Rachel Heath, Community and International Development '17 is the first student to graduate from the academic partnership program between the University of Vermont and Vermont Law School wherein students spend 3 years at UVM and 2 years at VLS, completing both their Bachelor's and Juris Doctorate degrees in a 5-year window.

A two-time awardee of the Ballenger-Green Memorial Diversity Paper award, Heath credits her time in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics (CDAE) with providing her the perspective that guided her submissions to the Vermont Law Review, "My first paper was on environmental ethics and the safe siting of mobile home parks in Vermont. This was a proposal for how the state or individual towns could open up public lands for mobile home parks, either free to everyone or based on an individual’s income to provide safe and affordable housing for Vermonters."  Writing about diversity through the lens of housing and mobile home parks is an area that is not well-explored in legal ethics, so Heath dipped back into her undergraduate studies to shine light on this issue.

Being awarded this honor after completing three years of undergraduate studies and competing with peers with experience that spans Rachel's lifetime is notable, to be sure, and to be awarded it twice is something special.  Perhaps it was her time at UVM that set her up to see things a little differently and focus on areas not previously explored.

"My interest in this topic stems from my thesis as an undergraduate in CDAE, which focused on mobile home parks' tendency to be sited in hazardous or dangerous areas within a town. My submission to the Law Review cited multiple environmental ethics theories to prove that if society was aware of current unsafe siting practices and the benefits of mobile home parks, it would provide free or reduced-cost mobile home parks in areas free of environmental hazards."

While "nothing can prepare you for law school; the amount of reading and work is at a whole new level," Heath gives a hearty nod to the exposure to various social issues she would have not found had she not been in CDAE while at UVM.  "Being in CDAE made me aware of far more types of issues than I knew were out there," Heath notes. The applied learning environments provided in CDAE were instrumental as well." I think what most prepared me for law school from UVM was the Consumer Assistance Program course.  That was a very useful introduction to law in Vermont and also a tremendous practical experience," she reflects.

CDAE's transdisciplinary approach provides students tools to tackle a variety of issues as well as foundational knowledge to move into career areas like nonprofits, NGOs, B-Corps, and traditional business models. Heath hopes to use her knowledge and skills to change the world in the nonprofit sector, working toward social justice. Throughout law school her interest trended toward family law and she was able to provide relief from abuse, mainly helping women seeking relief from abusive partners or family members in the various practical experiences VLS offers.