2 Community-Engaged Summer Courses: Protecting Environmental Defenders & Public Value Lab

Posted by Virginia Tech on April 28, 2026

There are 2 summer classes being hosted by the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs. They are WIDE OPEN to non-VT students (see HERE for the process to follow). For more questions about these courses, contact Gavin Luter, luter@vt.edu.

Public Value Lab: Designing Initiatives for Public Impact
SPIA 4984: Public Value Lab
Summer 1: Meets June 15 – July 3 (2 synchronous weeks, 1 asynchronous week)
5:30 – 8:30 pm
100% VIRTUAL
Instructors: Dr. Haider Haider, Founder, Public Value Lab, Former US AID staff; Colin Steele, PVL Strategic Advisor; MacKenzie Bills, PVL Partnerships Director

Created by public servants who were laid off from federal service, the Public Value Lab was created to infuse public servants with entrepreneurship and innovation skills. They are bringing this to college students through a partnership with Virginia Tech. This will be a 3-week ONLINE design studio where students will go through an accelerator to understand how to connect entrepreneurial ideas to students interested in public service and how to pitch public value ideas to investors. Using the Public Value Canvas, students work through a design process that includes:

• framing a public problem
• articulating a public value proposition
• analyzing institutional and political context
• identifying stakeholders and potential collaborators
• designing an implementation strategy.

The course culminates in the presentation of a Public Value Initiative supported by a completed Public Value Canvas.

Reducing Violence Against Environmental Defenders Through Data-Driven Analysis
(UG) SPIA 4984: Protecting Env Defenders
(Grad) SPIA 5984: Protecting Env Defenders
Summer 2: July 8 – Aug. 15
Mondays: 5:00 – 7:45 pm
100% VIRTUAL
Instructor: Dr. Paroma Wagle

Join the School for Public and International Affairs for a unique applied research course. Research violence toward environmental defenders across the globe for partners at the Environmental Law Institute and the Alliance for Land, Indigenous, and Environmental Defenders. Open to all graduate students interested in environmental policy, business, human rights, international affairs, law, and security. Research projects will analyze the drivers of violence, explore prevention strategies, and present your research directly to global partners working on the frontlines to reduce violence against at-risk environmental defenders.