Alma Lowry

Alma Lowry is a Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Hamilton College, appointed to the faculty in 2017. With over 20 years of environmental law practice, she specializes in representing low-income communities, communities of color, and currently serves as legal counsel for the Onondaga Nation on environmental matters.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Social Sciences, Syracuse University, Maxwell School of Citizenship
• L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center
• M.S. in Environmental Policy, University of Michigan
• J.D., University of Michigan
• B.S., Nebraska Wesleyan University

Her research focuses on environmental justice frameworks, public participation mechanisms in environmental decision-making, and participatory democracy models. She examines how policy and legal structures impact marginalized communities, with emphasis on legislative reform pathways and community-based advocacy strategies. Her work bridges theoretical analysis with practical legal application in environmental governance.

Publications spanning 1994-2003 reveal consistent engagement with environmental justice through evolving lenses: early work analyzed international conservation politics in Togo, while later scholarship addressed U.S.-specific issues including brownfield redevelopment, post-Sandoval legal advocacy, and legislative solutions. The corpus demonstrates increasing specialization in domestic environmental law while maintaining core focus on equity and community representation.