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Marsha Hardeman says she didn\u2019t always envision\u00a0herself as a law school graduate, educator and civil rights advocate \u2013 yet all these years later, friends and colleagues<\/span> She says she’s always had a passion for helping people and being involved in her community and saw these fields as a way\u00a0to continue that work professionally. It wasn\u2019t until she moved to New Mexico in the \u201870s that she began to toy with the thought of applying to graduate school \u2013 at the time The University of New Mexico School of Law was ranked as one of the top five clinical law programs in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that this clinical law program sought to serve the community really appealed to me, so I applied,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After being admitted into UNM\u2019s School of Law<\/a>, Hardeman said she found many ways to get involved.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents really had the opportunity to forge relationships with professors, which was such a rare thing. Many of those relationships have lasted until this day. There is a distinct longevity to these friendships; people have stayed connected and are still friends all these years later,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During her academic career, baking remained not only a hobby for Hardeman\u00a0but a source of income to help pay for law school. She recalled bringing in homemade goods and sharing them with\u00a0faculty. She said Dean Fred Hart suggested she start\u00a0selling her baked goods, and with his blessing, she did just that. She said she\u2019d leave the goodies in the cafeteria, students and faculty would put some change into a little coffee can and at the end of the day, she\u2019d collect the money.<\/p>\n In 1976, she was the first woman and\u00a0Black student elected as the Student Bar Association president; she also served as the Black American Law Students\u2019 Association (BALSA) president from 1975-1976. After she graduated in 1977, she went on to work for the City of Albuquerque<\/a> (COA) in the city attorney\u2019s office as a court administrator. Before leaving the COA, Hardeman served under more than three different mayors, she also spent time as director of the Human Services Department and the Albuquerque Convention Center.<\/p>\n Hardeman\u2019s career is a true testament to her character and her desire to stay active, continuously\u00a0learning and engaged within her\u00a0communities. From starting her own management training and consulting business, with\u00a0the hope of\u00a0educating\u00a0more people about employment law, legal liabilities in the workplace, cultural diversity and civil rights, to teaching criminal justice, human resources management, business law and business communications at The University of Phoenix. Her passion for pedagogy and raising awareness about civil rights continues\u00a0to this very day in her current role as an adjunct faculty member with UNM\u2019s Africana Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery teaching modality drills down the learning in different ways, as experiential, practical application, and relatable, historic fact,\u201d she said. \u201cMy goal in teaching is to find ways to encourage learning through one of those modalities in a way that is fun and engaging.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n