Monica Sanders is the founder of "The Undivide Project", an organization dedicated to addressing the legal and policy changes needed to address the intersections between digital and climate equity. She also teaches Law, Policy and Practice in Disasters and Complex Emergencies at the Georgetown Law Center. Professor Sanders is a Senior Fellow at Tulane University's Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy where she designed first in the nation programs on disaster equity and the "Climate X JEDI" Spring Institute. Previously, she held an Associate Professor appointment at the University of Delaware and was faculty at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Professor Sanders sits on the Council of the Internet Society of DC, which complements her current work on policy strategy related to internet governance, data in disasters and how to use technology to reach vulnerable populations. Professor Sanders served as the Senior Legal Advisor for International Response and Programs at the American Red Cross, where she focused on international disaster response and humanitarian assistance principles. She also designed advocacy trainings to help various groups and communities access government structures. All of her work includes an emphasis on cultural competency and cross-cultural communication.
Ms. Sanders was a Senior Committee Counsel for both the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Homeland Security. In those roles, she focused on oversight of disaster response and recovery programs, cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure protection. She studied security and defense-civilian coordination in the European Union Visitor’s Program. Her work also included overseeing the first ever Congressional report on the impacts of regulation on security and response capacity and leading an investigation into nepotism and mismanagement at a federal agency.
A native of New Orleans, Ms. Sanders' advocacy and disaster response and recovery work evolved from her personal experiences as a Hurricane Katrina survivor. She began as an advocate with Law Students for Government Accountability immediately after the storm. Her professional response work also includes ensuring the inclusion of ethnic and linguistic minorities in the Deepwater Horizon policy response, reconciling property and border issues in Haiti and providing direct assistance to home and business owners recovering from Hurricane Maria. She continues her advocacy and direct response work as a "grey shirt" or volunteer with Team Rubicon. Professor Sanders remains an active member of the UNDP consultants roster.
Ms. Sanders’ background includes seven years of television and online journalism experience. She worked in the Miami and Atlanta markets prior to joining CNN, where she received a 2002 Emmy award for her work covering the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks and the military engagement in Afghanistan that followed. Before departing the network, she contributed to an online newscast concept for CNN.com and cultural programming for CNN International.
Professor Sanders received her degrees from the University of Miami, the Catholic University of America, Harvard Law School and University College London.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Secondary
- Affiliate Visiting Scholar, Graduate - Earth Commons