Tom Hudspeth taught Environmental Studies and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont from 1972 to 2015.  Tom’s scholarship and teaching relate to sustainability education and sustainable communities.  Building on Ernest Boyer’s “scholarship of engagement,” for all his courses Tom developed service-learning partnerships for sustainability with various sectors of society. 

Aware of the power of storytelling, Hudspeth claims, “We need to change the story in order to change the future, to consciously create the sustainable future we desire; and sustainability stories can certainly help with this important task.”  Over a quarter century Tom and students in his Creating Environmentally Sustainable Communities course wrote and videotaped countless Sustainability Stories about individuals who serve as sustainability role models. These place-based stories help make the concept of sustainability come alive, make it more concrete, humanize it, and put a face on it. Hudspeth insists that “Year after year, students reported that they liked focusing on positive and practical solutions to the daunting sustainability problems we face, providing them with hope, inspiration, optimism, and empowerment to counter the doom-and-gloom, despair, and anxiety they so often experienced.”  

Tom founded and serves as co-coordinator of the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network (GBSEN), one of 179 Regional Centers of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development world-wide using collective impact from multi-sectoral partnerships to address the 17 U.N. Sustainability Development Goals.

Hudspeth appreciatively states, “I credit my inspiring experiences as a M.S. and Ph.D. student at UM SNR/SNRE/SEAS for the transdisciplinary problem-solving team approach I employed in my courses at UVM.  Also, I was blessed to have as mentors renowned environmental educator Bill Stapp and eminent environmental psychologists Rachel and Steve Kaplan.  The Kaplans’ Supportive Environments for Effectiveness framework has informed my own work with individuals, organizations, and communities to bring out the best in people, and for that I remain forever grateful.”

Since retiring, Tom has been involved with GBSEN; engaged with climate change education, communication, and action as a Climate Reality Project (group founded by former Vice-President Al Gore) leader and mentor; and—as a master gardener—planted pollinator gardens and rain gardens.