Energy, Environment & Land Use Program
About Us
The Energy, Environment & Land Use Program (EELU) provides an extensive and rigorous curriculum and extracurricular opportunities for students with an interest in practicing in these intersecting areas of the law. Environmental issues do not respect academic disciplinary boundaries, and the EELU Program and its faculty are leaders in developing interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and researching energy, environmental, and land use topics.
The Sally Shallenberger Brown EELU Program Fund
In 2021, the EELU Program received a substantial new gift to establish an endowment and support faculty, research, course development, lectureships, and the program's general growth. The Sally Shallenberger Brown EELU Program Fund was endowed in honor of Sally Shallenberger Brown, a pioneering conservationist and ardent environmentalist. With that gift, the EELU Program is continuing to grow and innovate.
Opportunities in school and beyond
Our faculty work across disciplines to teach about, research, and address the most challenging energy, environment, and land use issues of the day. EELU faculty and students also collaborate with the new Vanderbilt Center for Sustainability, Energy and Climate and the social and behavioral scientists in the Climate Change Research Network, which conducts theoretical and applied research on one of the most important and most widely overlooked sources of greenhouse gases: individual and household behavior. The EELU Program's white paper series offers students a unique opportunity to research emerging energy and climate change challenges with faculty supervision.
Vanderbilt Law graduates serve in a wide range of environmental law and policy positions in private law firms, corporations, government agencies, public interest groups and other organizations. The Career Services Office provides special assistance to students interested in government and other public interest careers in environmental law in addition to coordinating on-campus interviews with hundreds of private employers.
The EELU Program seeks to give its students the tools to succeed in energy, environmental, and land-use focused careers. Students can explore their interest through externships and internships. With financial support from summer stipends, Vanderbilt students can use their summers working for non-profit organizations dedicated to land conservation, environmental regulation, and other focus areas.
Specifically, an externship is available with the Environmental Law Institute to spend a semester in Washington D.C.