, and leading researchers from across the university and indeed the world.

“In his short time at Tulane, Professor Sourgens has already proven himself to be an individual who can truly help bring together the greatest minds at Tulane to consider some of the biggest challenges that lie ahead,” nominators wrote.