Charles Lee: An Environmental Justice Game Changer

Charles Lee Visiting Scholar, Howard University Law School Former Director, Office of Environmental Justice, US EPA Author, Toxic Wastes and Race (1987) in conversation with Mark Templeton Clinical Professor of Law Director, Abrams Environmental Law Clinic University of Chicago Law School Thursday, April 9, 2026, 4:30pm Courtroom, University of Chicago Law School (1111 E. 60th St.) — This year’s Frizzell Learning and Speaker Series Keynote will be a conversation between environmental justice (EJ) pioneer Charles Lee and Professor Mark Templeton of the University of Chicago School of Law. It will focus on the landmark 1987 Toxic Wastes and Race report, perhaps the most influential study in the history of environmental justice. Charles Lee, its principal author, will reflect on what made it an EJ game changer and lessons for becoming EJ game changers for current times. The study helped to define a movement and is part of the author’s 50-year quest to move an issue that did not have a name to the center stage of the American experience. Charles Lee is widely recognized as a true environmental justice (EJ) pioneer, thought leader, and a founder of the EJ movement in the U.S. He was the principal author of the landmark 1987 report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, organized the historic 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, and helped spearhead the emergence of federal EJ policy. He has served in multiple capacities, including creating the United Church of Christ’s EJ program and directing EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice. Mr. Lee is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Howard University School of Law. He recently left his position as the Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice at EPA’s newly created national program office on environmental justice and external civil rights. He has served on the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, as a charter member, National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine Committee on Environmental Justice, and numerous other panels. In these capacities, he has led efforts to incorporate EJ into EPA’s rulemaking process, develop models for collaborative problem-solving, transform brownfields redevelopment into a community revitalization paradigm, advance EJ at the state level, and advance efforts to address cumulative impacts. Mr. Lee has written numerous reports and peer reviewed journal articles and has received many awards and honors. His work is featured at the Smithsonian Institution and other museums, along with the archival of his professional papers at the Library of Congress. Mark N. Templeton is Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, a Member of the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU), and a Research Affiliate of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago (EPIC). Previously, Professor Templeton was a Trustee and Executive Director of the Office of Independent Trustees for the $20 billion Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust. He served as the cabinet-level Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, leading the state’s efforts in energy, environmental protection, state parks, and water resources, while overseeing a staff of approximately 1750 FTEs and a $310 million annual budget. From 2005 to 2009, Professor Templeton served as Associate Dean and COO at Yale Law School. From 2001 to 2005, he developed environmental and sustainability strategies at McKinsey & Company, among other projects. Prior to joining McKinsey, Professor Templeton was Special Assistant and Senior Adviser to the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and an adviser to the US Delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights. He was a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1996. Professor Templeton earned an AB, magna cum laude, in Social Studies from Harvard College in 1994 and a JD from Yale Law School in 1999. Professor Templeton serves as a board member of the Environmental Law Institute, a board member and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and Chair of the Conservation and Policy Council of the Cook County Forest Preserves. He has earned the rank of Shodan (first-degree black belt) in Shotokan karate. — This event was organized by the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization (CEGU) and the Law School at The University of Chicago as part of the Frizzell Family Leaning and Speaker Series. Recorded April 9, 2026 at The University of Chicago.