by John Blodgett
Associate Professor Kim Diana Connolly from the University of South Carolina School of Law joins the Wallace Stegner Center as a Stegner Center Young Scholar from October 20-21, 2008. The Young Scholars Program, which is made possible by the generous support of the Cultural Vision Fund, is designed to recognize and establish a relationship with promising scholars early in their academic careers. Recipients are selected based on their accomplishments, the quality of their academic work, and their promise in the field of environmental and natural resources law and policy.
At the University of South Carolina School of Law, Kim specializes in natural resources and public land law, with a particular interest in wetlands law and policy and other Clean Water Act matters. “I work a lot with laws that govern activities in water and wetlands, ecosystems that vary greatly depending on where you are in the world,” she explains. “The area of environmental and natural resource law is vibrant and exciting. It touches so many aspects of our lives, and opportunities abound on many levels. Whether students are thinking about full-time careers in this area, or merely considering how to connect this aspect to other plans for their future work, I believe it behooves every graduate to know a little about environmental and related laws.”
During her residency at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, Kim will deliver two lectures. On October 20, she will speak at a Downtown Continuing Legal Education (CLE) brown bag lecture at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough. Her talk will address “Recent Developments in Compensatory Mitigation Requirements under the Clean Water Act.”
On October 21, at the College of Law, Kim will deliver her Stegner Center Young Scholar Lecture: “The Empty Promises of United States Wetland Mitigation Policy.” In this lecture, which is free and open to the public and members of the legal community, she will discuss the concept of “compensatory mitigation” in the world of regulating wetlands and other waters.
Both of Kim’s talks will be filmed and posted to the Stegner Center website, and her Young Scholar lecture will be published in the student-edited Journal of Land Resources and Environmental Law.
The Stegner Center is delighted to welcome Kim as its fourth Young Scholar. While programs at other law schools recognize established scholars, the Stegner Center’s Young Scholar Program is unique in recognizing and supporting promising scholars at the beginning of their careers. Past Stegner Center Young Scholars include Associate Professor Jamison Colburn, Western New England College School of Law; Associate Professor Reed Benson, University of Wyoming College of Law; and Associate Professor Amy Sinden, Temple University Beasley School of Law.
“I am deeply honored to have been invited to be the next in a series of stellar former young scholars,” says Kim. “The University of Utah College of Law and the Wallace Stegner Center are nationally known centers of environmental and natural resource scholarship and learning. The opportunity to travel to Utah and engage in an exchange with superb scholars will be both invigorating and a little daunting!”