Erika George is Director of the Tanner Humanities Center and Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the University of Utah. At S.J. Quinney College of Law, she teaches constitutional law, international human rights law, international environmental law, and seminars on corporate citizenship and sustainability. In addition to her work as director and professor, she is a researcher who studies the obligations of private actors under public international law and policy. Her regional areas of interest and experience include human rights of women and children in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Prior to joining the University of Utah, Erika was a fellow and later consultant to Human Rights Watch conducting human rights investigations in South Africa on women’s rights, children’s rights, violence, the right to education and rights abuses related to the HIV AIDS epidemic. She is a frequent speaker on human rights, sustainability, diversity, gender equality, and corporate social responsibility. She also served as a law clerk for Judge William T. Hart on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Currently, she is a member of the Advisory Board of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Earthjustice and is a member of the Fair Labor Association Board.
Erika earned her B.A. with honors at the University of Chicago and her J.D. at Harvard Law School, where she served as Articles Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago.