law notes - University of Kentucky College of Law

y Whitley Herndon
Professor Carolyn S. Bratt retires
after 33 years at the UK College of Law
Like her favorite Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood
Marshall, Executive Associate Dean Carolyn S. Bratt
has lived a life of passion and used her considerable
skills to further the cause of civil rights and women’s
rights.
Born in Suffern, New York, Bratt belonged to a generation
of women who were the first in their families to
attend college. She went to State University of New
York at Albany then accepted a position teaching
history to seventh, eighth and ninth graders in
Syracuse, New York.
In Syracuse, Bratt began her lifelong interest in the civil
rights and women’s rights movements. A female criminal
attorney convinced Bratt and several other young
women in the Syracuse chapter of the National Organization
for Women (NOW) that law was an option.
Bratt entered Syracuse University College of Law in
a class containing fifteen women, an unprecedented
number for that time. She credits her Trust and Estates
teacher, Professor Fetter, for her interest in property
law. “If he had been a Contracts professor, I probably
would have taught Contracts.”
After working as a law clerk to the Presiding Justice
of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate
Division, Bratt applied for a teaching position at
University of Kentucky College of Law. Under orders
from the federal government to include more women
in traditionally male disciplines, UK Law hired Bratt
and one other woman to join the faculty in 1975.
When her colleague resigned at the end of their first
academic year, Bratt found herself the only woman
on the faculty for several years.
Bratt faced prejudice throughout her career but
she continued to pursue her interest in civil rights.
She served as legal advisor to Gov. John Y. Brown’s
Commission on Full Equality for Women and on the
Kentucky Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on
Gender Fairness. She also marched in every local
rally for the Equal Rights Amendment.
As a life-long enthusiast for education, Bratt pursued
an interest in academic administration serving on
the UK Board of Trustees and Chair of the University
of Kentucky Senate Council. She took a yearlong
fellowship with the American Council on Education
and worked with University Chancellors and Presidents
from all over the country.
Bratt ended her thirty-three years at UK Law serving
as the Executive Associate Dean. During the span of
her career at UK she has received numerous honors,
such as the UK Great Teacher Award and a place in
the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Hall of
Fame. However, Bratt ranks as her greatest accomplishment
raising a son who is “not afraid of, and even
attracted to, women who accomplish something for
themselves.”
During retirement, Bratt plans to plans to begin in
Florida and sail up the Eastern Coast. As she literally
sails off into the sunset, Bratt wants to encourage
everyone, especially young women, to find their
voices for something bigger than themselves. •
12 University of Kentucky Law Notes