11.26.08
UVa and the Obama Transition Team
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Mary Wood, Director of Communications for the School of Law at the University of Virginia, we look at The University of Virginia’s connections to the transition team for President–Elect Barack Obama.
Over the past weeks, candidates for President –elect Obama’s cabinet and transition team have been vetted so that the president-elect can make them offers to be part of the new team that will lead our nation over the next 4 years, following the inauguration scheduled for January 20, 2009.
Since the Commonwealth of Virginia went “blue” for the first time since 1964, there names connected to the Commonwealth that have been considered for posts in the new administration.
To help the incoming administration, University of Virginia law professors, Jonathan Z. Cannon and David A. Martin, have been selected as part of the Transition Team. Martin will serve on the Agency Review Team for the Department of Homeland Security, while Cannon will join a team on the Environmental Protection Agency.
Responsibilities formerly handled by the INS were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security when the DHS was created in 2003, and are now assigned to three separate bureaus. Martin will bring a special focus on immigration issues to the Homeland Security Team.
The Warner-Booker Distinguished Professor of International Law, Martin formerly was special assistant to the assistant secretary for human rights and humanitarian affairs at the U.S. Department of State, before joining the Virginia faculty. He co-authored a leading casebook on immigration and citizenship, and served as general counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1995 to 1998 under President Clinton.
He has twice served as a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States, preparing studies and recommendations on federal migrant worker assistance programs. In 1993 he undertook a consultancy for the U.S. Department of Justice that led to major reforms of the U.S. political asylum adjudication system. In 2003-04 he was asked by the State Department to provide a comprehensive study of the U.S. overseas refugee admissions program, leading to recommendations for reform of that system.
Martin said, “I am honored and excited to be involved in this transition work. Immigration will be a significant issue for the new administration to consider, and I welcome the opportunity to contribute toward making the immigration pieces of Homeland Security work as effectively as possible.”
Jonathan Cannon, the Blaine T. Phillips Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law and director of the Law School’s Environmental and Land Use Law Program said, “It’s a privilege to serve and help the new administration get established and begin to operate effectively.”
General counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency from 1995 to 1998, Cannon also served as assistant administrator for administration and resources management from 1992 to 1995, and held senior management positions at the agency from 1986 to 2000.
Before joining the EPA, Cannon was in the private practice of environmental law and also served as an adjunct professor of environmental Law at Washington and Lee. He has authored numerous articles on environmental law and policy, including several on relationships between the EPA and the White House, Congress and the courts.
He also wrote on the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, a 2006 ruling that affirmed the EPA’s right to regulate greenhouse gases, which is likely to figure importantly in early efforts to address climate change.
Other transition team members and people considered include:
Janet Napolitano ’83, who is serving on the advisory board for the transition
Tom Donilon ’85, a team lead for department of state review
Michele Jolin ’92, a team lead on the council of economic advisors.
Rachana Bhowmik ’97, national security
Kelley Shawn Coyner ’88, transportation
Neil MacBride ’92, justice and civil rights
Jonathan B. Sallet ’78, science, technology, space and arts
With appointments on the horizon, and many to be made once the administration is officially empowered, it will be interesting to see if any of the University of Virginia’s alumni may eventually be made part of the next President’s Staff.
You’ve been listening to the Oscar Show, I’m Jacob Canon. Join us next week when we will look at the Commonwealth’s first ever, Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. The historic achievement which the UVa Nursing School granted, on November 14, 2008.