SCU's Food and Agribusiness Institute has a New Name
SANTA CLARA, Calif., December 18, 2018—The Food and Agribusiness Institute (FAI), in the Leavey School of Business was founded in 1973 and has educated more than 1500 MBA and undergraduate students over the past 45 years through its MBA program focusing on the food industry and its undergraduate pathway, which addresses issues of food, hunger, and sustainability. By evolving our name to - the Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CFIE) the center’s research will continue to focus on a broad array of issues related to the food industry, including quality assurance, consumer preferences, risk management, food insecurity, and food loss and waste.
The Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CFIE) reflects our commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship in our educational and research programs. Many of our MBA students are interested in studying innovation and entrepreneurship in the food industry and applying what they have learned to develop business opportunities either as entrepreneurs themselves or with their companies. Likewise, our research projects, while innovative themselves, often point to innovation and entrepreneurship as solutions to the opportunities and challenges within the food industry. The name change will help the Center to strengthen our connections within Silicon Valley, where many of the innovations are developed, as well as with other communities, such as Salinas Valley and elsewhere in California and the world. We do this by collaborating with partners who are focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in the food industry in the classroom and through events, internships, and joint research projects as well as a strong advisory board of food industry leaders.
“The Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship builds on our 45-year history of education and scholarship in the food and agribusiness industry. We will continue our strong partnership with industry leaders while forging new partnerships with the innovators and entrepreneurs who are working to make the industry more efficient, sustainable, and attentive to consumers’ needs,” said Dr. Gregory Baker, Executive Director, Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship is uniquely positioned at Santa Clara University to take advantage of the proximity to Silicon Valley with its innovative culture and California’s world-class agriculture, where many of the innovations are tested and deployed. CFIE’s mission to educate leaders in food innovation with a focus on responsible resource management, sustainability, food insecurity, and animal welfare, aligns with the University’s mission to educate leaders who will build a more human, just, and sustainable world.
CFIE is dedicated to learning and scholarship that contributes to advancing innovation and entrepreneurship in the food industry. Graduates of the program will have the imagination, problem-solving skills, and expertise to address the industry’s greatest opportunities and challenges through innovative and entrepreneurial business solutions. The Center pays special attention to issues of responsible resource management, sustainability, animal welfare, climate change, and food insecurity. CFIE will focus on developing businesses that are meaningful, profitable, entrepreneurial and attentive to social justice while providing students a curriculum that includes classes taught by successful entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and creative thinkers. One of the hallmarks of the program will be opportunities to engage in experiential learning whereby students work on issues and projects by partnering with industry leaders in the classroom, at their businesses, or on study tours.
Learn more about the Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship
About Leavey School of Business
Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of the most dynamic business environments in the world, the Leavey School of Business combines academic excellence in the 450-year Jesuit tradition, with an energetic, innovative spirit that typifies the region. For more information, see www.scu.edu/business/.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 student’s rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering doctoral degrees. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
Media Contact
Deborah Lohse| SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121