Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law and faculty director for the University of Oregon School of Law Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program, recently spoke as a guest lecturer for Oregon Law 1981 alumnus Don Hornstein’s Massive Open Online Course on environmental law. Hornstein is the Aubrey L. Brooks Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina.

The course, “An Introduction to Environmental Law,” features four 10- to 20-minute videos per week that are accessed by students via the Internet.

Wood lectured to more than 20,000 students from around the world. The video lectures are paired with short readings to enhance learning during the six-week period.

Wood graduated from Stanford Law School in 1987; she currently teaches courses in property law, natural resources law and public trust law. In the past, she has taught the subjects of public lands law, wildlife law, federal Indian law and hazardous waste law.

Wood’s new book, "Nature's Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age," was just released by Cambridge University Press.

Of the 20,000 students participating in the lecture, eight were chosen by lottery to have a direct conversation with Wood about her latest book. They were linked live to her computer screen, simulating a small seminar.

"It was an amazing experience conducting a seminar with students from around the world and being able to converse with them about the concepts in 'Nature's Trust,'” Wood said. “Though they were from different countries, the themes seemed to resonate with all of the students in the 'hangout.'"

- from the UO School of Law