Mary Nichols, professor-in-residence, currently serves at the
chairman of the California Air Resources Board. She was appointed to
this position by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in July 2007. Prior to
this appointment, she served as director of the UCLA Institute of the
Environment (IoE).
Nichols received her B.A. from Cornell University (1966) and her
J.D. from Yale Law School (1971). After law school, she served as
attorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles
(1971-74) where she brought the first litigation under the then recently
passed Clean Air Act. Nichols was employed by the state of California
as the Secretary of Environmental Affairs and the Chair of the Air
Resources Board (1974-78), and briefly served as Los Angeles Chief
Assistant City Attorney in charge of the civil branch (1978-79) before
returning to her previous position at the state (1979-1983). Nichols
moved on to private environmental law consultation (1983-88), while
serving as campaign manager for Tom Bradley for Governor of California
(1985-86). Nichols also took on the role of Director for the People for
the American Way (1987-88) before founding the Los Angeles office for
Natural Resources Defense Council as senior attorney (1989-93). From
1993-97, Nichols was appointed as Assistant Administrator of Air and
Radiation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She then headed
the Environment Now Foundation as Executive Director from 1997-98.
Prior to joining UCLA, she served as the California Secretary for
Resources (1979-2003) where she was responsible for the State’s
activities relating to the management, preservation, and enhancement of
its natural resources, and for the oversight of the state’s scenic,
cultural, and recreational resources.
In February 2009, she was awarded the Attorney of the Year award from
California Lawyer Magazine (the CLAY award) for her contributions to environmental law.