Tanya Denckla Cobb

Director of the Institute for Engagement & Negotiation (IEN) since 2015, Tanya Denckla Cobb is a professional public policy mediator with deep experience in mediating and facilitating around a broad range of challenging community and environmental issues. Tanya is passionate about bringing people together to discover common ground and create solutions for mutual gain. Her path to this profession exposed her to conflict management in numerous different sectors—working in international labor rights, community and family mediation, and serving as director of two community forestry nonprofit organizations.  

Tanya also conducts a wide range of trainings in conflict management and negotiation. She co-founded and continues to serve as teaching faculty for the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute (VNRLI), a cross-sector professional development program, as well as teaching a seminar for the National Preservation Institute (NPI) on negotiation and conflict management for cultural and natural resources. 

Through her time at UVA Tanya has led numerous efforts in support of sustainable food systems—teaching a graduate course on food system planning for eight years, coordinating the first Virginia Food Security Summit, co-facilitating the founding of the Virginia Food System Council, co-founding an experimental multi-university Food Systems Leadership course, and co-founding and continuing to coordinate and chair the UVA Sustainable Food Collaborative. She has authored two books relating to sustainable food systems, co-authored numerous journal articles, co-authored chapters for three other books, and with the IEN team facilitated three Governor's Summits and produced dozens of reports for state agencies and other clients on stakeholder consensus-seeking processes. At home, she enjoys the restorative energy of gardening and cooking from her garden.