Shalanda Baker

Shalanda H. Baker is the inaugural Vice Provost for Sustainability and Climate Action at the University of Michigan and a globally recognized scholar of energy justice. Before joining the University of Michigan, Shalanda served as the Senate-confirmed Director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity, Secretarial Advisor on Equity, and Chief Diversity Officer at the United States Department of Energy. At the Department, she served as the architect of the agency’s equity and justice policy framework. She also developed and led the implementation of the agency’s groundbreaking strategies for the Justice40Initiative; equity; and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Prior to that, she served in the Biden-Harris Administration as the nation’s first Deputy Director for Energy Justice.  

Ms. Baker has spent over a decade conducting research on the equity dimensions of the global transition away from fossil fuel energy to cleaner energy resources. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Shalanda served as a Professor of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, where she taught courses on renewable energy law, energy policy, and the energy transition. While at Northeastern, Shalanda also co-founded and co-directed the Initiative for Energy Justice (www.iejusa.org), an organization committed to providing technical law and policy support to communities on the frontlines of climate change.

She also served on the law faculties of the University of Hawaii and the University of San Francisco. Shalanda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the United States Air Force Academy, a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, and an LLM from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, where she also served as a William H. Hastie Fellow. She has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and essays on renewable energy law, energy policy, and international development. In 2015, she was awarded a 2016-17 Fulbright-García Robles grant to explore Mexico’s energy reform, climate change, and indigenous rights. Her book, Revolutionary Power: An Activist’s Guide to the Energy Transition, argues that energy policy is the next domain to advance civil rights (Island Press 2021). 

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