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Robert S. Chang

Professor of Law and Sylvia Mendez Presidential Chair for Civil Rights
Executive Director of the UC Irvine School of Law Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality
Robert S. Chang

Background:

Professor Robert S. Chang joins UC Irvine School of Law as the executive director of the UC Irvine School of Law Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality. Professor Chang is the inaugural chair holder of the Sylvia Mendez Presidential Chair for Civil Rights.

Prof. Chang founded the center — named for pioneering civil rights hero Fred T. Korematsu — in 2009 at the Seattle University School of Law. The center leads numerous initiatives and projects focused on research, advocacy, and clinical education. Learn more about Prof. Chang and the Korematsu Center's move to its new home in Irvine. 

Prof. Chang is one of the nation’s leading scholars on issues of race and interethnic relations, and one of the most recognized voices on Asian Americans and the law. He is the author of “Disoriented: Asian Americans, Law and the Nation-State” (NYU Press 1999) and co-editor of “Minority Relations: Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation” (University Press of Mississippi 2017) and has two books forthcoming late this year and early next year with Cambridge University Press. He has authored more than 60 articles, essays and chapters published in leading law reviews and books on minority relations, critical race theory, LatCrit theory and Asian American legal studies. 

Prof. Chang has received numerous recognitions for his scholarship and service. He was recently honored with the King County Bar Association’s Friend of the Legal Profession Award  and will be recognized this fall by the Washington State Bar Association’s Justice Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity APEX Award. Among other awards, Prof. Chang is the 2022 recipient of Seattle University’s McGoldrick Fellowship, the most prestigious honor Seattle University confers upon its faculty; the 2021 co-recipient of the Kathleen Taylor Civil Libertarian Award from ACLU-Washington; the 2018 recipient of the M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award from The Society of American Law Teachers; the 2014 co-recipient of the Charles A. Goldmark Distinguished Service Award from the Legal Foundation of Washington; and the 2009 co-recipient of the Clyde Ferguson Award from the Minority Groups Section of the Association of American Law Schools. He is also an elected member of the American Law Institute. 

Prior to joining UC Irvine School of Law, Prof. Chang held professorships at Seattle University School of Law and Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Prof. Chang received an A.B. from Princeton University and holds M.A. and J.D. degrees from Duke University. 

  • The United States Supreme Court And White Social Dominance (With Carlton Waterhouse, Michalyn Steele & Tanya Hernandez) (Under Contract, Cambridge University Press).
  • Banned: Fighting For Mexican American Studies In The Streets And The Courts (With Nolan Cabrera) (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming 2024).
  • Our Constitution Has Never Been Colorblind, 54 Seton Hall L. Rev. (Forthcoming 2024).
  • Minority Relations: Intergroup Conflict And Cooperation (University Press Of Mississippi 2018) (With Greg Robinson, Co-editor) (Original Solicited Contributions From Legal And Humanities Scholars).
  • (Im)balancing Acts: Criminalization And De-criminalization Of Social And Public Health Problems, Journal Of Law, Medicine, And Ethics (2022) (With Keon L. Gilbert) (Invited Commentary).
  • Report And Recommendations To Address Race In Washington’s Juvenile Legal System: 2021 Report To The Washington Supreme Court, 57 Gonzaga Law Review, 45 Seattle University Law Review (2022).
  • Race And Washington’s Criminal Justice System: 2021 Report To The Washington Supreme Court, 56 Gonzaga Law Review 117, 45 Seattle University Law Review 969, 97 Washington Law Review (Forthcoming In All Three Journals In 2022) (Update On Race And Washington’s Criminal Justice System).
  • Disoriented: Asian Americans, Law, And The Nation-state (New York University Press, 1999) (Reviewed In Several Journals Including The Michigan Law Review, Journal Of Asian American Studies, And Amerasia Journal). 

Professor Chang's Scholarship on SSRN

  • 2024 Justice Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity APEX Award. Washington State Bar Association. Named in honor of Justice C. Z. Smith, the first African American to serve on the Washington Supreme Court, this award goes to a lawyer, law firm, or law-related group that has made a significant contribution to diversity in the legal profession.
  • 2024 Friend of the Legal Profession Award. King County Bar Association. Awarded for distinguished and meritorious service to the legal profession and justice system.
  • 2024 Mentor of the Year Award. Korean American Bar Association of Washington. Seattle, Washington. February 2024.
  • 2023 CAPALF/LARC Scholar-Activist Award. Awarded by the Loyola Law School Anti-Racism Center. Los Angeles, California. June 2023.
  • 2022-2023 McGoldrick Fellow. Seattle University. This fellowship is the most prestigious honor Seattle University confers upon its faculty. Named for Father McGoldrick, who died in 1983 after devoting 50 years of distinguished teaching and dedicated service to Seattle University, the fellowship is given to faculty who exemplify Fr. McGoldrick’s commitment to students and the values of the Jesuit educational tradition. Fellowship comes with a one-semester sabbatical.

Prior Courses:

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