The David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics has announced a new Master of Science degree in food studies.

The two-year program will welcome its first full cohort of students in fall 2016. The college currently offers a bachelor’s degree and a minor in food studies, but it wants to complement these programs with a separate graduate degree.

“Food studies is a growing discipline nationally,” said Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern, an assistant professor of food studies. “We see our program standing out in that we have a really strong focus on politics and political economy.”

The Falk College program will provide students with a 36-credit hour experience that explores food from the agricultural level to the food distribution level. There are five core courses required of graduate food studies students, including a research methods course.

“We’re looking for students who have a very socially engaged approach to what they do,” said Anne Bellows, the graduate program director in the food studies department.

The four faculty members involved in this emerging program themselves have a variety of backgrounds in fields outside food studies — Minkoff-Zern has an undergraduate degree in sustainable agriculture and development, as well as a PhD in geography.

Moreover, Bellows said the program will be highly integrated with sociology, urban and regional planning and economics.

Minkoff-Zern will teach an introductory class for graduate students to learn about the field of food studies.

“It’ll be a combination of understanding the development of food studies as an academic discipline and how food is understood in current pop culture and politics,” Minkoff-Zern said.

In addition to the four core faculty members, the MS in food studies students will learn from three chefs.

This interdisciplinary approach will help prepare students for either working toward a PhD in food studies, or for various employment opportunities in government, food-related trade or NGO work, among other areas, Bellows said.

“What a graduate level offers is bringing students in who are preparing to participate in the structure of food studies,” Bellows said. “This helps with the development of people who understand what the field encompasses and what it’s missing.”

At the undergraduate level, there’s an intensive level of studying, but Bellows said that begins to shift for students once they enter the graduate program.

There are currently two graduate students taking courses in food studies, but Bellows said she hopes next year’s cohort will include 15 to 20 students. Prospective fall 2016 graduate students are in the recruiting process now, which is why the department made its announcement this month.

Minkoff-Zern added that she thinks having a graduate program in food studies will help reinforce the strengths of the departments overall.

For now, the undergraduate and graduate programs in food studies will remain separate. However, Minkoff-Zern said the department has discussed the possibility of offering a five-year hybrid program for undergraduates to receive their MS in food studies after their four years in the college.

Published on October 21, 2015 at 10:07 pm

Contact Alexi: ajmccamm@syr.edu