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Michelle D. Land

Michelle D. Land, J.D. is the Director of the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities and also directs the Pace Academy for Applied Environmental Studies – a Pace University Center for Excellence.  She is an adjunct professor in Pace's environmental studies undergraduate program and environmental science graduate program as well as NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education. 

Land is known nationally for her leadership of the Environmental Consortium. Following her appointment as its first director in 2004, she built the still-growing Consortium into a coalition that now numbers more than 50 institutions, ranging from two-year colleges to research universities. She continues to guide the Consortium in a comprehensive program that ranges from place-based learning to campus greening to faculty training

Land received her Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law, where she earned a certificate in environmental law and served as editor-in-chief of the Pace Environmental Law Review. Land lectures regionally and nationally on environmental policy and ecosystem-based higher education, and is a sought after advisor on regional climate change.

Land represents Pace University on the national Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. She was appointed by Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano to the Global Warming Task Force in 2007, and serves on his Climate Change Advisory Council, representing higher education. She is an advisor on higher education to the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, and serves on the Executive Committee of MetroPool, Inc.’s Board of Directors.

Her interdisciplinary, hands-on approach was first honed at the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis, Missouri, where she conducted field studies, managed education programs, and propagated, rehabilitated, and released endangered birds of prey. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a specialty in wildlife biology from the Honours Program at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and she has undertaken masters-level study in ecology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Currently, Land’s areas of research interest include the intersection of nanotechnology regulation, environment and ethics as well as animal welfare and conservation policy.

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