Autumn Semester 2010 Gets Underway: New Developments in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program Announced

Today marks the first day of the autumn 2010 semester at the Sturm College of Law. And as befits the beginning of the new semester, we in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy program would like to mention some of the new people, topics and events that will become part of the program this semester.

New Professors
First, we'd like to welcome several new faculty members who will be teaching in the program:

• Tom Romero, who will be teaching Water Law, was a Professor at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, MN, before coming to DU. A Denver native and a graduate of DU's undergraduate program, his research examines the legal construction of race relations in the metropolitan American West and Global South. He is currently completing a book-length manuscript on law and race relations in post-World War II Denver.

• William Shutkin, Director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, has held faculty positions at the University of Colorado at Boulder, MIT, and Boston College Law School. He has founded and/or led four organizations in the sustainable development field.

• Annecoos Wiersema, who will be teaching Environmental Law and Administrative Law, joins the College of Law from The Ohio State University, where she was an Assistant Professor of Law. Her primary research is in international environmental law, focusing on how legal institutions can be developed that effectively protect species and ecosystems in the face of ecological complexity and scientific uncertainty.

Professors Romero, Shutkin, and Wiersema will join the College of Law's outstanding full-time and adjunct faculty in delivering a level of education and experience widely considered to be among the best in the U.S. and the world.

Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
The College of Law has recently approved the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Certificate, which is intended to recognize a path of specialized learning within the JD program. All enrolled law students in good standing will be eligible for the ENRL Certificate. The certificate will require students to complete Administrative Law and either Environmental Law or Natural Resources Law and 12 credits in other approved environmental and natural resources courses. More information will be forthcoming shortly about the certificate.

ENRL Speaker Series
This semester will mark the beginning of the Environmental and Natural Resources Speakers Series in which leading individuals in the environmental and natural resources sectors will be speaking at the College of Law. The sessions, which will average one per month in September, October, November, January, February, March, and April, will begin on Sept. 15 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. The first speakers will be two former assistant secretaries of the U.S. Interior Department John Carver and Rebecca Watson. More information about this new series will be posted shortly.

ENRL Program and Activities Calendar
In the next several weeks, the ENRL website will include a calendar to program events and activities.