Spring 2026 Course Search

The Herbarium: Research, Art & Botany — BIO4441.01

Instructor: Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie
Days & Time: TU,FR 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 4

An herbarium is a museum of pressed plants, a record of flora following a system that dates back to the 16th century. Large herbaria at institutions like D.C.’s Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Chicago’s Field Museum, Cambridge’s Harvard University, and London’s Kew Gardens contain millions of specimens, collected from around the world. But, most herbaria are small herbaria, with less than 10,000 specimens.

Sustainable Agriculture: Advanced Projects — APA4170.01

Instructor: Kelie Bowman
Days & Time: TH 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

This course is for students who are doing advanced work in Sustainable Agriculture or community engagement work. Students will create an individual project developing project management skills that include planning, research, development, and implementation. The students will have the opportunity to collaborate with a community partner and will present their completed project at the end of term. A small project budget will be provided supported by The Bennington Fair Food Initiative grant.

Intermediate Painting: Ground to Surface — PAI4219.01

Instructor: Beverly Acha
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

When you first learn how to paint, the focus is typically on gaining facility with the application and manipulation of paint to articulate the subject. In this intermediate course, we shift our attention to the often overlooked step that precedes painting: preparing the surface. 

Statistical Methods for Data Analysis — MAT2104.01

Instructor: Katie Montovan
Days & Time: TU,FR 8:30am-10:20am
Credits: 4

In this course, we will focus on developing the statistical skills needed to answer questions by collecting data, designing experimental studies, and analyzing large publicly available datasets. The skills learned will also help students to be critical consumers of statistical results. We will use a variety of datasets to develop skills in data management, analysis, and effective presentation of results.

Reading and Knitting the Forested Landscape — BIO2242.01

Instructor: Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie
Days & Time: MO,TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 4

Why would a forest ecology course include an assignment to knit a wool hat? In this class we will explore the lasting impact of sheep on the Vermont landscape, from the earliest settler-colonizers through today’s small batch fiber mills and second growth forests studded with stone walls. Sheep, and especially a 19th century boom in merino sheep, radically altered Vermont’s forests and inspired early writing on conservation and sustainable land management.

Toward a Just Transition — ENV2121.01

Instructor: John Hultgren
Days & Time: TU,FR 10:30am-12:20pm
Credits: 4

How do we transition to a low-carbon economy in a manner that doesn’t reinscribe the social and environmental injustices that have plagued our fossil-fueled economy? On one hand, the continued burning of fossil fuels is producing environmental crises that threaten to destabilize the very foundations of collective life, with poor and historically marginalized communities bearing the brunt of the suffering. On the other hand, renewable energy technologies are far from environmentally and socially benign.

Advanced Workshop for Painting and Drawing: The Contemporary Idiom — PAI4216.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

This course is for experienced student artists with a firm commitment to serious work in the studio. Students will work primarily on self-directed projects in an effort to refine individual concerns and subject matter. Students will present work regularly for critique in class as well as for individual studio meetings with the instructor. Development of a strong work ethic will be crucial.

Deep Fakes: An Introduction to Oil Painting — PAI2109.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: TU 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

Fake news, reality television, “IRL” – asserting the veracity of our perceptions is a constant preoccupation in contemporary culture. What is real? Realism is a widely used term with multiple connotations: verisimilitude, authenticity, objectivity, truth, fact.