Aleatra P. Alexander is a Professor of Law at Charleston School of Law. She has also served as a visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Minnesota and University of Louisville. She also has practiced corporate law in Oklahoma. We sat down with Professor Alexander for our latest faculty profile.

Where did you grow up?

Professor Alexander: I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.

How did you get to Charleston?

Professor Alexander: I went to college in Indiana and law school in Oklahoma. I practiced for eight years, then I went and got my master of law degree in Berkeley, California to enter the teaching market. When I came here to Charleston I fell in love with the city.

What made you want to jump from law practice to academia?

Professor Alexander: Since I was in the first grade I wanted to be a lawyer. But I also had a fascination with teaching, and I love singing. So, in law school I met some great mentors who were my professors and they encouraged me that I can combine my passion for the law and teaching together.

What do you like most?

Professor Alexander: I love being around students. I also think it’s the challenge for me because I am naturally an introvert. For me to come out of my shell and to share my perspective with students. I get excited about that.

Are students teaching and challenging you too in the classroom?

Professor Alexander: They always do because students ask questions that you haven’t had in 15 years and you’re like, I’ve never thought of that. I like that.

What do you enjoy doing on the weekends?

Professor Alexander: I like to travel. Seeing something new and having new experiences. I don’t like to go to the same places over and over. I want to see something that I have never experienced before.

Where have you traveled to?

Professor Alexander: I have a few favorite places. Bora Bora. I would go back there in a heartbeat. I like the Amalfi Coast of Italy. I would also go back to Ireland. It’s just beautiful. It’s like those different cultures. I fell in love with the people in all those places and they were so inviting, it felt homey. All 40 shades of blue and Bora Bora, 40 shades of green in Ireland and just multi-colors along the coast.

Do you have like a bucket list of places you’d like to go that you haven’t been yet?

Professor Alexander: I would love to go to Dubai for New Years. I think that would be a wonderful experience. And my husband and I are trying to plan a trip to Moldova. That would be a fun experience.

Tell me one thing about you that people wouldn’t know about you?

Professor Alexander: I guess that I am an introvert. I’m naturally shy. I think I must overcome that every day. I did that since I was little singing. I had to get over my shyness to do that. I just don’t like to succumb to it. I guess I’m more of a fighter that I think that shouldn’t hold me back.

When you were singing, what kind of stuff would you sing?

Professor Alexander: We sang everything from gospel songs to pop songs, to show tunes. Our voices blended very well together. Her dad was the accompanist at our church.

What genres of music do you like to listen to?

Professor Alexander: I like some of everything from opera to some rap and pop music. I listen to a lot of Christian radio just because I just like that in my spirit.

First concert you ever went to?

Professor Alexander: This is going to really date me, but it was New Edition. I was young. I was probably 10 years old.

What is the most recent concert you’ve gone to?

Professor Alexander: Earth, Wind, and Fire. They were so good.

Since you enjoy traveling, what is your favorite place to be?

Professor Alexander: What comes to mind first is home. But I love hanging with friends too. But I guess if we are thinking of places outside of home, it would be somewhere on a beach where the weather is warm, and I can feel the ocean breeze and hear the children laughing in the water. That would be my favorite place to be.

Professor Aleatra Alexander

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