Tanya Denckla Cobb

B.A., Government, Smith College

Senior Associate, Institute for Environmental Negotiation

Tanya Denckla is a professional mediator and facilitator in environmental public policy, certified by the Virginia Supreme Court to mediate court-referred cases and teach basic mediation. She has worked for the federal government in international labor rights and served on U.S. delegations to the International Labor Organization. She authored the organic gardening reference books, Gardening at a Glance (1991), The Organic Gardener’s Home Reference (1994), and the Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food (2004). In 1991 she co-founded the nonprofit community organization Greener Harrisonburg, and served as Executive Director for three years. During this time she became a certified mediator and mediation instructor. She then worked with the Virginia Department of Forestry and served as Executive Director for the nonprofit Virginia Urban Forestry Council. Since 1997 she has worked as Senior Associate at the UVA Institute for Environmental Negotiation where her work involves facilitating and mediating a broad range of community and environmental issues, ranging from facility siting, agricultural and land conservation issues, transportation-park issues, to regulatory negotiation. She co-founded the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute in 1999 as well as the South-East Natural Resources Leadership Institute in 2003, and serves as continuing faculty for these programs.