The University of Wisconsin Law School will join forces with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus to promote a two-year pilot program that will focus research on freshwater sources through UW-Milwaukee’s new Center for Water Policy.
The naming of Melissa Scanlan as Water Law and Policy Scholar for both universities will strengthen the link begun by a competition started by both schools’ chancellors, Law School Associate Dean Heinz Klug said.
Klug said the chancellors were looking for a way to work together and combine resources on an area of shared importance. The universities decided the joining of the Law School and UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences fulfills this aspiration.
With a background in water law, science, policy and management, Scanlan will connect research programs and faculty between the schools, according to a UW Law School statement.
“The initial competition introduced by the chancellors is what formed the relationship between the UW Law School, and the introduction of Scanlan now is going to tighten that link,” Klug said.
Scanlan’s responsibilities as Water Law and Policy Scholar will include both research and teaching, as well as time on both campuses.Throughout the next several months, Scanlan will be responsible for a number of different responsibilities, Klug said.
“I assume Scanlan will be conducting research this first semester,” Klug said. “She will be teaching water law and policy in the spring here in the Law School and possibly teaching the same course remotely for students at UWM.”
UW-Milwaukee also recently received a $2.6 million gift from Milwaukee philanthropist Lynde Uihlein, according to a UW statement.
This gift helps in the creation of Center for Water Policy, said Klug, who added both universities fund the joint program between the two schools.
According to the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science, the Center for Water Policy will be part of a research program geared to keep scientific knowledge in the public’s mind and develop strategies to resolve programs concerning freshwater resources.
“The new center will build on strengths within UW-Milwaukee as well as create collaborations with other great institutions, such as UW Law School, to build multidisciplinary teams of experts focused on providing solutions to critical water problems,” Dean of UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences David Garman said in a statement.
Located on the UW-Milwaukee campus and near Lake Michigan, the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences is the first graduate school studying freshwater in the nation, according to a statement from the school’s website.
The statement continues both schools welcome the collaboration.
“The collaboration is going to concern the important policies governing water standards for beaches and lakes, the quality of water and what regulations are needed,” Klug said.
