Thomson, Vivian E.
Primary Appointment
Environmental Sciences
Contact Information
PO Box 400123 Department of Environmental Sciences
253 Clark Hall
Telephone: (434) 924-3964
Email: vthomson@virginia.edu
Research Disciplines
Environmental Sciences
Research Interests
environmental policy and politics
Research Description
Associate Professor Vivian E. Thomson teaches in the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Politics. Her professional specialty is environmental policy and politics. In 2001 she helped to create?and she now directs?the Environmental Thought and Practice BA program, one of the University?s most popular interdisciplinary undergraduate degree programs. She also directs the University?s Panama Initiative, which was launched in 2007 by President Casteen, Provost Garson, and Vice Provost Grossman.
Professor Thomson?s work extends outside of the University into the realm of environmental policy in practice. She was appointed by Governors Warner and Kaine in in 2002 and in 2006, respectively, to the State Air Pollution Control Board, the seven-member body that makes air pollution policy for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Her environmental policy writings include greenhouse gas emissions, energy, air pollution, and waste management. She is recognized for her international work. She has participated in international meetings on the subjects of trash management and greenhouse gas emissions trading, respectively.
During academic year 2001-2002 Professor Thomson was Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, where she taught American politics and environmental policy.
In 2005-2006 Professor Thomson was Guest Scholar at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
Professor Thomson?s book, Garbage In, Garbage Out: Solving the Problems with Long-Distance Trash Transport, is now in print (University of Virginia Press, 2009). This work examines interstate trash transport in the United States within a broad social, economic, and cultural context that includes comparisons with practices in the EU and Japan.
Professor Thomson?s book was Finalist in the 2010 Phillip D. Reed Writing Competition of the Southern Environmental Law Center. Her book has been featured in several public radio interviews, most recently on 27 January 2011 on the national program MarketPlace. Professor Thomson?s work in the US and in Panama was featured in the Winter 2010 UVa Alumni Magazine.