Symposia

Melinda Miceli, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of the Gender and Sexualities Program, and Chair of the Social Science Department at the University of Hartford. She teaches courses in social theory, social inequalities of gender and sexuality, and social movements and her main research focuses on LGBTQ+ youth activists. She is the author of the book, Standing Out, Standing Together: The Social and Political Impact of Gay-Straight Alliances (Routledge, 2005).

Eboni S. Nelson became dean of the University of Connecticut School of Law on July 31, 2020. She came to UConn Law from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she taught for 13 years and served as the associate dean for academic affairs beginning in 2018. Before joining the South Carolina Law faculty in 2007, Dean Nelson taught at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and practiced employee benefits law at Bracewell LLP in Houston, Texas. She teaches in the fields of Contracts; Commercial Law; Consumer Law; and Race, Class and Education. Her scholarship, which has been published in numerous law review journals and other publications, focuses on education law and policy, and she is especially interested in the availability of equitable educational opportunities for students of color and those from economically challenged backgrounds. She has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut by the state conference of the NAACP and is the recipient of the Hartford Business Journal 2023 Top 25 Women in Business Award.

Dean Nelson graduated summa cum laude from Wake Forest University and earned her JD from Harvard Law School, where she served as a Contracts teaching assistant to then-Professor Elizabeth Warren.

Throughout her career, Dean Nelson has been committed to public service. She currently serves on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford Board of Trustees and the Lawyers Collaborative for Diversity Board of Directors. She is a Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellow and a member of the Hartford Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

With more than 30 years of legal practice and dedication to tribal law issues, John Strafaci has earned a distinguished and respected place in the legal field. The Strafaci Law Firm, LLC maintains a focus on tribal-related issues, such as casino employment and game licensing, as well as non-tribal personal injury, worker’s compensation, DUI defense, employment, civil rights, and estate planning.

His “client first” approach has set the firm apart from other personal injury litigators in the southeast Connecticut area and helped to secure successful outcomes for countless clients. John holds the record for the largest personal injury claim awarded by a tribal court, which is $2.9 million. He is licensed to practice in Rhode Island, Mohegan Gaming Disputes Court (Mohegan Sun) and Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court (Foxwoods).

Involvement in New London, CT and the surrounding communities has always been among John’s highest priorities. He is a former New London mayor, and he served from 1991 to 1997 on the New London City Council. Today, he enjoys keeping up with the community and playing in local tennis leagues. John holds degrees from The George Washington University (BA Political Science, 1982) and Syracuse University College of Law (Juris Doctor,1985).

More than 40 years ago, Preston began his legal career at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder. He later left to pursue other legal and civic ventures. Preston’s legal accomplishments and his devotion to community service made him a welcome addition back at Koskoff in 2010.

Prior to returning to Koskoff, Preston served as the Director of Special Public Defenders for the State of Connecticut, Office of Chief Public Defender. Preston held this position since its inception and administered all Special Public Defender operations and functions within the Division of Public Defender Services. Before this appointment, Preston headed the Fairfield Judicial District Public Defender’s Office.

Preston is the President of the Public Justice Foundation. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA)and the American Association for Justice (AAJ), on the Connecticut Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparity in the Criminal Justice System, and has served as a faculty member of both the National Defender Training Program and the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA)Continuing Legal Education Program. He has also served on the Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Criminal Justice Committee, on the Connecticut Hate Crimes Advisory Committee. He has served as a member of the CBA Professionalism Committee and the Professional Discipline Section.

In other civic capacities, Preston serves on the Boards of Directors for Fairfield County’s Community Foundation and the Bridgeport Public Education Fund, Inc., and on the Advisory Board for the Center for Children’s Advocacy. He is also the Immediate Past Chairperson of Regional Youth/Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP) and Vice-Chairman and past Chairman of the Central Connecticut Coast YMCA.

Preston graduated from Brown University and the New York University School of Law. He is a Past-President of the Brown Alumni Association and a Trustee Emeritus of the Brown University Corporation.

William Tong is the 25th Attorney General to serve Connecticut since the office was established by the state constitution in 1897. He first took office in 2019 and is currently serving his second term. Attorney General Tong is a national leader in many of the most consequential lawsuits and investigations in our country today, including bipartisan, multistate efforts to hold the addiction industry accountable for their role in the opioid crisis; to restore fair competition and prices in the generic drug industry; to hold social media giants accountable for the harms they may cause to kids and young people; to stop robocall scammers; and to ensure corporations safeguard our personal information from misuse and respect consumers’ rights regarding the collection and use of their information.

As a father and the son of immigrant small business owners, Attorney General Tong knows first-hand how Connecticut families are squeezed by rising costs that are unaffordable and unsustainable, and he has prioritized efforts to drive down energy costs, expand access to reliable broadband internet, and ensure access to affordable healthcare.

Attorney General Tong works every day to safeguard our civil rights and freedoms, fighting alongside state attorneys general nationwide to protect the rights of women, minority communities, immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. He has vowed to fight in any court, in any state, anywhere access to reproductive healthcare is under threat. He is aggressively defending Connecticut’s post- Sandy Hook gun laws against challenges by out of state gun lobbies. Under his leadership, Connecticut has sued ExxonMobil to end its ongoing, systematic campaign of lies around fossil fuels and climate change. Attorney General Tong currently serves as Eastern Region Chair and Finance Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

Attorney General Tong previously practiced for 18 years as a litigator in both state and federal courts, first at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York City and then at Finn Dixon & Herling LLP in Stamford. He served for 12 years as a State Representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, where he served as House Chairman of the Judiciary Committee as well as the Banking Committee. In 2006, he became the first Asian American elected to any state office in Connecticut history.

A Connecticut native, Attorney General Tong grew up in the Hartford area and attended schools in West Hartford. He graduated from Phillips Academy Andover, Brown University, and the University of Chicago Law School. He is the first Asian American elected to statewide office in Connecticut, and the first Chinese American to be elected Attorney General nationwide.

Richard Ashby Wilson is the Board of Trustees Professor of Law and Anthropology and Gladstein Chair of Human Rights at the University of Connecticut School of Law, and was the founding director of the Human Rights Institute at UConn. Wilson is the author or editor of 11 books on international human rights, humanitarianism, truth and reconciliation commissions, and international criminal tribunals. His book on historical evidence at international criminal tribunals Writing History in International Criminal Trials (2011) was selected by Choice as an “Outstanding Academic Title” in the law category. His latest book, Incitement On Trial: Prosecuting International Speech Crimes (2017), explains why international criminal tribunals struggle to convict individuals for inciting speech. His work has been translated into Chinese, Danish, Italian, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish, and Turkish. He has held prestigious fellowships from the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Wilson is committed to public and engaged scholarship that advances civil rights and human rights in the United States and worldwide. He previously served as Chair of the Connecticut State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was appointed in 2021 by the governor of the state of Connecticut to the Hate Crimes Advisory Council that recommends new measures to combat hate crimes in the state. He has a regularly media presence and has published articles in The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.