2006 Norman N. Durham Lecture Series

Dr. Penelope Canan, an environmental sociologist known for her work on integrated social impact assessment, energy and community development, democratic governance, and the formation of knowledge sharing expert networks, is the Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project, International Office at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba Science City, Japan.  She comes to the GCP having been a professor of sociology at the University of Denver, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Virginia.  Dr. Canan has served as lead author on the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel of the UNEP Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, chair of the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association, vice president of the Society for Applied Sociology, and director of the International Institute for Environment and Enterprise.  Currently on leave from the University of Denver, she continues as a board member of the Colorado Energy Science Center, president of the SLAPP Resource Center, and member of the Awards Committee for the Ozone Layer Protection and Climate Change Office of the US Environmental Protection Agency and of the Asahi Foundation Blue Planet Award in Japan.  For 20 years, Canan has collaborated with law professor George Pring on SLAPPs or “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation,” that is, the use of civil lawsuits to silence political speech.  Their book, SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out (Temple University Press 1996) and testimony before state legislatures helped lead 23 states and Guam enact anti-SLAPP laws.