Former Graduate Interns


Abbey Ness

I hail from Salisbury, North Carolina where I observed the tensions between agricultural, rural communities and suburban sprawl firsthand.  My undergraduate degree in environmental sciences and policy furthered my interests in land use and environmental planning, and I am now pursuing a master’s degree for urban and environmental planning at UVA.  As the daughter of two government workers who specialized in education, I believe that I will continue the family tradition by working in municipal or regional planning, academia or a wonderful combination of the … Continue reading →

Charles Kline

My time with IEN has been the most beneficial part of my MUEP education. Before starting at UVA, I had a very limited knowledge of what IEN was and it had minimal influence on my decision to choose this school. That being said, my work at IEN had significant impact on my life ranging from strongly influencing personal values to helping shape my ideal career path and class choices. Working at IEN allowed me the opportunity to partake in successful collaborative solutions processes to very … Continue reading →

Laura McCurn

“It has been a long and winding road to my position at IEN.  I am originally from Maine but, I grew up in Charlottesville and spent the last ten years trying to be everywhere but here.  In that time I studied anthropology, travelled to Central America to work with women in rural communities, facilitated team building and environmental education, lived in the woods with troubled teenage boys, and farmed. Now, I am a first year graduate student in the Urban and Environmental Planning program.  My … Continue reading →

Megan Liddle Gude

My interest in food systems and healthy communities brought me to the Urban & Environmental Planning program at UVa, and then to the Institue for Environmental Negotiation. At IEN, I am working on the 2nd Virginia Food Security Summit and on the Virginia Food Heritage Project. I am also working with Tanya Denckla Cobb to create a new planning applications course on Virginian food heritage and urban planning. I will graduate from the Master’s program in 2012 and return to North Carolina, where I hope to continue working … Continue reading →

Paul Hughes

I was extremely fortunate to be placed as a graduate intern with IEN at the beginning of last year. IEN brings real-world practicality to the concepts and theories MUEP students are taught in the classroom. Working on the Virginia Food Heritage Project (VFHP), a collaborative and community-based organization with the goal of identifying and preserving central Virginia’s food heritage, reinforced the value placed on public participation, partnerships and long-term planning. In terms of public engagement, much of the information and stories collected for the VFHP … Continue reading →

Regina Pencile

My experience at IEN has been “inspired”. It started out with a research summer internship for UCARE through my interest in history, and wound up being a year long experience where I expanded the knowledge and experience I already had and gained some skills that I didn’t. As project manager for UCARE I had the opportunity to be in a leadership role and advise other interns. I worked on census and other data based research, event planning, graphic design, web design, networking and scheduling to … Continue reading →