AMHERST, Mass. – The Law and Society Association is pleased to announce the inaugural cohort of its LSA Student Fellows Program: Kia Turner (Stanford University, Yale University) and Vicente Celestino Mata, Jr. (Cornell University). Originally envisioned by Past President Michele Goodwin, whose leadership and commitment to mentoring emerging scholars made this initiative possible, the Fellows Program is designed to deepen graduate student engagement in the Association’s work and Annual Meeting planning, while offering valuable professional development and mentorship opportunities.
As Fellows, Kia and Vicente will spend their two-year term (2025-2027) on the LSA Annual Meeting Program Committee, helping to review submissions, assisting with panel formation, and participating in other committee work. In addition, they will provide mentorship for the next cohort of student fellows. They will also receive a $2,000 annual stipend, as well as $750 to offset travel to the Annual Meeting.
Kia Turner is a doctoral candidate in education at Stanford University and a J.D. student at Yale Law School. She received her master’s degree in education at Harvard University, where she also attended as an undergraduate. Kia’s research, which focuses on the intersection between law, education, and democratic flourishing, is informed by her background as a middle and high school teacher, as well as her work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She has previously presented at the LSA Annual Meetings in 2024 and 2025, and is currently assembling a cohort of fellow law and society-oriented students at Yale to submit to and attend the 2026 Annual Meeting in San Francisco—an effort she intends to extend to additional law schools in the future.
Vicente Mata is a Ph.D. candidate at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, with a research focus on immigration and the criminal legal system. His dissertation examines how broader geopolitical trends, in which humanitarianism is co-opted by state and political interests, have historically and currently shaped political discourse on immigration – including the attacks on refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the implementation of restrictive anti-immigrant policies at the U.S.-Mexico border. Vicente has a master’s degree in social ecology from the University of California, Irvine, and in sociology from the University of California, Merced, as well as a bachelor’s degree in sociology and Chicano/a Studies from California State University, Fullerton. He is currently the project manager for a $1.62 million research project involving monetary sanctions and shadow costs of the criminal legal system, funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Justice, Haynes Foundation, and Russell Sage Foundation. He has presented at LSA Annual Meetings in 2025, 2022, and 2020. As a formerly incarcerated youth, scholar of color, and first-generation college student, Vicente intends to spend his career mentoring other diverse and marginalized students interested in pursuing academia.
Each fall, LSA will select two new fellows to serve a two-year term. If you are a current student and interested in applying to be a future fellow, keep an eye out for the call for applications in Late Summer/early Fall.