Directory

Linda Kurtos, JD and MS

About

Linda Kurtos is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Environmental Sustainability. She serves as a member of the Dean’s leadership team, providing her experience with strategic insight and planning to the growth and success of SES.  In this role, she recruits, advises, and counsels SES graduate students in academic success and professional development.  She teaches graduate courses in sustainability assessment and ESG and graduate and undergraduate courses in water law and policy. 

Prior to joining Loyola University Chicago in 2017, Kurtos served as the Sustainability Director for the University of Notre Dame, where she led and directed the development of  the University’s first comprehensive sustainability strategy.  Under her leadership, the University of Notre Dame was awarded its first AASHE STARS Gold rating. While at the University of Notre Dame, she was appointed co-chair of then-South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s Green Ribbon Commission, bringing together sustainability leaders from all sectors to enhance sustainability efforts and understanding in the Region. 

She worked at the Environmental Law & Policy Center as part of a collaborative, multi-disciplinary team developing energy policy recommendations to help shape the City of Chicago’s first Climate Action Plan – the first climate action plan of any major metropolitan area in the United States. Previously, Kurtos worked in a number of sustainability policy, law and education areas, including developing and instructing an on-line climate change policy certificate course at Northwestern University and teaching sustainability courses at local community colleges. 

In her career as a complex commercial attorney  in major Chicago law firms, Kurtos managed and litigated  state and federal environmental, energy, toxic tort, and business  She worked with teams on cases before  the Supreme Court of the United States  and appeared before and argued to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, federal district courts, and Illinois circuit and supreme courts.   Kurtos was a member of the Federal Trial Bar for the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 

Degrees

• JD, Northwestern University School of Law 

• MS, Sustainability and Environmental Management, Illinois Institute of Technology 

• BS,Environmental Science, Michigan State University, Lyman Briggs College 

Research Interests

Kurtos's interests are related to the intersection of law and policy as it impacts climate change, sustainability, energy security, and sustainable development. 

Professional & Community Affiliations

• Professional Energy Manager, Institute of Energy Professionals 

• GRI Sustainability Reporting, Global Reporting Initiative   

• Energy Management Certificate, North Carolina State University