University of Tennessee College of Law Professor Emeritus Dean Rivkin recently received the Svitlana Kravchenko Environmental Rights Award.
Members of Land Air Water, a student environmental law society at the University of Oregon, presented the award earlier this month at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. The recognition is given annually to those who make broad impacts in the law throughout their lifetime while working to support local communities.
During his years as a member of the UT faculty, Rivkin taught courses in environmental law and was an advocate for the rights of children and families through his work in public interest law. He was a member of the Southern Appalachian Mountain Initiative, a comprehensive effort to combat the adverse effects of air pollution on the national parks and wilderness areas in the Southeast.
Rivkin also is a former director of the American Association of Law Schools Equal Justice Project and served as a visiting professor at UCLA, the University of Maryland, American University and Harvard Law School. Since retiring, he has worked in conjunction with the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices on a campaign to halt construction of a proposed natural gas pipeline through rural east Tennessee counties.
Svitlana Kravchenko, in whose name the Environmental Rights Award was established, was a Ukrainian and American law professor and scholar. Throughout her career, she helped build the connection between human rights and environmental protection. In addition to her international work, Kravchenko advocated for democratic principles in Ukraine.
The Kravchenko award is given to “those who carry on in Svitlana’s spirit: having exquisite qualities of both head and heart; mixing academic rigor with spirited activism; and speaking truth to power, while exhibiting kindness toward all. Also in that spirit, the award winner inspires young adults to reach for the stars, while keeping their feet firmly planted in the Earth they want to protect.”