Murphy Faculty Receives Prestigious University Award

Professor Carla Laroche, Murphy Core Faculty in the Center on Law and the Economy and the Felder-Fayard Associate Professor of Law at Tulane Law, received the 2024 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for her research addressing societal inequality and the promotion of social change. 

As faculty from every school at Tulane University gathered for the annual Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Awards, it was clear that it has been a landmark year for Tulane exploration, discovery and creativity. The ceremony, which took place Friday, November 1, in downtown New Orleans, honored the groundbreaking accomplishments of faculty across the university.

President Michael A. Fitts welcomed attendees and recognized the tremendous work of the night’s award winners.

“All of tonight’s honorees have had a hand in elevating Tulane to a new level of prominence as a research institution internationally,” Fitts said.

Fitts also pointed out the contribution of all faculty members — honorees and beyond — to Tulane’s rise as a premier research institution.

Laroche has dedicated her career to increasing access to justice and opportunities for systemically excluded communities. Her scholarship addresses barriers to access to justice, with a focus on criminal law, gender, race, civil rights, and family law. 

Laroche’s research analyzes how people navigate civil legal systems and seek to access their civil rights when they have criminal arrest and conviction histories. Her work is published in traditional law journals, including Boston University Law Review and Columbia Journal of Race and Law, bar journals, and newspapers. Laroche has presented these pressing issues at workshops, conferences, and community events and has been interviewed for print and other media outlets around the nation and internationally.