The University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Detroit Sustainability Clinic announces its Fall 2026 Urban Sustainability & Justice Faculty Fellow, Berneece Herbert, from Jackson State University (JSU) in Jackson, Mississippi.

The Urban Sustainability & Justice Faculty Fellowship invites academic scholars from external institutions to spend part of the semester engaging with both U-M and Detroit communities. Fellows host public lectures and meet with faculty, staff, students and community partners, sharing insights that bridge academic and community perspectives. Through these exchanges, the program fosters robust knowledge sharing to advance community-driven, equitable sustainability solutions. 

Herbert, Chair and Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Jackson State University, will visit Ann Arbor and Detroit November 9-12. During her trip, she will engage in conversations on the challenges of aging water systems and uneven exposure to climate risk, exploring potential collaborations with faculty, students and community members.

“We are honored to welcome Dr. Berneece Herbert to the U-M SEAS Detroit Sustainability Clinic as our Fall 2026 Urban Sustainability & Justice Faculty Fellow,” said Clinic Director and SEAS Associate Professor Tony Reames. “Through our previous collaborations, I have come to deeply value her community-grounded insights on utility justice and climate action. Her visit will create meaningful opportunities for students, faculty, and community partners to engage in rich conversations about the shared challenges and opportunities facing communities in Michigan and Mississippi.”

Herbert holds a PhD in Plant and Soil Science and a MS in Urban and Regional Planning from Alabama A&M University. She is completing a second PhD in Public Policy and Administration from JSU (expected 2027). Her interdisciplinary work spans climate resilience, urban development, and community-centered approaches to planning and design.

Rooted in Jackson, Mississippi, her work “lives in the space between how cities plan and how people actually live, and it is guided by a simple conviction: the communities who have carried the heaviest burdens should be co-authors of the solutions.” 

That commitment is central to Herbert's collaborative research with other institutions. Since 2022, Herbert has led JSU’s partnership with University of California, Berkeley, where students from both institutions investigate connections between flood-prone neighborhoods across regions.

She also serves as the Co-Principal Investigator on a multi-university project investigating how Black and low-income residents are more vulnerable to failing water infrastructure, and how flood plans often neglect community knowledge. 

For Herbert, the Urban Sustainability and Justice Faculty Fellowship serves as vital infrastructure to facilitate the sharing of resources, expertise, and opportunities. “Jackson and Detroit share more than their challenges with aging water systems and uneven exposure to climate risk; both are majority-Black cities whose residents hold deep knowledge about how those systems have served, and failed, them,” said Herbert. 

Herbert will explore these connections in public lectures, in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Titled, “Two Cities, One Water Story,” she will examine water access, governance, and funding structures in Jackson and Detroit.

“I am honored to join the SEAS community in this work”, she says, “and I arrive ready to listen, to learn, and to carry Detroit's lessons home to Mississippi.” 

Read more about Herbert on the Jackson State University here.

The University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Detroit Sustainability Clinic promotes social, economic, and environmental sustainability through policy and action by connecting Detroit-area communities and organizations with university resources and expertise. Through long-term partnerships, capacity building, technical assistance, and applied research, the Clinic supports community-identified sustainability goals while providing SEAS students with hands-on, real-world experience. Guided by deep listening and care, the Clinic believes lasting change emerges through collaboration, trust, and community leadership. Learn more at seas.umich.edu/clinic.