• For Entrepreneurs with Questions, UVM’s Mentoring Network Has Answers

    Read how CDAE alum Eric Grunfeld uses UVM's Mentor Network to help launch his startup

  • CDAE’s St. Lucia Study Abroad Program Celebrates 15 Years of Service Learning

    Read about the history of the CDAE St. Lucia Travel Course

  • Telling History, Making History

    For 500 years, many Indigenous Bolivians sustained their history through oral storytelling, paving the way for one to make history

    Read about CDAE Lecturer Ben Dangl's latest book

  • Trisha Shrum at United Nations

    Making Climate Change Personal

    Addressing Climate Change through Parenting, Storytelling and Behavior at the UN: CDAE Assistant Prof. Trisha Shrum Hosts Panel at United Nations

    Read about Shrum's work with the UN

  • Students at Machu Pichu

    Continuing Community Development

    Each year, CDAE 171 Community and International Economic Transformation brings students into the, rewarding, difficult, and often surprising work of applied community development in Peru.

    Read More...

  • Rob Williams and class with Censorship 2018 Publication

    Published

    Six University of Vermont students from CDAE are featured in the new book Censored 2018: Press Freedoms in a “Post Truth” Society.  Read more...

  • Sam Donnelly CDAE '20

    BUILDING INCLUSION

    Sparked by work with Special Olympics, Sam Donnelly '20 aims to shape education policy.

    Read more...

  • Estefania Puerta has been awarded the Soros Fellowship for New Americans

    CDAE Alumna Receives Prestigious Fellowship for New Americans

    Estefania Puerta, CID '10, has received $90,000 from The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, the premier graduate school fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants in the US.  Read more...

  • Out on the lake

    Climate Change Could Outpace EPA Lake Champlain Protections

    CDAE Professors Asim Zia and Koliba publish powerful new model indicating that current pollution standards may be inadequate to ward off worsening algae blooms in Lake Champlain. Read More

  • Morrill Hall at the University of Vermont, home to CDAE

    Serving the Public Interest

    Morrill Hall is the home to CDAE and is named after Justin Morrill, the Vermont senator who founded the land grant college system to serve the public interest.

  • Prof. Conner with Community Partner Woodchuck Cider

    Community Partners

    The Department of Community Development and Applied Economics maintains long-standing relationships with community partners in Vermont and around the world. CDAE uses economic, social, and environmental principles to identify community needs, analyze problems, and advance sustainable solutions in partnership with organizations and communities. We understand that strong communities are founded on socially responsible entrepreneurs, policy leaders and public communicators working together.

How will we change the world?

First step - prepare ourselves. CDAE offers hands-on, transdisciplinary learning and experience that empowers graduates to make professional contributions to their communities and the world.

CDAE supports sustainable local and international community development through interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach that serves the public interest.

 

Learn about CDAE Internships

Browse CDAE Courses

Meet CDAE Faculty

Applied and Service Learning

Building and developing community connections requires connecting with your community.

CDAE is a unique and innovative department. We were doing Service Learning before it was called "Service Learning" because we found it to be an effective, rewarding way to teach and learn. CDAE works with countless local, regional, and international partners to give students experience in long-term project development, planning, and execution as well as the background, context, and lenses through which to view their work. It is our belief that pairing traditional classroom learning with applied experience in the field makes for the best graduates, and, most importantly, global citizens.

Recent Headlines

CDAE Faculty 2017

CDAE faculty members are experts in their field, experienced in their practice, and prolific in their contributions to academic literature.  They engage students with applied learning, relevant worldly problem-solving, and theory to back it all up.

Social Enterprise Day is an opportunity for students from across campus—and especially CDAE—to connect with professionals who use business as a force for good. This event was an extension of the foundation learning and work done in CDAE 166.

students - campus activities - WRUV

Our department integrates action with learning.  We house courses in media literacy, news writing, and we underwrite UVM's student-run free-form radio station, WRUV FM Burlington.  Tate Kamish, above, Public Communication minor DJs at the station adding skills to her experience in media and communication.