Program Overview
The Agroecology M.S. program at UW–Madison trains students to analyze agricultural systems within a broader environmental and socioeconomic context. The program offers two tracks: Public Practice, which focuses on facilitating discussions and negotiations at the interfaces of agriculture and other sectors of society, and Research, which emphasizes original research and scholarship. Students benefit from interdisciplinary expertise from nearly 20 departments across campus, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of agroecological systems.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
Created in 2007, the Agroecology M.S. program at UW–Madison trains students to research and analyze agricultural systems within a broader environmental and socioeconomic context. Key to this endeavor is interdisciplinary expertise, which the agroecology program achieves through working with affiliated faculty members from nearly 20 departments across campus.
Program Objectives:
- Analyze tradeoffs of different agricultural systems embedded within the greater complexity of socio-ecological systems.
- Consider and synthesize concepts of systems, ecology, and public process.
- Learn to engage in careful consideration of the social, economic, and environmental outcomes of different industrial and biological processes.
- Understand the potential of inclusive participatory processes in research and analysis of agroecological systems.
- Recognize and apply principles of ethical and professional conduct in their coursework, research, and communications in the field of agroecology.
Outline:
- The Public Practice track trains facilitators to enable broader discussion and negotiation at the interfaces of agriculture and other sectors of society. The goal of this "action-in-society" track is to train analysts to increase understanding about the roles of agricultural systems in multi-functional landscapes, and the public policy that shapes these roles.
- The Research track addresses the need for continued research and scholarship in order that discussions and negotiations are well informed. Students will have the opportunity to obtain experience in the scholarship of original research, culminating in the writing of a thesis.
- Core Curriculum:
- Agroecology Field Study
- The Farm as Socio-Environmental Endeavor
- The Multifunctionality of Agriculture
- Agroecology Seminar
- Cross-Training Electives: Students will select courses to fulfill their cross-training electives in the categories below.
- Ecology
- Social Science
- Data Analysis
- Agricultural Science
- Research and Thesis
Teaching:
The program is supported by the interdisciplinary agroecology cluster, which hired three faculty members in 2002: Michael Bell in community and environmental sociology, Claudio Gratton in entomology, and Randall Jackson in agronomy.
