The Wallace Stegner Center established the Behle Fellows Program in 2015, with funding from the Calvin A. and Hope Eccles Behle Fund. The Behle Fellows program provides generous financial support, including a tuition waiver scholarship, to students who serve as Research Assistants to Stegner Center faculty members. This year’s Behle Fellows are Hannah Follender, who is working with Professor Bob Keiter on several public lands-related articles, and Catherine Danley, who is working with Professor Robin Craig on the intersection of the Clean Water Act and state water law and on fisheries litigation. Stegner Center Director Bob Keiter noted, “The Behle Fellows program reflects the law school’s strong commitment to collaborative faculty-student research efforts, as it enables students to dig deeply into cutting-edge environmental issues.”
The funding is provided by the Calvin A. and Hope Eccles Behle Natural Resources Fund, which was established in 1988. The donors intended that the fund would be used to enhance teaching, research, and scholarship in natural resources law, with special recognition of the critical role that mining and water law play in a continually changing local, national, and international setting. Over the years, the Behle Fund has been used to support student engagement in the Wallace Stegner Center, as well as faculty research in natural resources law. The Behle Fund has also grown over the years, with additional gifts from the C. Comstock Clayton Foundation.
The Behle Fellows Program yields multiple benefits for students, providing them with an intensive research experience in natural resources law and the opportunity to work closely with Wallace Stegner Center faculty. For the faculty, it will augment research efforts, enabling them to work with some of the most talented students on key research projects.