Want to add your program to this list? Email info@nesawg.org.
Prospective students can find additional resources at Sustainable Agriculture Education Association.
Contact: Dr. Anastasia Snelling, stacey@american.edu
Bennington College
Food insecurity—the inability to access affordable, nutritious food—affects one in eight Americans, or approximately 40 million people, and is particularly acute in southern Vermont. This collaboration aims to both address the pressing problem of food insecurity in the area and to develop an interdisciplinary and responsive humanities curriculum with students, faculty, and the community, creating a model from which other higher education institutions can learn and build.
Contact: Tatiana Abatemarco, tatianaabatemarco@bennington.edu or capa@bennington.edu
Boston University Food Studies
To promote scholarship about food, Boston University’s Metropolitan College (MET) offers the part-time Master of Liberal Arts in Gastronomy. Cofounded by Jacques Pépin and Julia Child, the program offers a rigorous, interdisciplinary approach to food studies, including opportunities for experiential learning. A Graduate Certificate in Food Studies is also available.
Contact: Megan Elias, mjelias@bu.edu
Bristol Community College (BCC) established the Sustainable Agriculture Program (formerly the Organic Agriculture Program) in 2009 to provide an Associate Degree in Sustainable Agriculture plus a certificate for students interested in a bachelor’s degree from a 4-year institution, in developing their own sustainable agricultural enterprise or for working with community organizations and established commercial producers. Our program is articulated with the University of Massachusetts Sustainable Food & Farming program. BCC is one of a small number of community colleges nationwide addressing the need for sustainable agricultural training and development. The south coast of Massachusetts (Bristol and Plymouth counties) is a traditional agricultural region that has suffered severe socio-economic changes and a renewed interest in local agricultural development has grown significantly as one option to strengthen the local economy.
Contact: Dr. Jim Corven, Professor of Biology & Coordinator, Sustainable Agriculture, james.corven@bristolcc.edu
Contact: Food Studies, Dr. Alice Julier, ajulier@chatham.edu
Contact: Agriculture, Dr. Rich Midcap, rmidcap@chesapeake.edu
City University of New York - York College
York offers minor program of study with the aim of eventually creating a major.
Contact: Dr. Samuel Ghelli, SGhelli@york.cuny.edu
Contact: Farming and Food Systems, Dr. Kourtney Collum, kcollum@coa.edu
Contact: College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Samara Sit
The Applied Food Studies (AFS) Bachelor's of Professional Studies degree at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) integrates liberal learning with the CIA's professional education to create an experientially-focused food studies curriculum that is practical, critical and creative. This program is distinct in two central ways. First, it is a food studies program taught in an immersive, intensely food-focused environment. AFS students experience the CIA’s world class culinary/baking training, wines and beverages education, service and production education in our public restaurants and work in selective externships in the food industry. Second, AFS students learn about food from an interdisciplinary liberal arts perspective that also takes a hands-on focus. They learn about food through history, economics, anthropology, archeology, ecology and the humanities. They also learn through a range of hands-on activities and in-the-field activities and projects - like an internship in a local food organization, our campus gardens and apiary, annual campus maple tapping, travel abroad programs and more. These project-based assignments extend student learning in tangible ways and contribute to the campus and to the community, instilling a deep understanding and respect for the local and global food system.
Contact: Dr. Denise Bauer, Dean of Liberal Arts & Food Studies, d_bauer@culinary.edu
College of Agriculture and Related Sciences
Sustainable Agriculture Systems
Sustainable Agriculture Systems students will learn the basic sciences and build upon that knowledge with an understanding of the plant, animal, social, food and agribusiness components of a sustainable agricultural system. This integrated approach offers a broad background in multiple disciplines with an emphasis on hands-on learning. The horticulture degree program at Delaware Valley University offers students the opportunity to study several different subjects, including plant science and biotechnology, fruit and vegetable production and hydroponics. The program is known for its small classes and experiential learning both in the classroom and out in the field. In fact, the University boasts what one might consider an outdoor living laboratory with its access to greenhouses, farms, fields and more. The focus on such diverse lessons results in a comprehensive education in the art, business and science of horticulture. The Organic Farming Program is a 36-credit, one-year certificate program offered through a partnership between Delaware Valley University and Rodale Institute. Students who complete the program leave with the knowledge and experience necessary to start a small-scale organic farm or, work for an organic operation. The program offers assistance with job placement and developing business plans so that graduates can easily move right into rewarding careers in organic agriculture.
Contact: Jacqueline Ricotta, Jacqueline.ricotta@delval.edu for horticulture and sustainable agriculture
Contact: Joe Grato, Joseph.grato@delval.edu for organic farming certificate
Contact: Food Studies, Dr. Emily Pawley, pawleye@dickinson.edu
Contact: Culinary Arts and Food Science, Rosemary Trout, rek23@drexel.edu
The Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University prepares students to address public health issues involving nutrition, food access, and the food system. Located 15 miles from the nation’s capital, the nutrition and food studies program at Mason is the only one of its kind in northern Virginia. Our students learn how to combine the science of nutrition with the culture of food to impact society and influence behavior changes that can improve public health and people’s access to quality food sources. Through coursework, research opportunities, and practical experience, students learn how factors of the food system affect the health of a community (e.g., obesity epidemic, food security, inequity, agriculture, food safety) and to work towards solutions. The department offers multiple academic programs including Master of Science in Nutrition, Graduate Certificates in Nutrition and Food Security, and Minors in Food Studies and Nutrition.
Contact: Constance Gewa, cgewa@gmu.edu
Contact: Farm and Food Systems, Peter Rosnick, Rosnick@gcc.mass.edu
Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future
As an interdisciplinary academic center of the Johns Hopkins University, the Center for a Livable Future (CLF) provides coursework, experiential learning opportunities, and mentorship that promotes an integrated understanding of food systems, diet, food security, and public health. The Center leads a variety of education program activities at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, including graduate level coursework, a certificate program, an MPH concentration, and a CLF-Lerner Fellowship program. CLF’s many educational resources include free, online curricula and courses, and a textbook examining the US food system.
Contact: Meg Burke, mbburke@jhu.edu
Food Studies at Middlebury College allows students to take advantage of great language instruction, Study Abroad in 38 cities from Cameroon to China, the first environmental studies program in the country, and excellent liberal arts education and facilities. Students learn about the complex historical and contemporary factors that lead to global challenges in the food system, and ways that they can contribute to solutions.
Contact: Dr. Molly Anderson, MollyA@middlebury.edu
Montclair State University- Nutrition and Food Studies Program
The mission of this department is to improve quality of life through a dynamic, comprehensive, and transdisciplinary curriculum, innovative research, and active community engagement in the holistic fields of food and nutrition.
Contact: Program Assistant, Linda Salazar: salazarl@montclair.edu
New York University
Founded in 1996, Food Studies at New York University is one of the first master’s degree programs in the United States devoted to food scholarship. Food Studies offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of food as a bio-cultural system focused on the urban environment. By examining cultural, political, economic, environmental, and geographic approaches to food within local, urban, and global contexts, the MA in Food Studies prepares students to analyze the current domestic and global food system and larger contemporary arguments beyond the academy. Our uniquely urban approach engages with the New York City food systems for applied and theoretical research in food policy, food advocacy and sustainable food businesses.
Contact: Jennifer Berg, jennifer.berg@nyu.edu or Catherine Robertson, catherine.robertson@nyu.edu
Rutgers University Agriculture and Food Systems Program
State University of New York - Cobleskill
The design of a food system directly impacts diet, disease, economic development, business viability, air and water quality and the capacity of resources to feed and fuel growing populations. Students in SUNY Cobleskill’s newest baccalaureate program, Bachelors of Technology (BT) in Food Systems & Technology, will learn about food systems as they exist around the world and the technologies that are key to efficiently and effectively producing, processing and distributing food. The program is comprised of four academic cores: sustainability, food policy and law, food production and science and food business management. Through them, students will gain hands-on learning experience in the College’s livestock and dairy facilities, greenhouses, alternative energy labs, Farm & Food Business Incubator and culinary facilities.
Contact: Jason R. Evans, evansjr@cobleskill.edu
Studying Sustainable Food Systems at Sterling College in Vermont provides the tools necessary for shaping a more resilient food future. You will learn to advocate for better food policy, improve food access and security, enhance public health, innovate as a food entrepreneur, and nourish yourself and your community while working and studying in the three living laboratories: the Sterling College Farm, Forest, and Kitchen, experiencing the challenges and rewards in a values-driven, place-based food system.
Contact: Harley Meyer, Hmeyer@sterlingcollege.edu
Food Studies at Syracuse University Falk College
BS/MS/CAS: Study the linkages between food systems and public health, sustainability, policy and governance, the political economy of food and urban/regional design and planning. Your classroom might be our experiential food lab or the local community supported agriculture farm. Coursework and research opportunities provide exposure to the complexity of domestic and international food policy and governance, food security, and much more.
Contact: Falk@syr.edu
The Agriculture, Food and Environment (AFE) program fuses the disciplines of nutrition, agricultural science, environmental studies, and public policy. AFE students learn to evaluate the ecological, political, economic and social aspects of food production and distribution. This program aims to educate future food systems leaders by providing rigorous training, an ethic of social change, and an intellectual community generating visions and models of alternative systems.
Contact: Richard Moyer, Richard.Moyer@tufts.edu
The University of Maine’s undergraduate Sustainable Agriculture program emphasizes building healthy soil, organic soil amendments, integrated pest management, erosion management, protecting water quality, increasing farm profits and income stability. Course knowledge is complemented with hands-on learning experiences. The Sustainable Food Systems minor provides an understanding of the sustainability of U.S. and global food systems, including factors such as production, processing, safety, distribution and consumption of food.
Contact: Charlene Gray, charlene.gray@maine.edu
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, located on 745 acres in Princess Anne, Maryland, United States, is part of the University System of Maryland. UMES is a historically black university, as well as an 1890 Historically Black Land-Grant University
Contact: www.umes.edu/admissions
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
The university that began as “Mass Aggie” is the home of the Sustainable Food and Farming program which is the fastest growing major in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture. This growth is a result of the rapidly changing economic and social conditions of the nation in which local, organic and sustainable food systems are providing opportunities for good work and exciting new careers. Both Associate of Science and Bachelor of Science degree programs are offered on campus and online.
Contact: Dr. John M. Gerber, jgerber@umass.edu
The interdisciplinary Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems undergraduate program at the University of Rhode Island provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to contribute to the sustainable development, production, harvesting, management, and utilization of terrestrial and aquatic microorganisms, plants and animals by society locally and globally.
Contact: Dr. Gomez-Chiarri, gomezchi@uri.edu
University of Southern Maine
Food Studies is the interdisciplinary study of the social, economic, political, and environmental factors that affect our food system. From farm to table, food production and consumption is a linchpin for economic systems and people’s daily life and health. Food is also central to culture – our identities, the way we connect socially, and how families and communities function. The Food Studies Program at USM joins a nationwide movement to elevate the study of food systems, to critically evaluate key food-related issues including food insecurity, environmental sustainability, and racial and labor justice, and develop in its students applicable real world skills ranging from hospitality and entrepreneurship to social justice policy and activism. Through active mentorship, engaged learning both in the classroom and the community, powerful collaborations with food system activists, business people and professionals, and well-placed paid internships, the Food Studies students at USM are well prepared for food-related careers in the business, non-profit/community, and government sectors. The Food Studies Program at USM offers a minor in Food Studies and a Food Studies Graduate Certificate.
Contact: usm.foodstudies@maine.edu or (207) 780-4490
The University of Vermont Graduate Program in Food Systems prepares students to address some of the most challenging problems of contemporary food systems, such as building climate change resilience, reducing waste across the supply chain and exploring equitable distribution and fair labor practices. Our curriculum is designed to inspire and motivate students through a diversity of research methods, transdisciplinary and systems thinking approaches and forms of community engagement in Vermont's living laboratory of food systems innovation.
Contact: Serena Parnau, Serena.Parnau@uvm.edu