Food Studies programs are not enrolling new students at this time.
Food Studies has been emerging since the 1990s as one of the fastest-growing fields of study in North America. The discipline exists at the nexus of multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral inquiry addressing the linkages between food systems, social stability, human and landscape sustainability, public health, and urban and regional design and planning. The Food Studies program offers a bachelor of science (B.S.), a minor in Food Studies, a master of science (M.S.) and a Certificate of Advanced Study (C.A.S.). Students learn about the Food System in areas including food justice, urban food systems, international trade, labor in the food systems, human rights, science and technology and culinary expertise.Bachelor of Science in Food Studies
The Bachelor of Science in Food Studies takes a multilevel, holistic approach to food-from production through consumption. The 120-credit major includes four areas of study: Falk College requirements, a liberal arts core, a food studies core and food electives. The liberal arts core is left open purposefully to allow students to sample broadly from the Arts & Science offerings. Such a liberal approach is appropriate for students majoring in food studies since it has emerged as a multidisciplinary field. The major concludes with a senior level experience requirement where students choose to complete a research project or a practicum.
Master of Science in Food Studies
The Master of Science in Food Studies is a 36-credit hour graduate program providing students with a foundation in the political economy of food systems, including food policy, human rights, food governance, and food justice. Students gain a deep understanding of multi-scale, global-local constructions of food governance and civil society claims, trade and food aid, and related public policy as they together influence human health and nutrition, economic development, and the environment. The program purposefully introduces students to Food Studies-oriented research methods and program evaluation, and emphasizes analyses that consider social justice, race, ethnicity, and gender and sexuality.
Certificate of Advanced Study in Food Studies
The academic field of Food Studies trains students in the fast-changing landscape of international food policy as well as local food governance systems. The program at Syracuse University is characterized by the study of structural conditions of inequalities, injustice and imbalances in the food system, combined with learning the levers of social change, including social movements, public policy, and equitably organized food and nutrition economies. Students learn how the local and global articulate with each other under diverse circumstances like climate change, trade rules, or nutrition policy and humanitarian/charity assistance.
Food Studies Minor
The Food Studies minor is an interdisciplinary approach to examine the U.S. and global food systems from production through consumption using a multi-level and holistic approach. Students take courses covering production, consumption and policy aspects of food as well as food security. The Food Studies minor is a valuable complement to a variety of majors because of the growing interest in food systems in both public and private sectors. Issues around organic production, the local food movement, genetic modification of food and nanotechnology, and food access in the U.S. and elsewhere are all covered in the minor and have potential applications in the natural sciences, business, public policy, communications and media, and the social sciences.