Director of the Public Interest Resource Center and Professor of Legal Methods
A.B., Bryn Mawr College
J.D., Boston University
Ph.D, Seton Hall University
E-mail:
sthowe-barksdale@widener.eduPhone: 302.477.2214
Sydney Howe-Barksdale is the Director of the Public Interest Resource Center and a Professor of Legal Methods at the Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Howe-Barksdale works to promote public interest work among Widener law students by developing relationships with agencies in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey that need law school student volunteers. In addition, she supervises pro bono programs based on Widener’s campus.
Dr. Howe-Barksdale received an A.B. in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. As a law student, she was a Public Interest Legal Fellow and interned with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and clerked for U.S. Magistrate, Hon. Joyce London Alexander. Later, she earned her Ph.D. in Education Leadership, Management and Policy from Seton Hall University. Dr. Howe-Barksdale is a Legal Anthropologist and examines impact of legal systems (immigration laws in particular) on individual rights and local cultures. Dr. Howe-Barksdale teaches Public Interest Lawyering and Legal Methods and researches in the areas of immigration and public interest lawyering. Dr. Howe-Barksdale serves as the faculty advisor to the Public Interest Law Alliance.
Before joining the faculty and administration at Widener School of Law, Dr. Howe-Barksdale served as a senior associate at McDonald, Patrick & Roberts (civil rights, immigration, and family law litigation), Director of the Office of Social Equity at Bloomsburg University, Associate Vice President for Diversity and Minority Affairs at William Paterson University, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at William Paterson University, and Interim Executive Director of the Toll Public Interest Center at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Dr. Howe-Barksdale has been active in many professional and civic organizations including serving as a Board member of the United Way and as a Board member of the Germantown YWCA. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Delaware Volunteer Legal Services, the Law School Outreach Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Public Interest Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, a member of the Parent Alliance and on the Leadership Team of the Families of Color organization at Westtown School. Dr. Howe-Barksdale is admitted to practice in the State of Maryland, and is a member of the ABA, NBA, and Philadelphia Bar Association. Dr. Howe-Barksdale can be reached by email at
sthowe-barksdale@widener.edu.
Selected Recent PublicationsArticles
- The Untold Story: African American Women Administrators’ Alchemy of Turning Adversity into Gold. Forum on Public Policy Online, Winter 2007 edition. Available at http://www.forumonpublicpolicy.com/archive07.pdf.
- with Gerri Budd & Tasha Toy “Consent of the Governed: Political Attitudes of Women Voters” Seton Hall University's 1st Annual Women's Conference: A Celebration of Women (Conference Proceedings, South Orange, NJ) March, 2004.
- with Henry Pruitt "Advancing Diversity from Symbol to Practice." American Council on Education, Office of Minorities in Higher Education: Educating All of One Nation (Conference Proceedings, Cincinnati, Ohio) October, 2001.
- "Race Does Matter: an examination of race discrimination lawsuits and possible consequences for affirmative action programs." 6th Annual Sankofa Conference (Conference Proceedings, Bloomsburg, PA) February, 2000.