With founding support from the Gund Family, the Institute resulted from a five-year effort to create a truly university-wide research venture that connects environmental scholars and leaders – at UVM and beyond – and catalyzes new research and solutions.
Led by inaugural director Taylor Ricketts, the new Institute replaced and broadened the internationally-renowned Gund Institute for Ecological Economics (GIEE). In doing so, the Institute moved from UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, which housed the Gund since 2002, to become a central unit in UVM’s Provost’s Office.