"Community Expectations for Sustainable Development in Natural Resources Projects" Course Begins

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law's innovative and pioneering "Sustainable Natural Resources Development" series of courses returns to center stage this week with the offering of "Community Expectations for Sustainable Development in Natural Resources Projects," a three-credit course that will run for the entire week.

The course is being taught by Adjunct Profs. Luke J. Danielson, a Gunnison lawyer and expert in the field, M. Cecilia Dalupan, assistant director of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, and Antonio La Vina, dean of the Ateneo School of Government in Manila, Philippines.

The course has attracted a wide variety of students, both from the U.S. and internationally.

Because of the one-week nature of the course, students are in class from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day. There were assignments due before the course began and there will be a final paper, due several weeks after the course ends on Friday, Aug. 13.

According to Mr. Danielson and Ms. Dalupan, "This class is designed to explore the issues of sustainable development at a community level -- in other words, where work is actually being undertaken. The major themes include: (1) understanding each other in terms of differences in culture, values, and ideas; (2) sources of misunderstanding and conflict; and (3) incorporating communities in the decision process with emphasis on managing conflict successfully."

The entire series also includes two additional one-week courses on examining sustainable natural resources development at (1) an international level as well as at (2) the level of nation states. All of the courses are three credits. They can be taken as as "package" or individually.

Don Smith, director of the Sturm College of Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law & Policy program, said, "This series of courses represents the college of law's commitment to bringing students the most cutting-edge and timely courses taught anywhere in the United States. We are thrilled to have practitioners and experts such as Mr. Danielson, Ms. Dalupan and Dean La Vina, and the impressive list of guest speakers they have arranged, as the teaching core of this important course."

The short courses are open to all DU law students, law students at other law schools, graduate students, and practitioners in the natural resources sector.