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Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment

We unite science, innovation, and real‑world engagement to develop leaders who create practical solutions for improving lives, strengthening ecosystems, and driving positive global impact.

A Nexus for Environmental Problem-Solving

The Ashley School at Cornell CALS is a dynamic hub for addressing complex challenges facing people and the planet in the 21st century. Emphasizing education with impact, we contribute our broad interdisciplinary expertise to pioneer practical solutions, emphasizing real-world engagement with communities in New York state and more than 30 countries around the globe to improve lives and livelihoods and promote environmental stewardship. 

This is our global perspective on how we support society.

As the only Ivy League university with a Land-Grant mission, we uniquely integrate world-class research and education with community engagement in service of the public good. Our faculty, students and partners coalesce around urgent themes – from climate resilience and biodiversity loss to sustainable agriculture and food system transformation – working with stakeholders to create solutions that are locally grounded and globally relevant.

Leveraging our two distinguished sections – Global Development and Natural Resources and the Environment – the school takes a transdisciplinary approach to integrate ecological science, social innovation and community engagement to foster sustainable, resilient and prosperous futures.

Collaborating across disciplines

Disciplines coming together to solve problems across the world

With a focus on global development and natural resources and the environment, the new school is a dynamic hub for addressing complex challenges facing people and the planet in the 21st century.

Explore our sections
two people looking closely at plants
A man speaks to students standing in a field of crops
Education

Our dynamic learning atmosphere and academic culture goes beyond purely technical work to provide deep analysis and transformative solutions.

Fragments and sheets of ice breaking apart on Oneida Lake
Research

We bring together faculty, students and partners from across Cornell and beyond to address interconnected environmental and societal challenges.

A dog, dog handler, and researcher inspect a row of grape vines for spotted lanternfly.
Outreach & Extension

Our outreach model centers community stakeholders in every phase of the research process, ensuring relevance and real-world impact.

By the numbers

600

Undergraduate students

140

Graduate students

107

Faculty

News

News

Historic gift endows Cornell CALS Ashley School

The Department of Global Development and the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment have been combined to establish a new school: the Cornell CALS Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment.

Headshot of Stephen B. Ashley ’62, MBA ’64
Red-faced Cormorant

News

Birds are among Earth’s most important nutrient-movers

Birds play an outsized, underappreciated role in shaping Earth’s chemistry, distributing nutrients across oceans, forests and coral reefs and sustaining life far beyond the nest, according to a new scientific review.

  • Animals
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
A solar farm in Lansing, New York.

News

Sheep grazing in solar fields offers farmers economic, ecological gains

As solar grazing expands across the country, new research helps sheep farmers increase profitability and sheds light on the how the number of sheep in solar array fields interacts with beneficial insects.

  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
  • Agriculture
  • Solar
Katherine Sinacore

Spotlight

Meet our faculty: Katherine Sinacore
Academic focus: Forest restoration ecology, natural resource management, environmental economics Research summary: My research examines how biophysical and socioeconomic factors shape forest restoration and management outcomes. I combine field...
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment