Rebecca Sharpless, professor of law and director of Miami Law’s Immigration Clinic, was recently chosen as one of the first recipients of the Excellence in Experiential Teaching Award, as part of the Provost’s Teaching Awards for the 2021 – 2022 academic year.
The Excellence in Experiential Teaching Award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates an outstanding commitment to the student learning process, integrating excellent teaching with opportunities for experiential learning through curricular and co-curricular activities, and actively promoting and guiding learning outside of the classroom.
Sharpless is the founding director of the Immigration Clinic and teaches immigration law. She researches and writes in the areas of immigration law, progressive lawyering, and the intersection of immigration and criminal law. Her scholarship focuses on how hierarchies within these areas affect the most marginalized, denigrated, and unpopular groups.
Sharpless also speaks widely on immigration law, including at academic symposia and events such as the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. From 2016-2017, she served as the President of the South Florida Chapter of AILA. She was a board member of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild from 2001-2019. From 1996 to 2007, Sharpless was a supervising attorney at Americans for Immigrant Justice (formerly Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center), where she engaged in extensive litigation on behalf of low-income immigrants as lead counsel in cases before the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts as well as in immigration court and before the Board of Immigration Appeals. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work.
All full-time faculty are eligible for the Provost’s Teaching awards, which will come with a celebration and a $1,000 fund for purchases supporting the awardees’ work.
Read about Miami Law's Immigration Clinic
