Greetings friends,
This is a bittersweet time of year on the UVM campus. As the semester winds down, the flurry of activity ramps up, only to subside, drastically, with the culmination of finals week.
As many of the stories in this month’s Office of Engagement newsletter can attest, our students are very often at the forefront of our engagement activities, with our faculty and staff playing the critical role of designing opportunities for and with them. Read about two such examples in the areas of environmental management and early childhood development. Such faculty and staff support also extend to our youth as well, as demonstrated in the story about Extension’s 4-H support of Vermont’s First Robotics pioneers.
This month we also highlight two applied research projects that will have real benefits to Vermonters and our environment in the areas of agriculture and seed saving (critical for our small-scale farming community), water quality, and flood hazard mitigation. These stories highlight the myriad ways that UVM researchers are working to improve food production, and flood preparation and avoidance.
Lastly, our 14 county outreach strategy continues to be highlighted in a story on a recent trip we made to Bennington County that was facilitated by our colleagues in Extension and the Bennington economic development community. It is very assuring, coming out of our COVID-19 experiences, that Vermont downtowns continue to evolve and experience renewal—a fitting thought and inspiration for this spring season.
Warm regards,
Chris Koliba, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Engagement