The Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School has selected three journalists for its 2017 Summer Media Fellowship program. Each fellow, selected from several dozen highly qualified applicants from around the world, will attend a two-week Summer Session course at VLS and deliver a lecture as part of the law school's free "Hot Topics" series.
The 2017 Summer Media Fellows are:
Lisa Hymas of Grist. An environmental journalist with 20 years of experience, Hymas focuses on politics and policy related to climate change and energy. In addition to her responsibilities as a senior editor, assigning and editing stories, she writes about the Trump administration and the environment for Grist's "Trump Tracker" series. Her most recent installment is titled "Trump's Latest Environmental Evildoing: More Pollution, Less Protection."
Renee Schoof of Bloomberg BNA. Based in Washington, D.C., Schoof reports on environmental enforcement and serves as energy team leader, coordinating and editing coverage of environmental regulatory, legislative, and legal news related to energy use and development. Her recent work includes "Trump's EPA Leadership to Inherit Declines in Criminal Cases, Inspections" and "Environmental Work at Justice Dept. May Change Under Sessions, Former Prosecutors, Advocates, Say."
Peter Schwartzstein, a freelance journalist who regularly contributes to National Geographic, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Newsweek, and more. Based in the Middle East, Schwartzstein reports on geopolitics and the environment, including food, water, agriculture, and energy issues in more than 15 countries. In 2016 he won a first-place Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) award for outstanding beat reporting.
Fellows were selected based on work history and samples, commitment to covering environmental issues, and their potential for increasing understanding of environmental law and policy issues in the United States and internationally. Former media fellows include Fiona Harvey of The Guardian, Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal, Priyanka Vora of Hindustan Times, and Jack Cushman of InsideClimate News.
In addition to attending class, media fellows will join faculty and other distinguished scholars in delivering lectures as part of Vermont Law School's 2017 Hot Topics summer series, which covers a wide range of current issues in environmental law. Free and open to the public, the hour-long lectures will be held from noon to 1 p.m. beginning June 1 in Oakes Hall on the VLS campus. Continuing legal education (CLE) credit is available. A schedule of upcoming Hot Topics will be announced later this spring and posted at vermontlaw.edu/summer.
The Vermont Law School Summer Media Fellowship program has been made possible since 2002 by a generous grant from the Johnson Family Foundation.
###
Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation's largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master's Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, and Center for Applied Human Rights. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.