WALLACE STEGNER CENTER
WALLACE STEGNER CENTER
WALLACE STEGNER CENTER
Our Environmental Law program is ranked #3 among public law schools, and #7 among all law schools in U.S. News & World Report, and rated A+ by PreLaw Magazine.
Named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and conservationist, the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment offers students one of the top environmental and natural resources law programs in the United States. We also offer unparalleled access to the mountains, rivers, and desert landscapes that inspire us, and many students, to pursue environmental law.
Modern society has the power to profoundly alter our natural surroundings. From the development of energy and mineral resources, to fragmentation of cultural and ecological landscapes through development, to conflicts over allocating scarce natural resources, understanding of the relationship between environmental laws and social actions, the tradeoffs faced by society when in allocating scarce resources. The Stegner Center promotes opportunities to develop effective legal and policy institutions. We encourage legally rigorous solutions that are grounded in the best available science and information, and that promote transparency and meaningful engagement with effected communities.
The Stegner Center offers students a variety of educational opportunities, including a JD certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, an LLM degree, numerous substantive law courses, a Law and Policy program, the Great Salt Lake Project, an Environmental Law Clinic, an Environmental Dispute Resolution program, and a variety of public events and speakers at the College of Law.
The Stegner Center boasts a talented and diverse team who are working to shape environmental law and policy, and who are committed to involving students in that work. Our faculty members serve on local and national NGO boards and advisory committees, collaborate with state and federal government officials to improve environmental policies, and they advocate for the rule of law, sound science, and engaged decisionmaking in the courtroom and legislative chambers.
At the Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, we believe that well-conceived and carefully implemented laws and policies are the cornerstones of society, and we invite you to join us in that pursuit.
LATEST STEGNER CENTER NEWS
Wide-open views: Founding director Professor Robert Keiter tells the story of Utah Law’s renowned environmental law program
Dec 08, 2025Wallace Stegner passed away in 1993, not long before Professor Robert Keiter began teaching at Utah Law. At the time, the law school’s environmental program had morphed from an energy law center in the 1970s to a general land, water and energy program, and it needed some rejuvenation.
If you want to move conflict in a productive direction, start with an assessment
Dec 01, 2025Situations—including conflict situations—are always ready for something. Unfortunately, people tend to act without really stepping back to understand the situation and what would move it in a productive direction.
Research Professor John Ruple quoted in Bloomberg Law about resource management plan rollback
Nov 26, 2025Research Professor John Ruple, an environmental law expert, is quoted in a Bloomberg Law article about lawmakers using the Congressional Review Act to get rid of land use plans restricting fossil fuel development.
Let’s be clear about boundaries
Nov 01, 2025One thing I have noticed is that many people seem to understand the importance of healthy boundaries, while also struggling to really understand what boundaries are—and are not—and how to implement them.
