Tanya Denckla Cobb

B.A., Government, Smith College

Associate Director, Institute for Environmental Negotiation

As Associate Director of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN), Tanya Denckla Cobb is an experienced mediator and facilitator in environmental public policy. She is certified by the Virginia Supreme Court to mediate Circuit Court cases and to teach basic mediation. At IEN since 1997, Denckla Cobb designs conflict resolution and collaborative problem-solving processes, mediates and facilitates multi-party issues, conducts research, and teaches and trains. She works on a broad range of community and environmental issues, including watershed planning, heritage, national forest recreation, siting new facilities, transportation, coastal zone management, agriculture, biosolids and food. She designs and facilitates strategic planning – for nonprofits and large multi-stakeholder gatherings such as the first Heritage Forum in Virginia, the Waste Solutions Forum, the Virginia Food Security Summit, and the Governor’s Natural Resources Leadership Summit.

As a seasoned trainer for corporate, government and nonprofit groups, Denckla Cobb designs custom training on interest-based negotiation, conflict management styles, authentic public engagement, and collaborative problem-solving. For the National Preservation Institute, she conducts a three-day seminar on conflict resolution and consultation tools for cultural and natural resource managers. She also co-founded and serves as teaching faculty for the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. At the University of Virginia she teaches group facilitation and team-teaches with Timothy Beatley three graduate-level courses on food system planning.

Prior to working at the IEN, she worked for the federal government in international labor rights, and served as Executive Director of two urban forestry nonprofit organizations. She authored “The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food” (2004) (previously published as "The Organic Gardener’s Home Reference" (1994)and "Gardening at a Glance: The Organic Gardener’s Handbook on Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts and Herbs"(1991)). She is now working on a book about community food projects in the United States.