BACKGROUND

Professor Ruth-Arlene W. Howe first arrived at BC Law as a student in 1970. Now, more than 30 years later, her hard work, passion, and commitment to diversity and social justice as a student, alumna, and faculty member helped shape BC Law into what it is today.

Professor Howe has spent much of her life working for social justice. Calling upon her life experiences as a daughter, wife, mother, community activist, Professor Howe dedicated her career to further the best interests of children, especially African-American youth. As the first and only African-American female faculty member to achieve tenure and the rank of full professor in the history of BC Law, Professor Howe enjoyed a distinguished and varying academic career, teaching a variety of courses and seminars in family law, elder law, legal interviewing and counseling, and professional responsibility. Professor Howe was a founding faculty advisor to the Third World Law Journal and an advisor to the Black Law Student Association.

EDUCATION

A.B., Wellesley College; M.S.W., Simmons College; J.D., Boston College.

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Honors: The Black Law Student Association's March 28, 2009 Professor Ruth-Arlene W. Howe Annual Heritage Dinner honoring the Honorable Benjamin Jones '69 and Ruby Roy Wharton, Esq. '69, also celebrated the career and retirement of Professor Howe.

The BC Law Class of 2008 in dedicating their Sui Juris yearbook to Professor Howe stated: "Upon her retirement in 2008, Professor Howe leaves behind a lasting legacy that will inspire BC Law students for years to come."

September 15, 2007 - recognized for being a Trail Blazer at the Tenth Annual Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, at the Southern New England School of Law, North Dartmouth, MA.

October 28, 2006 - the Boston Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., (the oldest African American Sorority founded in 1908 at Howard University), presented two Ruth-Arlene W. Howe Black Family Awards to Soror Jacqueline Jones, Multicultural Outreach Director, Massasoit Community College and Dr. Jackie Jenkins-Scott, President, Wheelock College.

March 11, 2005 - as a founding faculty advisor of the Boston College Third World Law Journal, Howe was honored at the journal's twenty-fifth anniversary dinner and symposium, "Black Children and Their Families in the Twenty-first Century: Surviving the American Nightmare or Living a Dream Deferred?"

Presentations: "Remarks" at BC Lynch School of Education Welcome Celebration for Dr. Anderson J. Franklin, Honorable David S. Nelson Chair, in the Murray Room, Yawkey Center, on February 22, 2007.

"The Challenges of Transracial Adoption," at 2nd Brown Bag Luncheon of the law school's Children's Rights Group in honor of National Adoption Awareness Month, November 16, 2005.

"A Dream Deferred," as keynote speaker at the Boston College Black Faculty, Staff, and Administrators Association’s annual MLK Unity Breakfast in January 2005.

Appointments: Since its founding in 1985, has served as Treasurer of the Black Alumni Network and was re-elected at the Black Alumni Network Annual Meeting on February 8, 2009 at the Law School.

Works in Progress: "Chronicling the Careers of African American Graduates of Boston College Law School: Classes 1969-1980."

African American graduates from the classes 1969-1980: please click here to fill out a short survey.

Other: As a founder of the Boston College Third World Law Journal, Howe was honored at the journal’s twenty-fifth anniversary celebration dinner and symposium, "Black Children and Their Families in the Twenty-first Century: Surviving the American Nightmare or Living a Dream Deferred," in March 2005.

PUBLICATIONS

• "Adoption Laws and Practices: Serving Whose Interests?" In Baby Markets: Money and the New Politics of Creating Families, edited by Michele Bratcher Goodwin, 86-93.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• "Race Matters in Adoption." Family Law Quarterly  42 (2008): 465-479.
• Issue Co-editor, "Co-Parenting During and After Divorce: A Handbook for Parents." Family Law Advocate 30: no.1 (Summer 2007)
• With Steven L. Nickman et al. "Children in Adoptive Families: Overview and Update." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 44: no.10 (October 2005): 987-995.
• Issue Co-editor. “Are You Ready? Meeting the Needs of Twenty-first Century Clients: How Demographic Changes Will Alter Your Practice.” Family Advocate 27, no. 2 (Fall 2004).
• "A Closed Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Lose." Preface to Cardozo Women's Law Journal 9: no.2 (2003) (To Do Feminist Legal Theory: Symposium 2003): 193.
•  Issue Co-editor, "ADR Options: A Client Handbook." Family Advocate 24: no.4 (Spring 2002)
• "Parenthood in the United States." In Cross Currents : Family Law and Policy in the United States and England, edited by Sanford N. Katz, John Eekelaar, and Mavis Maclean, 187-209. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000.
• "Adoption Laws and Practices in 2000: Serving Whose Interests?" Family Law Quarterly 33 (Fall 1999): 677-689.
• "A Critical Assessment of the Uniform Adoption Act: In Whose Best Interests?" Decree 15, no.2 (Summer 1998): 1, 5.
• A Dialogue with Randall Kennedy, "Who Should Adopt Our Children?" Essence 28 (January 1998): 64, 66, 130.
• "Reflections." In Daughters of Kings: Growing Up as a Jewish Woman in America, edited by Leslie Brody, 169-182. London: Faber & Faber, 1997.
• "Transracial Adoption (TRA): Old Prejudices and Discrimination Float Under a New Halo." Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 6 (Winter 1997): 409-472.
• "The Transracial Adoption Controversy." Boston College Law School Magazine 3 (Spring 1995): 23-27.
• "Redefining the Transracial Adoption Controversy." Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy 2 (Spring 1995): 131-164.
• With Robert V. Ward, Jr. "Appendix C: The Role of Law Schools." In Equal Justice: Eliminating the Barriers. Final Report of Supreme Judicial Court Commission to Study Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts, 189-203. Boston, MA: Supreme Judicial Court, September 1994.
• Review of Family Bonds: Adoption and the Politics of Parenting, by Elizabeth Bartholet. Massachusetts Family Law Journal 11 (September 1993): 37-40. [Also appears in Golden Gate University Law Review 24 (Spring 1994): 299-305.]
• Issue Editor: Family Advocate 16 (Summer 1993). Issue Title: Elder Law: Special Issue For Lawyers and Their Clients Who Weren't Born Yesterday.
• "Legal Rights and Obligations: An Uneven Evolution." In Young Unwed Fathers, edited by Robert I. Lerman and Theodora J. Ooms, 141-169. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1993.
• "A Wake-Up Call for American Society or 'Have the Chickens Just Come Home to Roost?' - Essay Review of Charles Patrick Ewing's When Children Kill: The Dynamics of Juvenile Homicide," Nova Law Review 16 (Winter 1992): 847-907.
• Issue Co-editor, Family Advocate 14 (Summer 1991). Issue title: Addiction: The New American Slavery: Its Effect on Family Law.
• Review of Juvenile Justice in Double Jeopardy: The Distanced Community and Vengeful Retribution, by Justine Wise Polier. Child Welfare 69 (September-October 1990): 471-473.
• "Who Speaketh for the Child?" New England Law Review 23 (Autumn 1988): 421-435.
• "Adoption Practice, Issues and Laws 1958-1983." Family Law Quarterly 17 (Summer 1983): 173-197.
• "Child Abuse," and "Child Welfare." Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, vol. 6, 121-22; vol. 6, 141-142. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1983.
• "Adoption: New Rules for the Million Dollar Matching Game." Family Advocate 3, no. 2 (Fall 1980): 20-25, 37.
• Review of Child Abuse and Neglect: Legislation, Reporting, and Prevention by Joseph J. Costa and Gordon K. Nelson and Child Maltreatment in the United States: A Challenge to Social Institutions by Saad J. Nagi. Contemporary Sociology 8 (January 1979): 97-98.
• "Development of a Model Act to Free Children for Permanent Placement: A Case Study in Law and Social Planning." Family Law Quarterly 13 (Fall 1979): 257-344.
• Review of Social Work and the Law by Donald Brieland and John Lemmon. Social Work 23 (May 1978): 260-261.
• "Divorce: Critical Issues for Legal and Mental Health Professionals." Urban and Social Change Review 10 (Winter 1977), 15-21.
• With Sanford N. Katz and Melba McGrath. "Child Neglect Laws in America." Family Law Quarterly 9 (Spring 1975): 1-372. [Also appears as Child Neglect Laws in America by Howe, Katz, and McGrath. Chicago: ABA Section of Family Law, 1976.]