Faculty
Faculty associated with the Environmental and Land Use Law Program include full-time faculty of the College of Law, affiliate faculty members, faculty drawn from the College’s Center of Governmental Responsibility, and adjunct faculty from the practicing bar. In addition, lawyers from private firms, corporations, government agencies and non-profit groups regularly share their expertise with students as guest lecturers and in informal settings.
Tenure-Track Faculty | Clinical Faculty | CGR Faculty | Adjunct Faculty
Tenure-track Faculty
Mary Jane Angelo
Program Director
Professor of Law
Professor Angelo joined the faculty in 2004 after many years of environmental law practice, including serving as an assistant judicial officer and then as a senior attorney for the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC, and serving as a senior attorney for the St. Johns River Water Management District in Florida. Professor Angelo’s substantial environmental law practice has included water law, wetlands law, endangered species law, pesticides law, biotechnology law, and hazardous and toxic substances law. Professor Angelo has been an adjunct Professor at the UF law school and has taught in the summer program at the Vermont Law School. She received her B.S. in biological sciences from Rutgers University, and both her M.S., in Entomology, and J.D. from the University of Florida where she was on the Law Review. Her teaching and scholarship interests include a wide variety of environmental law matters, environmental dispute resolution and professional responsibility.
Mark Fenster
Ph. D., Professor of Law
Fenster joined the College of Law faculty in fall 2001 from private practice with the public-interest law firm of Shute Mihaly & Weinberger in San Francisco, where he focused on land use and environmental law. Fenster graduated from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, and holds a Ph.D. in Communications and Cultural Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation he was a law clerk for Judge Carlos Lucero of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He teaches Administrative Law, Statutory Interpretation, and related courses.
Christine Klein
LL.M Program Director
Professor of Law
Klein joined the faculty in Fall 2003 from Michigan State University College of Law. At MSU she chaired the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program. Her teaching and scholarship focus on topics at the intersection of natural resources law and other areas, including constitutional, property, tax and land use law.
Michael Allan Wolf
Ph. D., Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law.
Wolf joined the faculty in Fall 2003 from the University of Richmond as the first occupant of the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law. He has taught and written for more than 20 years in the areas of land-use planning, environmental law, property, local government, urban revitalization, and legal and constitutional history.
Danaya C. Wright
Ph. D., Professor of Law
Wright has written numerous articles on the legal property issues of rail-trail conversions and is a consultant with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, D.C. Her interest in parks, recreation, and conservation has spurred most of her research, and she has become a nationally recognized expert on linear parks and greenways.
Jo Ann Klein
Assistant Director
Lena Hinson
Program Assistant
Clinical Faculty
Thomas T. Ankersen
Director, Conservation Clinic and Costa Rica Program
Legal Skills Professor
Since joining CGR in 1993, Ankersen has rapidly expanded the College’s International Environmental Law Program. He is extensively involved in grant-funded projects in Central and South America as well as Africa and India. His work has included developing a legal framework for the ground-breaking international collaboration among governmental and non-governmental organizations in Central America and Mexico. He directs the Conservation Clinic as well as the Summer Environmental Study Abroad Program in San José, Costa Rica.
Center for Governmental Responsibility (CGR) Faculty
Joan D. Flocks
Director, Social Policy Division, Center for Governmental Responsibility
Associate in Law
Flocks joined the College of Law in 2003 after working as an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine on environmental health issues among low-income populations. Before that she practiced poverty law in various Florida legal services offices. She has an M.A. in Latin American Studies from UF and her teaching and scholarship areas include agricultural labor, domestic and international environmental justice, community-based participatory research, and immigrant groups in the Southeast.
Richard Hamann
UF Center for Governmental Responsibility
Associate in Law
Hamann is a recognized expert on Florida water law and wetlands regulation. In addition to extensive research on these topics, he has taught a broad variety of environmental law courses and seminars with an interdisciplinary emphasis achieved through guest lectures and field trips, including Environmental Law : Water Wetlands & Wildlife and a Water Law seminar.
Tim McLendon
Staff Attorney
Research interests include historic preservation, Florida constitutional law, Everglades restoration policies, local land use law, and sustainable development. Authored a handbook on Florida historic preservation law.
Jon L. Mills
Professor of Law & Director
UF Center for Governmental Responsibility. Mills served in the Florida Legislature from 1978 to 1988, and was house speaker during the 1987-88 term. He was principal sponsor of Florida’s Growth Management Act, the Water Quality Assurance Act and the Wetlands Protection Act. He also served as Dean and Interim Dean for the Levin College of Law from 1999-2003. In his role as Director of CGR, Mills has been directly involved in the Center’s Brazil, Central American and eastern Europe initiatives. He teaches seminars in International Environment & Trade, Florida Constitutional Law, and the Rule of Law in the Americas.
Stephen J. Powell
Director, International Trade Law Program
Former chief counsel for import administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and regional counsel for national oceanic and atmospheric administration. Research interests include trade and environment, regional free trade agreements, and agricultural law. Served as dispute settlement panelist for World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement.
Jeffry S. Wade
Director of Environmental Studies, Center for Governmental Responsibility
Wade’s research has focused on a wide array of environmental and land use issues, from growth management and protection of sensitive lands to ecosystem management and coastal resource management. His projects have ranged from the local to international, including significant international and comparative work in Brazil on river basin protection. He has taught Coastal Zone Management, Environment and Trade Seminars as well as an undergraduate course on environmental law & policy.
Adjunct Faculty
Courses and seminars taught by adjunct faculty enable students to learn from leading practitioners with years of experience in various facets of environmental and land use law practice. Recent adjunct faculty include:
Enola T. Brown
Attorney, Enola T. Brown, P.A.
Ms. Brown specializes in environmental issues, with a concentration in soil and groundwater contamination issues. She has over 20 years of experience dealing with the various environmental issues that arise with industrial properties and& industrial operations. Prior to receiving her JD she worked for the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Committee. She teaches Environmental Issues in Business Transactions at the law school. Prior to starting her own firm, Ms. Brown practiced environmental law with the firms of Lawson, McWhirter, Grandoff & Reeves, and Annis, Mitchell, Cockey, Edwards & Roehn. Ms. Brown is a member of the executive council of the Environmental & Land Use Law section of The Florida Bar.
Thomas Hawkins
Adjunct Professor
Thomas Hawkins is Gainesville City Commissioner. He is Chair of the City Commission’s Community Development Committee and is a member of the Audit, Finance & Legislative Committee and the Regional Utilities Committee. Hawkins is also a member of the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council, the Clearinghouse Committee of the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council, the Gainesville/Alachua County Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization, the Library Governing Board and the Florida Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Partnership Council. Commissioner Hawkins holds a bachelor of arts in economics from the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a juris doctorate from the Emory University School of Law, and a Master of Science in Real Estate from the Warrington College of Business.
Michael T. Olexa, Ph.D.,
Affiliate Professor
Professor and Director, UF/IFAS Agricultural Law Center. Olexa has served as a policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, and he chaired both The Florida Bar’s Agricultural Law Committee and the General Practice, Solo, and Small Firm Section of the Florida Bar. He has worked extensively with agriculturalists nationwide on agricultural and environmental issues and teaches Agricultural Law & Policy.
Cathy M. Sellers
Partner, Broad and Cassel, Attorneys at Law, Tallahassee, FL.
Sellers specializes in administrative, environmental, land use and governmental law and teaches Florida Administrative Law at the law school. Her practice includes handling regulatory matters before state and federal agencies and lobbying before the Florida Legislature. She serves on the Executive Council of the Environmental and Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar.
Terry L. Zinn
Former Senior Attorney for District 2, Florida Department of Transportation, Lake City, FL (retired).
Prior to entering law practice, Zinn worked as an environmental consultant and practiced environmental law for 15 years at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and as general counsel for a public environmental consulting company before joining DOT. His practice includes land use issues, eminent domain, toxics, wetlands, endangered species, and NEPA. He has taught Environmental Law: Toxics, NEPA, & CERCLA.
“My law school experience would not have been nearly as rewarding if it weren’t for the dedication and commitment of the ELULP faculty. In one way or another, the members of the ELULP faculty have each served as a mentor, sharing their knowledge and experience to give career and academic guidance. The ELULP students and faculty are a close knit group with common passions, interests, and goals. The study of environmental law lends itself well to regular kayaking, hiking, camping, and biking group trips with the ELULP faculty. From study abroad programs and clinic projects to conference planning and moot court practice, the ELULP faculty engage with their students at every opportunity.”– Christina Storz