DescriptionThe Program Director is part of the Energy, Environment, and Land Use (EELU) Program in the Law School at Vanderbilt University and is the leader responsible for overall coordination of the program, curriculum, and student and alumni support. The Program Director has a key role in ensuring programmatic oversight. This position reports administratively to the Vice Dean of the Law School and functionally to the Faculty Co-Directors of the EELU Program. The position at present is funded for a one-year term with a possibility of annual renewal.
Vanderbilt Law School’s EELU Program offers a broad array of upper-level courses, research opportunities, and extracurricular activities for students with an interest in energy, environmental, and land use law. Environmental issues do not respect academic disciplinary boundaries, and Vanderbilt Law School is a leader in developing interdisciplinary approaches to teaching, research, and service in the areas of energy and land use regulation and environmental protection. The curriculum at Vanderbilt Law School allows students to focus on any of these fields individually or gain a broader exposure to their intersections. The program also sponsors the Energy & Environmental Law Society for students to organize service projects, hosts the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) in partnership with the Environmental Law Institute (www.eli.org), and sponsors speakers and symposia addressing environmental, energy and land use policy. The Private Climate Governance Lab, a new part of the EELU Program, produces innovative scholarship, offers practical resources, and provides student research opportunities focused on using private governance tools to address climate change. The Program also works closely with the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt, an initiative that includes teams of faculty, graduate, and professional students and conducts research on greenhouse gas emissions from individual and household behavior
Key Functions and Expected Performance:
Assist in developing and implementing a strategic plan that will advance the goals and objectives of the Law School as it relates to the EELU Program.
Work in coordination with the EELU Program Faculty Co-Directors and affiliated faculty, the EELU Program Coordinator, the Vice Dean, the Associate Dean for Research, the Career Services Office and others to provide programming, course advising, and career advising to law students as they progress through law school:
- Provide specialized programming, coordinate conferences, and guest speaker events with the support of the Program Coordinator. Lead high-level planning of the annual Distinguished Lecture on Climate Change Governance and support the planning and execution of the annual State of the Environment Conference.
- Assist students in choosing externship and research that will build strategically toward EELU employment opportunities.
- Work closely with students, host organizations, and funders to build winning fellowship and funding applications.
- Provide organizational management of the Private Climate Governance Lab and work with the Private Climate Governance Lab Fellow to ensure the execution and promotion of Lab projects.
Work in coordination with the EELU Program Faculty Co-Directors, Vice Dean, and Associate Dean for Research to increase curricular opportunities:
- Keep track of regular EELU course offerings and assist EELU faculty in avoiding significant course scheduling overlaps.
- Work with students and faculty to prepare white papers on environmental, energy and/or land use issues for the Program’s climate governance white paper series.
- May include offering a course in the energy, environment, and land use law area(s) as an adjunct professor/part-time instructor (which requires vetting and approval) focused on environmental, energy and/or land use issues such as best practices for local government climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Expand outreach generally. Oversee the development of effective relationships and partnerships with local, regional, and national alumni, donors, funders, and EELU employers and, in coordination with the Vanderbilt Law School Communications team, grow the Program’s profile:
- Manage media and marketing including making substantive edits to programmatic web pages and overseeing the maintenance of publication lists, social media, and quarterly newsletters, etc.
- Conduct alumni outreach efforts to further develop strong, positive relationships with alumni engaged in EELU activities.
- Conduct outreach efforts to develop strong, positive relationships with EELU organizations such as environmental advocacy groups, international, national and subnational agencies, funders, and fellowship providers to identify and develop research, curricular, programming, and employment opportunities.
- Promote faculty scholarship through various channels, including social media, newsletters, and EELU-sponsored events.
Engage in legal scholarship relevant to environmental law with ability to attend approved academic conferences.
Work in coordination with the EELU Program Faculty Co-Directors, the Vice Dean, and the Associate Dean for Research to guide faculty, site supervisors, and students on externships and summer research opportunities.
Supervisory Relationships:
- The position reports administratively Vice Dean and functionally to the Faculty Co-Directors of the EELU Program of the Law School.
- The position may supervise a Private Climate Governance Fellow working for the Private Climate Governance Lab and law school students working for the EELU Program as research assistants in the fellowship program.
Qualifications:
- A Juris Doctorate (J.D.) is necessary.
- A minimum of 2 years of experience in energy, environmental, and land use law, legal field or the equivalent is necessary.
- Demonstrated integrity, honesty, and openness to create strong and enduring collaboration with key leaders across the institution and community is necessary.
- Executive level interpersonal and communication skills are necessary.
- Ability to demonstrate maturity, creativity and initiative in expanding the Law School’s presence locally and nationally is necessary.
- Ability to make sound administrative/procedural decisions using a high level of discernment is necessary.
- Ability to perform complex tasks and to prioritize multiple projects is necessary.
- Ability to provide technical advice and information to staff in area of expertise is necessary.
