IEN - Internships

The Institute for Environmental Negotiation is affiliated with the University of Virginia's School of Architecture

. The Institute was formed more than 20 years ago to provide mediation and consensus building services to governments, citizen organizations and businesses dealing with conflicts and complex policy choices about land uses and the natural and built environment. The Institute also designs public involvement processes for land use planning projects such as watershed plans, brownfield and superfund site redevelopment, forest management and other related projects.

Each year, the Institute offers several paid ‘graduate student assistantships’ for students in the School of Architecture’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning. There may be full-time (40 hour week) summer internships and up to four one-year semester internships (15 hours per week for two semesters) during the fall and spring semesters. IEN Associates work intensively on one to two projects and employ a variety of skills such as research, writing, graphic design and web site management and may also assist with meeting facilitation. Associates work on projects that apply planning theory to on-the-ground projects such as watershed plans or redevelopment of brownfields. They also learn to conduct public involvement processes --- a key skill sought by both public and private sector planning agencies. Those who are interested can gain experience in facilitation.

The following list provides several examples of the types of projects on which that Institute graduate associates may work. However, there are many more projects that are offered each year in which students can participate. To learn about current Institute projects visit http://www.virginia.edu/ien/projects.htm

To apply:
Internships are awarded on a competitive basis. Only students enrolled at the University of Virginia School of Architecture will be hired and preference is given to second-year Master’s degree candidates in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning. Candidates for the summer internships are hired in the spring. Fall and spring semester interns are hired in the spring of the prior academic year. To apply please email your resume or a one-page bio detailing your interests, academic and work experience and availability (start date, end date and hours available per week) to ckb5r@virginia.edu or send to: Caroline Wilkinson, Institute for Environmental Negotiation, University of Virginia, 104 Emmet Street, Charlottesville, VA 22903. The deadline for applications for summer and fall is April 6, 2007.

Current IEN Interns

Lisa Hardy This fall I am working on a project with the US Forest Service. Our team here

is working to conduct a national assessment that takes into account the many travel management planning efforts and the challenges. Our team will provide recommendations for improvement in implementing travel management planning efforts on a national basis. My other project this semester is with the Virginia Department of Forestry. Our team is reviewing comprehensive plans for the 68 Bay watershed counties, and provide a complete inventory of the existing language in these plans relative to the conservation of forests and working lands. Next semester I will be working with our Associate Director Tanya Denckla Cobb to research different scales of urban and community gardening.

Megan Bucknum The projects I am working on this fall at IEN are mainly food related including, helping to organize a lecture and workshop by Mark Winne, which hopes to create a network of people interested in Food Policy Councils throughout the state and identifying and interviewing possible "Community Partners" to work with the upcoming Food Systems Class in the spring. Additionally, I am helping to create a video highlighting the Institute's Tobacco Panel.

(Past IEN Interns)

Bob Batz Bob is second year graduate student in the Master of Urban and Environmental Planning Program at UVa with a B.S. in Bio-Resources Engineering from University of Maryland. Collaborative environmental efforts have been a common thread in his career. Among his achievement is the establishment of a wildlife corridor through voluntary conservation easements in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Bob also spent three years as Senior Reseearch Assistant with Wildlife Habitat Council, where he worked with corporate landowners to restore ecological integrity and improve wildlife habitat. Subsequently, he spent three years working for the City of Portland, Oregon, where he managed a public outreach campaign that reduced combined sewer overflows by over 1 billion gallons annually. Bob spent the past year as Public Service Fellow with the Charlottesville Community Design Center and is a part-time Environmental Planner for Dominion Development Resources.

Jenny Marone Jenny is a second-year graduate student in the Masters of Urban and Environmental Planning Program at UVA. While pursuing her B.A. in Economics from the College of William and Mary, her course of study included economics, philosophy and classic al civilizations, as well as a year abroad at The London School of Economics and Political Science. After graduation, Jenny relocated to New York City where she spent four years working as a management consultant in the data warehousing practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers. There she developed technical skills and experience in the insurance, banking, credit, and pharmaceutical industries.

During a hiatus from work Jenny explored small towns and cities across the United States and relocated to Easton, PA. She took a job working for AIDSNET, a regional non-profit, where she distributed funds for patient care and housing services, developed regional policies for administration of the housing program, and helped prepare the gap analysis, needs assessment and quality management program for AIDSNET's annual plan. During her time in Easton, Jenny took classes locally, volunteered for the Easton Heritage Alliance, and served as an intern for the City of Easton Department of Planning and Economic Development. Currently, Jenny is interested in the revitalization of small to mid-size older existing urban environments. Ideally, this would involve opportunities to preserve elements of a city's history, promote downtown businesses, increase housing options, foster a sense of community, decrease dependency on automobiles, and conserve nearby farmland in an effort to encourage local sustainable food sources.

Shawn Means Shawn graduated in 2006 from The University of the South, more popularly known as Sewanee, with a B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Studies. The summer after her sophomore year of college she found herself in a tiny coastal village in Southern Belize, attempting to study the effects of ecotourism on a Garifuna community. Many bowls of cowfoot soup, failed attempts at breaking the language barrier, and one close call with a crocodile later, she returned to the States pretty convinced she didn't want to be an anthropologist when she grew up. In search of a new career path, planning emerged as a field in which to explore her fascination with the impacts of culture on the natural environment in a practical and applicable way.

Academically, Shawn is interested in the intersection of land use and sustainability, and in how current land use patterns might be altered to create more sustainable communities from the ground up. The shift in cultural norms that might be required to permit alterations in accepted living patterns, and how planners might affect such cultural change are also key interests. She would ultimately like to end up working in land conservation or green infrastructure planning. Shawn worked as an environmental planning intern for Albemarle County over the summer, and is currently serving as president of UVA's Student Planners Association and communications chair of the Green Grounds student group. In her free time, Shawn enjoys whitewater canoeing and kayaking, guitar, bicycling and aimless wandering in the woods.

Allison Mouch Originally from northwest Ohio, Allison received her undergraduate degree in architecture from Miami University (Oxford, OH), with a minor in urban design and regional planning. Focusing on sustainable design, brownfield redevelopment and community building, Allison as vice-president for the American Society for Architecture Students and the Global Alliance for Built Sustainability. During her undergraduate career she traveled throughout the United States, London, and Japan, spending the summer of 2004 in Kyoto and the central provinces studying traditional Japanese architecture and construction techniques. Environmental equity was also a passion during undergraduate years, and Allison worked on developing community through participatory architecture in the Over-the-Rhine area of Cincinnati, rehabbing apartments for low-income residents and the homeless. Building upon that experience, her senior honors thesis explored social responsibility towards homelessness through architecture.

After graduating in May 2005, Allison moved to Wyoming and worked as a wrangler for Grand Teton National Park (in response to post-design school burn-out)! After returning to Ohio, she was hired by the Metroparks of the Toledo Area to head a 23-county greenways initiative, partnering with similar efforts in Michigan and Indiana. Upon moving to Charlottesville for graduate school, Allison began working for a planning and design firm in Belmont specializing in equestrian development, where her passion for sustainable design and resource conservation could be (theoretically) utilized in the development world. Additionally she interned for the Office of the Architect during her first year of graduate studies, working on the new Grounds Plan for the University during the spring and summer of 2007.

In her spare time Allison enjoys riding, hiking, camping, skiing, yoga, pilates... pretty much anything active and outdoors! She is also actively involved in the Student Planners Association, Green Grounds Group, the Student Council Environmental Sustainability Panel, and as a student rep for the local chapter of the USGBC.

Julie Ulrich

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Past IEN Interns

2007-2008 Interns


Bob Batz	Jenny Marone	Shawn Means


Allison Mouch	Julie Ulrich

2006-2007 Interns


Clark Larson	Tyler Schwartz	Ann Whitham

2005-2006 Interns


Chris David	Jason Espie	Amanda Taylor	Casey Williams

2004-2005 Interns


Matt Robbie	Jessica Ryan	Margaret Kirby

2003-2004 Interns


Christine Gyovai	Curt Ostrodka	Melissa Taylor

2002-2003 Interns


Rebeccah Ballo	Jennifer Harris	Lynn Wilson

2001-2002 Interns


Caroline Brennan	Brandi Collins	Robin Cook


Jovette Gadson	John Hoover	James Wilkinson

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