UH Law Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson Honored with Michael A. Olivas Education Excellence Award

Quick summary: University of Houston Law Center Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, the Newell H. Blakely Professor of Law and former director of UHLC's Criminal Justice Institute, has received the Professor Michael Olivas Education Excellence Award from the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Lawyers Section, recognizing her 36 years of contribution to legal education, criminal justice reform and service to the profession in Houston, Texas.

Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, the Newell H. Blakely Chair and former director of UH Law's Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Houston Law Center.

July 27, 2026 – University of Houston Law Center’s Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson has received the Professor Michael Olivas Education Excellence Award from the State Bar of Texas Hispanic Lawyers Section, recognizing her decades of contribution to legal education and service to the profession.

The award, presented June 11, is named after the late Professor Michael A. Olivas, a longtime UH Law faculty member and a nationally recognized legal scholar specializing in higher education law. Olivas, who died in 2022, served in numerous leadership roles at UHLC, UH and nationally. The Law Center honored him and his wife, UH Professor Emerita Augustina H. Reyes, by naming the Olivas/Reyes Reading Room in the new John M. O’Quinn Law Building.

“I’m thrilled to get an award named for my dear friend and mentor,” Thompson said. “I never imagined I would receive an award bearing his name. It is truly humbling to be associated with his extraordinary lifetime of service and accomplishments.”

Thompson, the Newell H. Blakely Professor of Law, joined the UH Law Center faculty in 1990 and has taught courses related to criminal law and evidence for 36 years. A leading voice in criminal law, sentencing and bail reform, she served as director of UHLC’s Criminal Justice Institute from 2003 to 2021. Thompson is currently a deputy monitor for bail reform in Houston, Texas.

In 2009, then Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed Thompson to the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions. The panel’s recommendations led to significant legislative reforms aimed at preventing wrongful convictions. An elected member of the American Law Institute since 1999, Thompson has served on the ALI’s Model Penal Code sentencing reform project.

The Olivas awards is the most recent of her accolades. Previously, she received the UH Teaching Excellence Award twice, in 2003 and 2015, the UH Law Alumni Association’s Faculty Distinction Award in 2021, and the Ethel M. Baker Faculty Award in 2000.

In addition, she has been awarded the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston; the 2020 Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Education in the Community Award; the 2011 Primera Award, Hispanic National Bar Association, which recognized Thompson as the first tenured Latina law professor in the State of Texas; and the 2009 Top 25 Women of Vision Award by Hispanic Business Magazine.

Her list of publications includes numerous books and book chapters, more than 30 articles and multiple op-ed pieces, in addition to frequent presentations. She is regularly quoted by local, regional and national media, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, and National Public Radio.

A native of Laredo, Texas, Thompson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1986 and her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1988 from Yale University. She began her legal career as an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office.