Russlynn H Ali

Russlynn Ali is assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education and is Secretary Duncan's primary adviser on civil rights and responsible for enforcing U.S. civil rights laws as they pertain to education–ensuring the nation's schools, colleges and universities receiving federal funding do not engage in discriminatory conduct related to race, sex, disability or age. Until her appointment to the Department of Education, Ali had been a vice president of the Education Trust in Washington, D.C., and the founding executive director of the Education Trust-West in Oakland, Calif., since 2001. In the education arena, Ali was a teacher, served as the liaison for the president of the Children's Defense Fund and as assistant director of policy and research at the Broad Foundation, for which she was also on loan as chief of staff to the president of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education. She has also taught at the University of Southern California Law Center and the University of California at Davis. In the legal field, Ali was a contract attorney at Bird, Marella, Boxer and Wolpert, deputy co-director and of counsel at the Advancement Project and English, Munger & Rice, and an attorney at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, all in Los Angeles. Ali received her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, where she was awarded the Lowden-Wigmore Prize for Trial Advocacy and was a Julius Miner Moot Court Finalist. She received her bachelor's degree in law and society from the American University. She also attended Spelman College.