Haury Program Launches a New Initiative, and Welcomes New Team Member, Mia Burcham, JD
The Agnese Nelms Haury Program (“Haury Program”) is a University of Arizona-embedded philanthropic program established in 2014 with a bequest from Mrs. Haury’s trust. The program is governed by an external Donor Advised Fund Board.
The Haury Program mission is to advance Indigenous resilience, especially environmental resilience and water work. In 2025, the Haury Program added a teaching function to its work to include leading conversations about what Indigenous environmental resilience philanthropy in action can be, at its best, and created a Policy and Law Education Program (PLEP). The PLEP will provide relevant and lay-accessible programs and other educational resources to elevate general understanding of the complex law and policy structures – including tribal law and policy – relevant to environmental resilience research, education, and outreach, and that are critical to forging effective on-the-ground solutions to environmental resilience challenges.
“This new initiative, we believe, will further honor the vision and legacy of Mrs. Haury and the direction given by our trustees and the board to address climate change as one of the biggest problems facing humanity by pairing the gift of Mrs. Haury with the intellectual and other resources of the U of A,” shared Prof. Toni Massaro, Executive Director of the Haury Program, and Regents Professor and Professor of Law (Emerita).
The Haury Program is excited to welcome a new team member, Mia Burcham, J.D., to lead the PLEP. Prior to joining the Haury Program, Burcham spent over four years on Capitol Hill, working as a staff assistant, a constituent services representative, and most recently conducting congressional oversight of major health and social welfare programs on the committee of jurisdiction. This work included investigations into abuse and neglect of youth in residential treatment, investigations related to the integrity of the Medicare Advantage program, and sustained oversight of the government’s custody of unaccompanied immigrant children. Burcham graduated from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2024, where she focused on constitutional and criminal law and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy.
Burcham will work closely with the Haury Executive Director Massaro in developing this program which will be implemented in collaboration with James E. Rogers College of Law. “My time working on policy and oversight at the federal level reinforced the foundational importance of community action. I’m so excited to be back in Tucson, learning from and working with the Haury team and partners to strengthen community resilience," said Burcham.
For more information on this new initiative and other programming by the Haury Program visit its website and follow social media.