Instructors
Martha Caswell, M.P.P.
Co-director, Agroecology & Livelihoods Collaborative
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
Vic Izzo, Ph.D.
Educational Coordinator and Lecturer
Vic is an evolutionary ecologist, conservation biologist, entomologist and educator hailing from the Hudson Valley of New York. In addition to his participation in the BTL program, Vic also teaches at several other universities in the Green Mountain State (e.g. UVM, Johnson State and Champlain College) and works with numerous farmers in the region as a pest management researcher. As a lifetime educator, Vic has spent the majority of his career teaching ecology, evolution and conservation biology to a wide range of audiences and cultures.
Prior to arriving in Vermont, Vic served as a staff biologist and educator on several domestic and international Earthwatch conservation programs. As part of these programs he had the unique opportunity to witness the complex interaction of local communities and land use policies. These experiences led Vic to “move up the chain” from conservation ecology to agricultural systems. He believes that many of the current conservation and societal issues are intimately linked to the management of agricultural lands and the modern industrial production system.”By bringing a more ecological perspective to the existing concept of agriculture, we can create a more integrated and sustainable system of food production while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of our wild lands.”