Ellen Heiman L’22

Ellen is originally from Houston, TX and graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in Child Development. While in college, she volunteered as a tutor in Nashville public schools and was an active runner and team captain for Vanderbilt’s Running Club. She was involved with Alternative Spring Break, which is where she first became interested in environmental policy after spending time in Escalante, Utah working in invasive species removal with the Escalante River Watershed Partnership. After graduation, she taught middle school science and sex education in Tulsa, OK through Teach for America. While in Tulsa, she also volunteered with Take Control Initiative, an organization that partnered with clinics to provide comprehensive sex education and access to reproductive services to Tulsans. It was in Tulsa that Ellen became interested in pursuing a legal education, as she experienced the vast inequities in community health outcomes that both health and environmental policy create. She is interested in a career working towards environmental justice.

At Penn Law, Ellen is on the board of Environmental Law Project and Penn Law Feminists. She does pro-bono work with the Youth Education Project, School Discipline Advocacy Services, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and Environmental Law Project. She is also a part of the Post-Acceptance Committee.