Michael Olivas funeral services and obituary
Professor Michael A. Olivas passed on April 22, 2022. Excerpts from his obituary appear below:
Michael led an extraordinary life; he was an impactful scholar, a beloved teacher and mentor, an “accidental” historian, a radio personality, a counselor to political leaders and deans, and a beloved friend.
After his early education in Santa Fe, Michael graduated magna cum laude from Pontifical College Josephinum and received his Masters and Ph.D. at Ohio State. He then went to Georgetown University Law Center and found a passion for the law. He became a law professor at the University of Houston where he taught for 38 years. He founded the Institute of Higher Education Law and Governance and served as President of the UH Downtown Campus. He served as president of the Association of American Law Schools, elected as a member of American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He was a member of the American Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education. He was a long time Board member of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund.
In the legal academy, he founded the Latino Law Professor Association and served as a mentor to law professors all over the country. Professor Olivas single handedly mentored and recruited dozens of Latinos into the academy. He wrote 16 books including: No Undocumented Child Left Behind: Plyler v. Doe and the Education of Undocumented School Children; Perchance to DREAM: A Political and Legal History of the DREAM Act; Suing Alma Mater: Higher Education and the Court; and, The Law and Higher Education: Cases and Material on Colleges in Court. The legacy of his scholarship is lauded in a book, Law Professor and Accidental Historian, The Scholarship of Michael A. Olivas, which collected articles by professors around the country who wrote about the brilliance and prescience of his work in immigration, education and diversity.
Funeral services are on Saturday, April 30 at the Santa Fe St. Francis Cathedral with a rosary at 11:00, the Eulogy at 11:30 and the mass celebrated at noon. A livestream will take place here. In lieu of flowers, Dr. Reyes requests donations be made to MALDEF, 634 S. Spring St. 11th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014 or to student scholarship funds he established at the University Houston Law Center.
Tributes from other ImmigrationProf editors (and here), and law professors reflect an outpouring of love and loss at his passing.
