Two Clinical Staff Members Receive the Dean’s Award for Excellence

Congratulations to Dana Walters and Carol Flores, who are recipients of the 2019 Dean’s Award for Excellence. The award honors staff members who exemplify the spirit of excellence in the Harvard Law School community through leadership, collaboration, commitment and innovation.

Carol Flores, Administrative Coordinator, Criminal Justice Institute (CJI)

Carol Flores

Since August 2016, Carol Flores has managed the logistics of both the Fall and Winter Trial Advocacy Workshops, each of which consists of about 100+ students, 90+ visiting faculty members, and 30-60 volunteers.  When a new Trial Advocacy winter session course was announced as part of the Law School’s 1L January Experiential Term, Carol jumped in to help.

With the spirit of innovation and collaboration, Carol partnered with the program’s director and other team members, created monthly and weekly meetings to keep things organized, took on extra work, and brought everything together to support the creation of the inaugural 1L Introduction to Trial Advocacy Workshop. She did all of this on top of maintaining her roles as faculty assistant and administrative coordinator to CJI and pursuing a degree in Legal Studies at the Extension School. Carol also recently became the first-ever staff member to receive the Harvard Women’s Law Association Shatter the Ceiling Award, which recognized her strong impact on the student body. Her nominators note, “Carol’s positive can-do attitude is undoubtedly reliable, and her work product is seamless. Her dedication and drive are both forces to be reckoned with. Carol is always reflecting and looking for ways to do things even better the next time. She is humble, dedicated, hardworking, and driven to make sure whatever she touches is the best it can be.”

Dana Walters, Program and Communications Coordinator, Human Rights Program (HRP)

Dana Walters and Dean John Manning at the Dean’s Award for Excellence Ceremony on May 22. Credit: Martha Stewart

Dana joined the Human Rights Program in 2017, and quickly established herself as an exemplary colleague. She works collaboratively, innovates to increase impact and efficiency, and leads important aspects of the Human Rights Program. Supporting both the clinic and the academic program, Dana also took on communications responsibilities when a colleague left and did so with seamless transition. Since then, she has started an Instagram account and has significantly expanded the HRP presence and reach across numerous platforms, tailoring our outreach to different constituents and increasing engagement with HRP’s work.

Because of her collaborative nature and creative problem-solving skills, Professor Giannini asked Dana to work with him on innovative pedagogy projects. She has supported HRP’s advanced human rights clinical seminar and J-term courses where she actively facilitates group activities and helps design sessions. Her nominators describe her as “exceptional” and note that they “feel privileged to work alongside such a dedicated and creative colleague, highlighting that, “Dana has excelled in promoting a culture of collaboration across the Program, and is committed to seeing challenging tasks through to completion.”