Instructors
Martha Caswell, M.P.P.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AND LEARNING, UVM INSTITUTE FOR AGROECOLOGY
Martha is the co-director of the Agroecology & Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), which is housed in UVM’s Department of Plant and Soil Science. Her early career focused on issues related to urban poverty. Now, most of Martha’s work is with smallholder farmers, using agroecological principles to address livelihood, sustainability and production challenges. She has experience in both international and domestic community development, multi-sector collaborations with governmental agencies, academic institutions, corporate entities, non-governmental organizations, farmer cooperatives, neighborhood associations and community stakeholders. Martha has moved between working on the ground in communities and looking at the issues from the policy level. Participatory Action Research (PAR) allows her to combine a commitment to grassroots work and applied research, which she believes can lead to learning and opportunities for change at multiple levels.
Martha holds a BA in American Culture from the University of Michigan, a Masters in Public Policy, with a focus on Poverty and Inequality from the University of Chicago, and a Certificate of Graduate Study in Ecological Economics from UVM.
Contact: Martha.Caswell@uvm.edu