Donna K. Axel, J.D.—Bio
Assistant Professor
Pre-Law Coordinator
Political Science Department

Ms. Axel received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY). She is licensed to practice law in both New York and New Jersey. While working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United Nations (UN) arena, Ms. Axel monitored the creation of the International Criminal Court—the first world criminal court ever formed—and facilitated the involvement of hundreds of non-governmental organizations into this UN process. She was responsible for bringing in special interest/sectoral groups, such as the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the ICC—which she co-founded—as well as Victims’ Rights, Children’s Rights, and Faith-based NGOs, and helped facilitate their input into the final legal document that created the International Criminal Court so that their interests would be represented, too.

Her legal experience and research interests are in the areas of the International Criminal Court, Women and Reproductive Health, Teaching Legal Studies to Undergraduate Students, and Avoiding Plagiarism in the Classroom. She has worked as a consultant for the Center for Reproductive Rights (formerly the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy), the United Nations, the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the ICC, and the Coalition for an International Criminal Court. Prior to coming to New Jersey City University, she was Assistant Chair of the Department of Social Sciences at The New School (TNS) and advised students interested in pursuing legal studies. At TNS, she also taught international human rights to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as Constitutional Law, Women and Law, and Women’s Studies to undergraduates. Since 2001 she has been teaching as an adjunct at Montclair State University in Women’s Studies and, since 2006, in Justice Studies. In addition to offering law courses at NJCU, Ms. Axel is the coordinator for the Pre-Law Program.