Master of Science in Natural Resources with a concentration in Leadership for Sustainability

Leadership Inspired by the Wisdom of Nature

In the face of accelerated change and increasingly complex challenges facing life on this planet, it is not enough to simply do more of what we’ve been doing. We need to do things differently.

This Low-residency Master of Science in Natural Resources with a concentration in Leadership for Sustainability is designed for emerging leaders who are committed to deepening their capacity to catalyze change and transcend boundaries.

Our two-year, 30-credit program offers an innovative blend of intense residential and online learning experiences. The program features four residential modules ranging from 3 to 7 days in Vermont and around the United States. These gatherings provide an opportunity for intensive experiential learning opportunities as well as relationship-building among cohort members and with distinguished professional affiliates.

Who Should Apply?

MS in Natural Resources with concentration Leadership for Sustainability. Regardless of your professional field, the Leadership for Sustainability program can enhance your ability to innovate, collaborate, and catalyze change. We seek to attract students who are interested in doing things differently and becoming the pioneers, innovators, and change-makers that lead organizations and communities to new and unanticipated heights.

Our core curriculum and innovative pedagogy have three central learning goals. Upon completion of this program, graduates will:

Have a deeper relationship with nature and better understand ecological patterns, processes, and organizing principles that can inspire our leadership, design, and change-making processes; Have tools to critically examine the thought patterns, assumptions, worldviews, ways of knowing, and systems and structures of power and privilege that underlie change-making and leadership efforts (including our own); Have developed advanced leadership skills and practices that enhance their unique abilities and capacities to facilitate and catalyze change, advance the work of their communities and professional organizations, and create conditions for life to thrive over the long haul.

In addition, students choose one of two applied areas of specialization that provide specific knowledge and skills in Ecological Economics or Ecological Leadership.

What’s Distinct?

The University of Vermont has earned a national reputation for the strength of its faculty and interdisciplinary offerings in sustainability and environmental studies. UVM’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics is a hub for transdisciplinary scholarship, comprising diverse faculty, students, and collaborators worldwide. As a student of the Leadership for Sustainability program, you will be connected to the Institute and world-class research and innovation at the interface of ecological, social, and economic systems.

UVM’s physical location and size make it easy to be mindful of our natural assets. The university is situated on a hilltop cradled by Vermont’s Green Mountains to the east and Lake Champlain and New York’s Adirondack Mountains to the West. The spectacular setting of Burlington, Vermont – consistently ranked as one of the nation’s best cities for quality of life, health, and sustainability – provides an ideal location for inspiration, insight, and immersion in creative thought.

This program offers a suite of learning experiences, tuned to the needs of a diverse group of students and organizations. Four attributes are especially distinctive:

• Instruction, Coaching, and Facilitation from Distinguished Affiliates: Experienced practitioners and thought leaders from the professional world provide significant contributions to the content, skill development, mentorship, and pedagogical approach to the curriculum. These affiliates offer opportunities to ground theoretical approaches in practice and share insights from cutting-edge organizations and initiatives.
• Professional Orientation: The culminating Masters Project is conducted in partnership with an organization or community group from each student’s home place. Program coursework provides meaningful and individualized application of learning throughout the program.
• Networked Distance Learning: In this low-residency approach, students are rooted in their home community/organization, while benefiting from a learning community built on a strong network of student-colleagues, faculty, and seasoned professionals. Residential short courses are complemented by online courses and learning opportunities that are directly applicable to each students’ home community/organization.
• Applied Areas of Specialization: In addition to learning leadership skills, frameworks, and practices needed to initiate and facilitate change and systemic transformation, students also choose from two different specialized tracks: Ecological Economics or Ecological Leadership.

At UVM, we think big and inspire others to do the same. Our academic program combines faculty-student relationships most commonly found in a small liberal arts college with the resources of a major research institution. The university is home to 10,081 undergraduates, 1,360 graduate students, 457 medical students and 1,556 full- and part-time faculty. Located in Burlington, Vermont (America's #1 College Town -- Travel + Leisure), UVM's setting on the shores of Lake Champlain, between the Adirondack and the Green mountain ranges, gives a mountaintop perspective of all that's possible -- and offers the tools you will need to get there.

Vision, Mission, and Goals

The Vision of the University of Vermont: To be among the nation’s premier small research universities, preeminent in our comprehensive commitment to liberal education, environment, health, and public service. The Mission of the University of Vermont: To create, evaluate, share, and apply knowledge and to prepare students to be accountable leaders who will bring to their work dedication to the global community, a grasp of complexity, effective problem-solving and communication skills, and an enduring commitment to learning and ethical conduct. The Goals of the University of Vermont: Therefore, to realize our vision to be among the nation’s premier small research universities, we must take these actions.

• “Access to Success”: Promoting Affordability, Financial Access, and Academic Support
• Promoting a culture of advancing academic excellence and cultivating talent
• Identifying necessary investments to ensure a bright future
• Instilling an institutional commitment to efficiency and effectiveness that optimizes the use of facilities, technology, assets, and shared services

UVM Facts

History and Tradition

• Founded 1791
• Fifth oldest university in New England (after Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown)
• First institution of higher education to declare public support for freedom of religion
• First university to admit women and African-Americans into Phi Beta Kappa honor society
• Called UVM for Universitas Viridis Montis, Latin for "University of the Green Mountains"
• Motto: "Studiis et Rebus Honestis" — "For studies and other honest pursuits"
• School colors: Green and gold
• Mascot: Catamount

Academics

• 100 majors in 7 undergraduate schools and colleges
• 50 master's degree programs; 24 doctoral programs; M.D. program
• 4 pre-professional options (pre-medical, pre-dental, pre-vet, pre-law)
• Fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)

Enrollment

• Undergraduate: 10,081
• Graduate: 1,360
• Medical: 457
• Post-Baccalaureate Certificate: 25
• Non-Degree (CE): 892

Classes

• 1,896 undergraduate course offerings
• Average undergraduate class size: 30
• 98% of classes are taught by faculty (only 2% of classes are taught by graduate assistants)

Campus Life

• Undergraduates enrolled from 48 states
• 4.2% of undergraduates are international students
• 44 student veterans
• Over 200 student clubs and organizations, including a nationally recognized debate team and a student-run newspaper, radio station, TV station, rescue squad, legal services and many more academic, artistic, musical, cultural, ethnic, political, and religious clubs; 30 service clubs promoting health, literacy, and/or justice
• 56 club sports, some engaged in intercollegiate competition, and around 20 intramural teams
• 18 NCAA Division I Athletics teams (8 men's and 10 women's)
• On-campus students live in 41 residence halls and have access to over a dozen dining facilities
• 40+ theme-based housing offerings where 30% of students reside

Faculty

• 1,196 full-time and 319 part-time faculty
• 90% of full-time faculty hold a Ph.D. or the highest degree in their field
• Undergraduate student-faculty ratio: 15/1

Experience-based Learning

• 91% of seniors report being engaged in research, an internship or other experience-based learning/high impact practice during their time at UVM
• 38% of seniors report involvement in research with faculty mentor*
• 700 study abroad options in 70 countries; 32% of undergraduates studied abroad (2014)
• 76 service learning courses