Environmental Scholar James R. May to Return to the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University as Haub Visiting Scholar
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is pleased to announce that James R. May will return to Haub Law in spring 2023 as a Haub Visiting Scholar.
May shares a long history with Haub Law as he previously served as a Haub Visiting Scholar in 2020 and more recently, in spring of 2022, May joined the environmental law faculty as a visiting professor. As a Visiting Scholar in 2020, he focused on the intersection of human rights and environmental law, specifically concentrating on constitutionally-recognized rights to human dignity. And, this past spring, as a Visiting Professor he taught Civil Procedure and a seminar on Environmental Rights. Notably, May is also a past recipient of the Nicholas Robinson Award for Distinguished Environmental Achievement.
“Haub Law prides itself on introducing its students to professors at the top of their fields,” said Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, Associate Dean for Environmental Law Programs and Strategic Initiatives, Jason J. Czarnezki. “We are thrilled to welcome Professor May back to Haub Law where he will enrich our environmental law program and provide our students with an additional perspective on the field.” Professor Katrina Kuh, Haub Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, added, “Professor May provides students with a compelling example of how to use careful but ambitious scholarship to support social and environmental justice. His work has helped to advance environmental rights around the world and will be instrumental as we implement New York’s new constitutional right to clean air, clean water, and a healthful environment.”
Currently, May is a Distinguished Professor of Law, Founder of the Global Environmental Rights Institute, and co-Founder of the Dignity Rights Institute at Widener University Delaware Law School. May founded the Widener Sustainability Initiative as the University's first Chief Sustainability Officer. May is a former federal civil litigator and appellate advocate, the founder of several award-winning public interest programs, and the author or editor of 12 books and more than one hundred book chapters and articles. He has received numerous awards, and is an inductee of Phi Kappa Phi, the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and the American Bar Foundation. He is an alumnus of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, where he was the Feldshuh Fellow and received his LLM in Environmental Law in 1991 graduating first in his class. He received his JD (National Environmental Law Moot Court Champion) and BS in Mechanical Engineering (Bowman Scholar) from the University of Kansas.
“I'm honored to return to Haub Law as a Haub Visiting Scholar,” said Professor James R. May. “I look forward to sharing ideas with Haub Law's first-rate faculty, students and staff in the service of improving outcomes in environmental law.”
In their roles at Haub Law, Haub Visiting Scholars collaborate with faculty, guest lecture classes, and work closely with students in the Environmental Law Program and others. As previously announced, funding for the Haub Visiting Scholars was made possible by a gift from the Haub family in recognition of the essential role of environmental science, informatics and other technology and allied fields towards formulating environmental policy and law.
About Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law offers JD and Masters of Law degrees in both Environmental and International Law, as well as a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in Environmental Law. The school, housed on the University’s campus in White Plains, NY, opened its doors in 1976 and has over 9,000 alumni around the world. The school maintains a unique philosophy and approach to legal education that strikes an important balance between practice and theory. Haub Law launched its Environmental Law Program in 1978, and it has long been ranked among the world’s leading university programs, with a current #1 ranking by U.S. News and World Report.
