COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE & LIFE SCIENCES
THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
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Our programs are grounded in sustainable science.
From cells to society, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences explores and deepens our understanding of and impact on food, land use and community— three powerful forces that have shaped our world since the beginning of humanity.
Coursework, research and plenty of hands-on experience prepare our students to nourish people, animals and communities, restore ecosystems, and improve the health of the planet.
HUMANS FOR HUMANKIND
Worlds to explore.
GAIN MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE WITH OPPORTUNITIES ON CAMPUS AND OFF
On campus, around the state, and abroad, our students reap the rewards of hands-on experiences. From high-tech microscopy to social media platforms, the tools they learn prepare them to address some of the most pressing issues of our time, becoming innovators, critical thinkers, and problems solvers of the future.
Seeking to hone his videography and storytelling skills, Nicho Ader found his home in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics. A selfdesigned narrative communications and media major, he interned with UVM Communications where he traveled around campus, and abroad to Ecuador, producing mini documentaries (above) and building his portfolio.
Biological science major Molly Searway worked with Mary Tierney, associate professor of plant biology, on undergraduate research analyzing mutant seedlings. Here, they make a visit to the growth chamber room in Jeffords Hall.
Students learn the power of communal eating in nutrition and food science professor Amy Trubek’s Food Systems, Culture & History class. Through discussion, cooking and eating together, the class explores themes in food production, nutrition and food agency in different cultural contexts. The course is one of many that utilizes the Foods Lab, our state-of-the-art teaching kitchen on campus.
EXPLORE ALONGSIDE FACULTY MENTORS ASKING QUESTIONS LIKE:
Do malnourished people respond the same way to vaccines as healthy people?
Can dairy products containing fat help prevent Type 2 diabetes?
How do agricultural and forestry practices influence food security in a changing climate?
How do we communicate concerns for gun violence in our communities?
Hands on, head start.
Animal science major Ellie Kharasch spent a summer interning at the New England Wildlife Center nursing injured or abandoned juvenile birds, ducks, turtles, racoons, skunks, possums and other wildlife back to health.
Known simply as CREAM around campus, UVM’s Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management is a student-run dairy herd that provides undergraduates with a remarkable learning experience in everything from financial management to the characterbuilding of pre-dawn chores.
At the university’s on-campus hospital, students work side by side with doctors and researchers and graduate wellprepared for careers in health, science and medicine. Miles Danis, a microbiology major, serves as a mental health technician working with patients in the UVM Medical Center Emergency Department. He plans to draw on his experiences at Drexel University where he’s headed to become a physician assistant.
WHERE PLACE SPARKS POTENTIAL.
Throughout the campus, and at nearby locations, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty and students pursue their research, teaching, and studies with the benefit of outstanding facilities, such as: The laboratories, greenhouses, and classrooms of the recently built Jeffords Hall. The orchards and gardens of the Horticulture Research Center. The historic UVM Morgan Horse Farm. The industry-leading Proctor Maple Research Center. In addition, cross-disciplinary opportunities abound—from the lake and forest labs of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources to the University of Vermont Medical Center, which shares our hilltop campus.
SEEDING THE FUTURE.
An expanding network of rooftop organic farms in Metro Washington, D.C., trace their roots to an urban agriculture class Kristof Grina ’12 took as an undergraduate. “I was able to connect the dots between my experience as a city kid and all of the knowledge around plant and soil science that I was accumulating at UVM. I started to look at everything I learned with an eye towards adapting it to the built environment” he says.
That shift in perspective would inspire Up Top Acres, founded by Grina and two friends. The impact of their innovation earned them a place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs of 2017.
At UVM, Grina not only found inspiration in the classroom, but also studying food systems abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, and getting his hands in the dirt with the Common Ground StudentRun Educational Farm.
Sustainable agriculture research by Professor Ernesto Mendez is helping farmers from Central America to Vermont.
UVM animal sciences faculty lead a national study, funded by a $7.4 million USDA grant, to reduce the impact of catastrophic disease outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
Community development faculty are informing public policy through research and communication on health care, food systems, and climate change.
UVM Extension professor Heather Darby leads research programs on hops, industrial hemp, grains, milkweed and other crops in an effort to help Vermont farmers diversify
Professor Linda Berlin is part of a multi-state project trying to better understand and alleviate “food deserts”— foodscarce-neighborhoods that exist everywhere from inner-cities to rural America.
UVM’s
Proctor Maple Research Center is a national leader in the study of maple sugaring, working to keep the iconic product a healthy part of the state’s economy.
Andrea Etter, associate professor of food safety, is studying whether backyard chickens are less likely to carry Salmonella than larger, commercial flocks.
THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE & LIFE SCIENCES is home to the departments of
Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Community Development and Applied Economics, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Nutrition and Food Sciences, Plant Biology, and Plant and Soil Science, and interdisciplinary programs in Biochemistry, Biological Science, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Food Systems.
Agroecology (B.S.)
Animal and Veterinary Sciences (B.S.)
Biochemistry (B.S.)
Biological Sciences (B.S.)
Community Entrepreneurship (B.S.)
Development (B.S.)
Dietetics, Nutrition and Food Sciences (B.S.)
Environmental Sciences (B.S.)
Environmental Studies (B.S.)
Food Systems (B.S.)
Sustainable Landscape Horticulture (B.S.) UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS
UNDERGRADUATE MINORS
Community and International
Agroecology
Animal and Veterinary Sciences
Applied Design
Biochemistry
Bioinformatics
Biosecurity
Community and International Development
Animal Biosciences (M.S., Ph.D.)
Community Development & Applied Economics (M.S.)
Dietetics (M.S.D.)
Field Naturalist (M.S.)
Food Systems (Ph.D.)
Nutrition and Food Sciences (M.S.)
Microbiology (B.S.)
Community Entrepreneurship
Consumer Affairs
Consumer and Advertising
Environmental Studies
Food Systems
Green Building and Community Design
Microbiology
Plant Biology (M.S., Ph.D.)
Plant and Soil Science (M.S., Ph.D.)
Public Administration (M.P.A.)
CERTIFICATE OF GRADUATE STUDY
Agroecology
Molecular Genetics (B.S.)
Nutrition and Food Sciences (B.S.)
Plant Biology (B.S.)
Public Communication (B.S.)
Self-Designed (B.S.)
Molecular Genetics
Nutrition and Food Sciences
Plant Biology
Public Communication
Soil Science
Sports Management
Sustainable Landscape Horticulture
ACCELERATED MASTER’S
Animal Science
Public Administration
Food Systems
Nutrition and Food Sciences
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND APPLIED ECONOMICS CLASS GIVES STUDENTS A FRONT-ROW SEAT AT THE STATEHOUSE.
THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE SCIENCES’ impact is global, but many of the lessons learned, discoveries made, and big ideas tested happen right here in our home state of Vermont.
Our citizen legislature, family farms, and pioneering start-ups are the fabric of life here that happens on a human scale. Forward-thinking yet rooted in tradition, our state provides a living laboratory where faculty and students dig in on the most pressing issues of our time.
