Law Professor Mitchell Crusto Recognized with Loyola’s Dux Academicus Award

On January 23, Loyola University New Orleans awarded the 2025 Dux Academicus Award to Professor Mitchell F. Crusto, Henry F. Bonura, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Law.

This award is the highest recognition for a Loyola professor and is awarded to an outstanding member of the faculty who imparts the knowledge and wisdom of the liberal arts and sciences or the professions to students in a manner consistent with the distinctive philosophy of Loyola as a Jesuit institution of higher education.

During his tenure at the College of Law, Professor Crusto has taught over 20 different courses. On the law faculty, he has served in important roles including on the admissions committee and faculty appointment committee and has guided students as faculty advisor to the Black Law School Student Association and the Cannabis Law Student Association and as a faculty mentor to Ignatian Law Scholars.

“Mitch’s teaching philosophy embodies Jesuit principles in a caring, holistic, yet challenging approach that meets students where they are with the dedicated goal of preparing them to serve society as accomplished attorneys,” said Victor E. Schiro Distinguished Professor of Law and former Dux Academicus recipient M. Isabel Medina in her nominating letter.

Professor Crusto’s scholarship has focused on topics including juvenile justice, religious liberty and equality, affirmative action, clemency policies for marijuana offenders. His 2015 book, Involuntary Heroes: Hurricane Katrina’s Impact on Civil Liberties, won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts. 

His most recent work includes his latest book, Game Changers: How Name, Image, and Likeness Law Creates College Millionaires. The book studies how some of the most popular athletes in America utilized recent changes in the law and provides guidance for upcoming college athletes and non-athletes alike as they navigate the NIL landscape.

“What distinguishes Professor Crusto is not only the excellence of his teaching, but the depth of his formation,” said one student when nominating Professor Crusto for the award. “Law school can be disorienting. After first-semester grades…he reminded us, with empathy and unmistakable resolve, that grades are not a measure of potential. He restores belief. That is more than mentorship, it is formation. It is cura personalis, practiced with consistency and integrity.”

Professor Crusto joins a respected list of College of Law faculty who have been honored with the Dux Academicus award, including current faculty Victor H. Schiro Distinguished Professor of Law M. Isabel Medina and Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law Andrea Armstrong.