The Department of Community Development and Applied Economics (CDAE) welcomed back its global travel study programs to St. Lucia and Puerto Rico this academic year for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic. These travel courses alongside CDAE’s Peace Corps Prep Program capture the essence of the department’s values by empowering students to immerse themselves in hands-on work while building community relationships inside and outside of the classroom.

Community Development in St. Lucia

Since 2004, CDAE has offered CDAE 286: Sustainable Development on Small Island States, a course now taught by lecturers Thomas DeSisto and Kevin Stapleton. Throughout the fall semester, a group of twenty students have been working in teams to build community development projects from start to finish. Then, over winter break, students will travel to the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia to implement their projects while working directly with community partners and government officials.

While in St. Lucia, students have the unique opportunity to focus entirely on the collaboration for twelve days. “From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. your focus is all on this project,” DeSisto explained.

Through the coursework and travel experience, students build key skills in project development, critical thinking, public speaking, teamwork, and cultural communication.

The course involves “taking all that you learn in economic development classes and public communication and putting those skills to work on an international development project,” Stapleton says.

The academic programs in the CDAE department encourage students to do work for greater good – work that lifts up a community, an ecosystem, or a single person.

“When you consider all you learn in CDAE, to be able to put that to work to have some small impact on making somebody's life in a lesser developed country just a little bit better, just a little bit healthier, make the banking system just a little bit more fair, make the preserved lands just a little more protected, whatever that might be. I think there's some real power in that,” Stapleton explains. 

Supporting Disaster Resilience in Puerto Rico

A recent addition to CDAE’s travel study programs is CDAE 295/CDAE 395: Puerto Rico: Food Systems Resilience led by Professor Travis Reynolds and Gund Research Fellow Mario Machacho. This course is project-based and works with University of Puerto Rico partners to identify and overcome vulnerabilities in Puerto Rico’s local food systems.

This research and community engagement course, which includes traveling to Puerto Rico over UVM’s spring break, aims at expanding economic opportunities in food production and distribution in Puerto Rico and addressing food insecurity following disruptive events, such as hurricanes.

Through the course, students are empowered to conduct research to directly support disaster resilience among farmers, fishers, and organizations working in Puerto Rico’s food system.

The Puerto Rico travel study course places a significant emphasis on applied learning. Professor David Conner, who is also involved in the project, says its focus is “very much real-world problem solving with community organizations there, including farmer groups and non- profits. Our approach is really sort of letting the stakeholders set the agenda of what their needs are and what they would like our help with.”

Training Future Peace Corps Volunteers

Another program designed to give students leadership and intercultural competence skills is CDAE’s Peace Corps Prep Program. UVM is ranked 6th among top volunteer-producing colleges and universities partnered with the Peace Corps in the country. The program focuses on preparing UVM students with skills for teaching, learning, and serving in the Peace Corps.

CDAE is uniquely positioned to provide aspiring members of the Peace Corps with the education in theory, knowledge and practice they need to thrive in the global program. This is reflected in the department’s commitment to the Peace Corps as well as its emphasis on innovative travel programs which center stakeholders and communities.

As CDAE Professor and Chair Jane Kolodinsky explains, “Through our classes and experiential learning, we strive to identify and design solutions to complex issues facing local and global communities and develop core values rooted in community engagement.”

The nature of CDAE’s international educational programs support the department’s mission of pairing traditional classroom learning with real-world experiences to prepare students for their work beyond UVM to make a positive impact on communities around the world.

Ana Spencer is a junior English major with a concentration in writing. Avery Wisehart is a senior community entrepreneurship major at UVM, minoring in applied design and consumer advertising. This article originally appeared in the CDAE Fall 2022 newsletter.