With the arrival of 2004, the University of Florida’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program is launching a new Speaker Series. The Speaker Series will feature leading academics with expertise related to environmental or land use law. Each speaker will visit the UF campus to deliver a presentation to law faculty and interested members of the community. In addition, the speaker will meet with ELULP certificate students in a graduate seminar setting, providing certificate students a unique opportunity to develop their critical thinking and gain exposure to cutting edge research and ideas. In addition to the intellectual enrichment the program will provide, bringing leading figures from schools around the country to campus will provide UF’s program with valuable national exposure.

     The idea for the Speaker Series emerged from a retreat that included the newest additions to the ELULP faculty: Christine Klein and Michael Wolf, who started this past fall, and Mary Jane Angelo, who joins the faculty in May. With these most recent hires and the teaching faculty drawn from the Center for Governmental Responsibility, the program now draws on a dozen faculty who teach or write in environmental or land use law. The idea for the Speaker Series was developed with the help of the Program’s alumni Advisory Board, which has helped to guide the program since its inception. Led by Larry Sellers, an Executive Committee comprised of Mary Jane Angelo, Richard Brightman, Carol Browner, Brenna Durden, and David White helped the faculty to shape the idea and to develop private support to make the program possible.

     This spring, the ELULP is able to host a pilot program that will bring in three speakers with an environmental and land use law focus, thanks to funding from the Levin College of Law Faculty Enrichment Fund. Professor Vicki Been from New York University will visit campus on January 27, James Rossi from Florida State University on February 27, and Jim Chen of the University of Minnesota on March 30.

     The Speaker Series promises to provide a highly visible opportunity for individuals and organizations to support the ELULP and education on environmental and land use law issues. We are pleased and proud that the Environmental and Land Use Law Section will be a sponsor of the Series to help us launch this valuable initiative. For information about how to become a sponsor of the Speaker Series, or to receive more information about the upcoming presentations, please contact us at elulp@law.ufl.edu.