Dr. Michael Bertelsen

Associate Director, OIRED, and
Associate Dean for International Agriculture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Phone: (540) 231-6338
E-mail: bertel@vt.edu

Expertise: Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, International Development, Collaborative International Research and Development Project Administration

Education: Ph.D., Agricultural Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1978. Emphasis: Natural Resource and Production Economics.

M.S., Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin, River Falls, 1975.

B.S., Economics, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, 1971.  

Languages: English (Native), Fluent in French and Spanish.

Countries of work experience: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal.

Experience Summary: Dr. Bertelsen is an agricultural and natural resource economist who has been involved in development work for more than 26 years. He has worked extensively at the nexus of natural resource management and agriculture, on issues including policy, technology transfer, and economic impact assessment of technologies. His work experience in developing countries has been comprehensive, ranging from providing technical assistance to community-based development initiatives through guiding national and international-level collaborative research projects. He has significant long-term project management experience, having served as Deputy Chief of Party and Chief of Party for USAID agricultural projects in Honduras and Burkina Faso, respectively. He has also provided long-term technical assistance on USAID projects in Haiti and Morocco and short-term technical assistance in some 25 other countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He is fluent in both Spanish and French. Presently, Dr. Bertelsen serves as Associate Director of the Office of International Research, Education, and Development (OIRED) and Associate Dean for International Agriculture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. In these capacities he is responsible for developing and supervising overseas research, education, and technical assistance opportunities for Virginia Tech faculty and students and providing related project technical economic backstopping.

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