Breena Holland

Breena Holland is an Associate Professor at Lehigh University with joint appointments in the Department of Political Science and Environmental Studies program. She teaches courses on U.S. Domestic Environmental Policy and Law, Environmental Ethics and Values, and Environmental Justice.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago (2005)
• M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago (1998)
• B.S. in Environmental Science, Policy, & Management from UC Berkeley (1996)
• B.A. in Jurisprudence & Social Policy from UC Berkeley (1996)

Professor Holland's research focuses on environmental policy and political theory, with particular emphasis on valuation, justification, and participation in contemporary policy analysis. Her work bridges political philosophy and environmental policy, examining how capabilities approaches can inform environmental justice frameworks. She is the author of Allocating the Earth: A Distributional Framework for Protecting Capabilities in Environmental Law and Policy (Oxford University Press, 2014), which established her as a leading scholar connecting Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach to environmental policy.

Her scholarly trajectory shows a progression from theoretical foundations to applied, community-engaged research. Early publications examined philosophical connections between capabilities approaches and environmental justice, while more recent work addresses practical applications in climate adaptation and air pollution monitoring. Her research increasingly incorporates interdisciplinary collaborations with environmental scientists, public health researchers, and community organizations.

Professor Holland serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Environmental Values and the Journal of Environmental Ethics. She is active in the Environmental Political Theory section of the Western Political Science Association, where she has served as section chair and on the 'best paper' award committee.

She currently leads two significant research projects in the Lehigh Valley: a distributed air monitoring network for fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) in collaboration with Lehigh and Northampton counties, and research on ethylene oxide pollution in Allentown, PA, working with Dr. Hyunok Choi, the PA Department of Environmental Protection, and Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley. These projects exemplify her commitment to community-engaged scholarship that bridges academic research and practical environmental policy solutions.