Faculty and Administration Profiles

Zelda B. Harris

About

Zelda B. Harris previously served as associate dean of academic affairs, a role to which she was appointed in January 2018. In this role, she led, supervised, and managed the law school curriculum for JD and other graduate programs, and developed courses, academic policies, and other curricular programming. In addition, she recruited professional adjunct faculty to teach upper-level courses.

She is the architect of the School of Law’s Professional Identity Formation (PIF) course, an anti-racism, intersectionality, and implicit bias course required for all first-year students, which launched in 2018.

Harris joined the faculty of Loyola University Chicago School of Law in August 2012 as director of the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy. Under her leadership, the School of Law’s trial advocacy program became nationally ranked, and student teams regularly win regional, national, and international competitions. She provides leadership in all aspects of the advocacy program, including curriculum development, program growth, and alumni relations.

Harris is a Mary Ann G. McMorrow Professor of Law. She teaches courses in trial advocacy, evidence, and domestic violence law.

Prior to joining Loyola in 2012, Harris served for 14 years as a law faculty member, director of the Domestic Violence Law Clinic, and co-director of the Child and Family Law Clinic at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.

Harris has more than 20 years of experience as a litigator and advocate for victims of family and intimate partner violence. Since 1999, she has been involved with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), where she provides advocacy training to new attorneys.

Degrees

BS, Syracuse University, 1988
JD, Washington University School of Law, 1991

Program Areas

Advocacy
Civil Procedure
Domestic Violence
Ethics
Evidence