UA Announces Inaugural Director of Natural Resource Users Law and Policy Center

The University of Arizona has hired attorney Cindy DeLancey as the first executive director of the Natural Resource Users Law and Policy Center. DeLancey begins her appointment on Sept. 6, 2016.

The center, announced in November 2015, is a partnership between the university’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Cooperative Extension and the James E. Rogers College of Law, and is the first university-based and cooperative extension-based natural resources users legal center in the nation. The center will include a Natural Resource Users Public Interest Law Clinic staffed by law and CALS students to address the unmet legal needs of ranchers, farmers, miners, and others who work with natural resources.

DeLancey is currently the director of government and public affairs for BP America’s Lower 48 business unit in Wyoming. She was previously the executive director of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association and was the elected county and prosecuting attorney for Carbon County, Wyoming and served as an assistant attorney general and special assistant United States Attorney. She has a Juris Doctor from the University of Wyoming.

As executive director for the new center, DeLancey will provide educational and outreach opportunities for agriculture and law students in the natural resource arena.

"The university is breaking new ground and is leading the way for agriculture and law students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers, ranchers, miners and other natural resource users to impact law and public policy across the west,” said DeLancey. “I am honored to be a part of such an important program and look forward to working with the students and natural resource community."

Three UA senior administrators developed and launched the center: Marc Miller, dean of the College of Law; Jeff Silvertooth, director of Arizona Cooperative Extension; and Shane Burgess, vice president for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences and Cooperative Extension, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and director of the Arizona Experiment Station.

“Cindy has worked with the natural resources community, developing partnerships across industries, and helping those in energy, agriculture, mining, tourism, and other industries work with government agencies and thrive economically; she will bring that experience and passion to the leadership of the center and to the vision for a new kind of training and research for students in law and in CALS," said Miller.

Silvertooth commented on the positive impact this center and DeLancey’s hire will have, saying, “This center provides us the opportunity to address common needs that are often brought to our attention in the Cooperative Extension System across the state and to partner with another college on the UA campus with the appropriate expertise to address the legal issues many stakeholders are dealing with."

“Cindy understands the needs of all of the very diverse groups who need and want to use natural resources wisely for the long term," said Burgess. "She will serve them all well and she’ll also be a tremendous asset as we encourage our agriculture and life science students to build on the education we give them and pursue legal training.”