Walter Poleman specializes in natural history, place-based landscape analysis, and education for sustainability. He teaches courses in natural history and human ecology, landscape inventory and assessment, and conservation science. He is director of the Field Naturalist Graduate Program and serves as faculty advisor to the Sustainability Learning Community. Walter is the founding director the PLACE (Place-based Landscape Analysis & Community Engagement) Program, and co-coordinator of the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network.

He coordinates the Rubenstein School’s dual master’s degree program with Vermont Law & Graduate School and teaches ecology there each summer. His teaching awards include the President’s Distinguished Senior Lecturer Award, the Kroespsh-Maurice Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Outstanding Service-Learning Faculty Award.