The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Global Programs Office connects students and faculty to the world. Meaningful international engagement opportunities allow faculty and students to serve globally, enrich communities at home and abroad, and develop partnerships to address the most-challenging issues faced by society.
CALS in the World
CESAAM and Egerton University leadership collaborated with faculty from Virginia Tech on a two-week-long trip to Kenya that was the capstone of the year-long CALS Global Opportunity Initiative.
CALS Global launched a new partnership in 2017 with the Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (CESAAM) at Egerton University. CESAAM is a World Bank-funded African Center of Excellence with the mission to improve food security along the agricultural value chain.
“What excites me most about this collaboration is the genuine commitment by all. This partnership is important because it provides a strong link between developing and developed nation scientific research and capacity development," said George Owuor, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Management in Egerton University and center leader of CESAAM. "Together, we are working on issues such as curriculum development and improvement, student and faculty exchanges, collaborative research, and joint fundraising for common interests in food security, particularly in eastern Africa. The aim of this collaboration is to forge avenues for providing sustainable solutions to food security challenges through capacity building, innovative research, and outreach.”
grassland training August 2018
Ozzie Abaye, professor of crop and soil environmental sciences, recently returned from Senegal where she has been working with farmers on introducing mungbean into household farming systems. She also provided training on grassland management and evaluation. Read more about her work in Senegal.
Masha Niv, the vice dean for research and development at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, speaks with Tom Thompson, associate dean for global programs at the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, about developing partnerships between the two universities.
Virginia Tech and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are leading the charge to grow safe and nutritious food for a growing global population. Both are working to address the challenge of securing safe and healthy water for people around the world. And both are preparing a new generation of leaders to tackle these and many other issues that lay ahead.
CALS in Service
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands explains how the university works inside the commonwealth and across the globe to help increase crop yields while reducing the use of toxic chemicals.
About CALS Global
- The mission of CALS Global is to create partnerships, discover opportunities, and empower success — to serve globally.
- The vision of CALS Global is to ensure that CALS is recognized worldwide as a premier destination for agriculture and life sciences.
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