Office:<\/strong> Powdermaker Rm. 250 [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#A9A9A9″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text ul_position=”inside” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Open Sans||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” ul_line_height=”1.7em” header_3_font=”Open Sans|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_3_font_size=”18px” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Natalie Bump Vena is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies. She received her J.D. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University\u2019s School of Law and Department of Anthropology. Her research and teaching interests concern environmental policymaking in U.S. cities. She was a member of the New York State Bar from Sept. 2017-2025. She is currently on hiatus from the Bar, readmission pending completion of continuing legal education courses.<\/p>\n Vena has an active research agenda in New York City.\u00a0She is studying the implementation of New York\u2019s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (2019), particularly the process of identifying the \u201cdisadvantaged communities\u201d who are slated to receive 35% to 40% of benefits derived from the state\u2019s green transition<\/a>.\u00a0She has also undertaken fieldwork and advocacy concerning\u00a0a South Ozone Park community\u2019s protracted recovery from a sewage backup that occurred in 2019<\/a>. Vena\u2019s long-term research focuses on environmental racism and the fight for environmental justice in Southeast Queens, including community advocacy related to parks protection, aviation pollution, and groundwater flooding.<\/p>\n Vena has also examined the history of natural resources preservation in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which protects 69,000 acres of land encompassing Chicago.\u00a0As the district\u2019s land acknowledgment states, this property constitutes \u201cthe\u00a0ancestral homelands of the Council of Three Fires\u2014the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes\u2014and a place of trade with many other tribes, including the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Menominee, Sauk and Meskwaki.\u201d<\/a> In her work on the Cook County Forest Preserves, Vena has explored the role of volunteerism, statutory language, and urban development in creating this metropolitan wilderness over the past one hundred years.<\/p>\n Vena is committed to a fully-funded CUNY and has written about how\u00a0the institution\u2019s historic policies of free tuition and open admissions changed her mother\u2019s life<\/a>. Before joining the faculty of Queens College, Vena taught at Williams College, where she served as the Gaius Charles Bolin Fellow in Anthropology and Environmental Studies. She is a member of the New York City Bar Association\u2019s Environmental Law Committee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#A9A9A9″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text ul_position=”inside” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Open Sans||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” ul_line_height=”1.7em” header_3_font=”Open Sans|700|||||||” header_3_text_color=”#000000″ header_3_font_size=”18px” header_4_font=”Open Sans|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Vena, N. B. (2023). Scientific expertise and volunteer power in the Cook County forest preserves.\u00a0Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space<\/em>,\u00a06<\/em>(1), 259\u2013279.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/25148486221087103<\/a><\/p>\n
Email:<\/strong> natalie.vena@qc.cuny.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nSelected publications:<\/h3>\n