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Distinguished Summer Scholars 2018

May 9, 2018

Vermont Law School invites leaders in the fields of environmental, energy, agriculture, and international environmental law to serve as Distinguished Summer Scholars in residency during the VLS Summer Session. Each Distinguished Summer Scholar delivers a public lecture, participates in informal social events on campus, and is available to meet with students individually. These distinguished visitors are a significant intellectual resource for our summer students and also offer valuable networking opportunities.

The Environmental Law Scholar is Shi-Ling Hsu, the D’Alemberte Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs at Florida State University College of Law. He is an expert in the areas of environmental and natural resource law, climate change, law and economics, and property. He has published in a wide variety of legal journals and recently published a book, The Case for a Carbon Tax: Getting Past our Hang-ups to Effective Climate Policy (Island Press 2011).

The Energy Law Scholar is Natacha Teresa Mesa Tejeda, Professor of Law at the University of Havana, Cuba. Professor Mesa Tejeda is an expert in the area of commercial law. She recently edited and published a book, Foreign Investment: A Vision from the Law (2016). In addition to teaching, she works as an external consultant at the International Law Firm of Havana, and she provides assistance to a Cuban company that produces and commercializes electric power generated through solar panels.

The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Scholar is Andrea Freeman, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Her scholarship is focused on the intersection of critical race and class theory with issues of food policy, health, gender, and consumer credit. Many of her articles examines how racially neutral food-related law, policy, and government action disproportionately harm marginalized communities.

The International Environmental Law Scholar is Tseming Yang, Professor of Law and a Bannan Institute Scholar at Santa Clara University, where he teaches environmental law and other related courses. Over the past two decades, his research and writing has revolved around various areas of U.S., international, and comparative environmental law and governance, including environmental justice, climate change, and other international environmental treaties, and China’s environmental law and governance system. His current research focuses on the varying approaches to environmental governance and sustainability across the world.