Tanya L. K. Denckla

Institute for Environmental Negotiation
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Tanya Denckla is an experienced mediator and trainer with an intersection of interests in public policy, community sustainability, conflict resolution and the environment. A graduate of Smith College, she has journeyed on many different paths that have converged in recent years, and considers herself a "renaissance woman" in progress. She has worked for the federal government in international labor rights, finished pre-med requirements at George Washington University, authored a reference book on organic gardening (The Organic Gardener's Home Reference), worked on a FEMA grant for the Virginia Department of Forestry, co-founded a community organization called "Greener Harrisonburg," and served as Executive Director of two nonprofit organizations.

She has been mediating since 1991, and has been certified since 1993 to mediate court cases and to provide training in basic mediation. Since 1997 she has worked as Senior Associate at the UVA Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Her work at IEN involves mediating and facilitating a broad range of community and environmental issues, ranging from facility siting to community visioning to regulatory negotiation. In the last two years she helped found and conduct the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute, which is similar in concept to the PHLI.