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2023 Thomas Jefferson Prize

The Jefferson Prize honors a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in research and creative activity.

Wendy Bach

Wendy BachProfessor Wendy A. Bach is a nationally recognized expert in both clinical legal education and poverty law. Bach has dedicated her career to representing children and families in poor communities in a variety of legal settings. Her scholarship focuses on the interaction between systems of support and care and systems of punishment in poor communities. Her first book, Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care, was published last fall by Cambridge University Press.

What does being a Volunteer mean to you? How has UT empowered you to make a difference in a way you might not have imagined elsewhere?

“The University of Tennessee College of Law is a unique institution among law schools. The faculty and administration at the college have thought long and hard about what it takes to support faculty as they seek to be both strong clinical teachers and deeply engaged scholars. The job I have been lucky enough to have reflects this careful thought and dedication, and it is those structures and commitments that have enabled me to do the work that this prize honors.”