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Program Description
The FDSYS minor will educate and prepare students for existing and emerging food systems careers by designing and delivering an integrative, interdisciplinary Food Systems minor that is learner-centered, experiential and stakeholder-responsive. The minor uses a competency-oriented approach to inform its curriculum, reflective interdisciplinary collaboration, and food systems stakeholder involvement.
Competencies and Guiding Principles of the Food Systems Minor
A comprehensive ecology of knowledge framework emphasizes both what is taught, and how it is taught as mutually supportive components of education. The competencies of the minor are the what: the student learning objectives that graduates of the Food Systems minor are expected to demonstrate proficiency in. The guiding principles of the Food Systems minor are the how: they serve as a roadmap for how the courses and experiences in the minor will support the learning objectives.
Competencies
Students who complete the Food Systems Minor will:
- Solve complex problems: Analyze, plan, act on and evaluate solutions across multiple domains of the food system, including health, science, economics and business, community, agriculture, the food service industry, and policy.
- Use evidence from multiple ways of knowing (epistemologies) to analyze, select and assess food systems problems and solutions. Different knowledge include scientific, social, cultural, historical, political, indigenous, and local perspectives.
- Respect and critically reflect on one's own and others' perspectives and values to understand how these perspectives and values influence food systems decisions.
- Be civically engaged both locally and globally to enable positive change in food and agricultural systems.
Guiding Principles
- Experiential learning. Courses and related activities will offer students place-based, learning experiences in food systems beyond the classroom, thereby integrating theoretical and practical knowledge. Activities will include engaged scholarship, internships, service learning, research, and other creative and professional work experiences. For example, the required Supervised Field Engagement Experience will provide opportunity for personalized work on food systems related topics, practice in stakeholder engagement, and network-building for students with potential future employers.
- Interdisciplinary problems and project-based learning. Problem-based learning, experiential and stakeholder-driven projects, and systems-oriented inquiry have been linked to positive student appraisal of competency development for individual courses (Galt et al. 2013). Courses and related experiences will incorporate pedagogies and curricula that emphasize students' engagement with interdisciplinary food system problem-posing (inquiry) and project-based learning, thereby placing students at the center of their learning.
- Community partnerships and engagement. Courses and related experiences will advance students' and community partners' knowledge, skills, and dispositions toward forming and maintaining partnerships in service towards food systems security and mutually beneficial community, health, and environmental sustainability goals.
- Personal transformation through reflection. Courses and related experiences will provide opportunities for students, instructors, and allied partners to reflect (individually and collectively) upon their learning about a wide range of issues associated with environmental sustainability, economic development and community prosperity, justice and well-being with an intention to articulate change in one's own understandings.
- Collaboration and deliberation. Courses and related experiences will promote among students, instructors and allied partners opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and dispositions inherent to democratic/civic participation.
- Career stakeholder engagement. Courses and related experiences will engage food systems stakeholders and prospective employers from government, industry and non-profit sectors. By assessing stakeholders' understandings of critical competencies for successful food systems work, Food Systems minor graduates will be better prepared to address current food system challenges and also achieve their personal and professional goals.
Program Requirements
| Requirement | Credits |
|---|---|
| Requirements for the Minor | 18-19 |
Requirements for the Minor
A grade of C or better is required for all courses in the minor, as specified by Senate Policy 59-10. In addition, at least six credits of the minor must be unique from the prescribed courses required by a student's major(s).
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Prescribed Courses | ||
| Prescribed Courses: Require a grade of C or better | ||
| AGBM 170 | Investigating the U.S. Food System: How food moves from field to table  | 3 |
| FDSYS 490 | From Agriculture to Culture: Perspectives on your food from seed to plate | 1 |
| FDSYS 495 | Internship | 2-3 |
| Additional Courses | ||
| Additional Courses: Require a grade of C or better | ||
| Select 3 credits each from two of the three topic areas. At least one selected additional course should be at the 400-level: | 6 | |
Topic Area: Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: | ||
| Sustainable Agriculture Science and Policy | ||
| Principles of Integrated Pest Management | ||
| Principles of Crop Management | ||
| Introduction to Animal Industries | ||
Topic Area: Food, Nutrition and Health: | ||
| Introductory Food Science | ||
| Nutrition Applications for a Healthy Lifestyle | ||
NUTR 175 | ||
| Introductory Principles of Nutrition | ||
| The Sustainable Fork: Food Systems Decisions for Away-From-Home Eating | ||
Topic Area: Human and Social Dimensions: | ||
| Changing Food Systems: Comparative Perspectives | ||
| Food, Farms & Justice: What's Education Got To Do With Them? | ||
| Food and the Future Environment | ||
| Introduction to U.S. Food History | ||
| Supporting Courses and Related Areas | ||
| Supporting Courses and Related Areas: Require a grade of C or better | ||
| Select 6 credits from approved list in consultation with the minor adviser. At least 3 of the credits must be from the topic area not selected under Additional Courses. The following courses are recommended for meeting the requirements of the minor. Students may substitute courses to meet this requirement in consultation with the minor adviser. | 6 | |
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: | ||
| Sustainable Agriculture Science and Policy | ||
| Principles and Practices of Organic Agriculture | ||
| Introductory Agroecology | ||
| Nutrient Management in Agricultural Systems | ||
| Principles of Integrated Pest Management | ||
| Principles of Crop Management | ||
| Forage Crop Management | ||
| Field Crop Management | ||
| Introduction to Animal Industries | ||
| Animal Science | ||
| Animal Products Technology | ||
| Animal Products Technology Laboratory | ||
ENT 222 | ||
| Environmental Factors and Their Effect on Your Food Supply | ||
| Horticultural Science | ||
| Small Fruit Culture | ||
| Deciduous Tree Fruits | ||
| Vegetable Crops | ||
| Tropical Agriculture and Food Systems | ||
| Gardening for Fun and Profit | ||
| The Fungal Jungle: A Mycological Safari From Truffles to Slime Molds | ||
| Mushroom Cultivation | ||
| Horticultural Crop Diseases | ||
| Introductory Soil Science | ||
| Soil Nutrient Behavior and Management | ||
| Soil Ecology | ||
| Natural Resources Conservation and Community Sustainability | ||
Food, Nutrition, and Health: | ||
| Strategies for Addressing the Obesity and Diabetes Epidemics | ||
| Food Facts and Fads | ||
| Introductory Food Science | ||
| Physiology of Nutrition | ||
| International Food Production | ||
| Institutional Food Service Management | ||
HM 329 | ||
| Food Production and Operations Management | ||
| The Sustainable Fork: Food Systems Decisions for Away-From-Home Eating | ||
| New Product Development for Commercial Foodservice | ||
| Applied Leadership in Foodservice Operations Management | ||
| Nutrition Applications for a Healthy Lifestyle | ||
| Elementary Foods | ||
| Healthy Food for All: Factors that Influence What we Eat in the US - LINKED | ||
| Community and Public Health Nutrition | ||
| Biocultural Perspectives on Public Health Nutrition | ||
| Global Nutrition Problems: Health, Science, and Ethics | ||
Human and Social Dimensions: | ||
| Introduction into Ethics and Issues in Agriculture | ||
| Economics of the Food System | ||
| Food Product Marketing | ||
| Managing the Food System | ||
| First Farmers | ||
| Anthropology of Alcohol | ||
| Hunters and Gatherers | ||
| Anthropology of Food Honors | ||
| Food, Farms & Justice: What's Education Got To Do With Them? | ||
| Science, Technology and Public Policy | ||
| Changing Food Systems: Comparative Perspectives | ||
| Exploring the Literature of Food: Current Trends in American Food Writing and Environmentalism | ||
| Food and the Future Environment | ||
| Introduction to U.S. Food History | ||
| The Consumer Revolution | ||
| Plants in the Human Context | ||
INTAG 100 | ||
JST/RLST 405 | ||
Academic Advising
The objectives of the university's academic advising program are to help advisees identify and achieve their academic goals, to promote their intellectual discovery, and to encourage students to take advantage of both in-and out-of class educational opportunities in order that they become self-directed learners and decision makers.
Both advisers and advisees share responsibility for making the advising relationship succeed. By encouraging their advisees to become engaged in their education, to meet their educational goals, and to develop the habit of learning, advisers assume a significant educational role. The advisee's unit of enrollment will provide each advisee with a primary academic adviser, the information needed to plan the chosen program of study, and referrals to other specialized resources.
READ SENATE POLICY 32-00: ADVISING POLICY
University Park
Edward Jaenicke, Ph.D.
Professor of Agricultural Economics
208-B Armsby Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-5282
tjaenicke@psu.edu
Contact
University Park
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, SOCIOLOGY, AND EDUCATION
201 Armsby Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-865-5282
tjaenicke@psu.edu