UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER — University of Houston Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes was the recipient of the Clyde Ferguson Award from the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Minority Groups. Baynes received the accolade during a recent virtual ceremony. He was introduced by Emeritus Professor and William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law Michael A. Olivas, who won the inaugural Award, along with Prof. Anita Hill, over 20 years earlier. “Dean Baynes is an accomplished academic and advocate, as well as becoming an increasingly-influential leader in the ranks of legal education,” Olivas said. “It is amazing with all his busy time, including building a new facility and all the other things deans do especially in a pandemic, that he is able to remain an active scholar and advocate for communications issues in the basic legal domain and their profound impact on discourse and minorities.“I remember speaking with the chancellor and provost who made the final decision to hire Dean Baynes. I had come to know him, and thought he would be an exceptional dean. I said to them: ‘Run, do not walk to hire this man.’”