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Sustainable Business Institute
Leavey School of Business
Undergraduate Minor

Sustainable Food Systems

The Sustainable Food Systems minor provides students with the opportunity to explore the
intersection of global food systems and sustainability. Courses address the cultural aspects
of food, food policies, nutrition and public health, social justice, sustainability, and
opportunities for creating new innovation and change within the food system.

Two Column

Seven courses are required to complete the minor. Two courses must be selected from each of three dimensions: cultural/societal, sustainable development, and innovation and change. A seventh course must be selected from a list of experiential learning courses. Only three courses from a student’s major will count towards the Sustainable Food Systems minor. The minor will prepare students for future careers in food industry management, food entrepreneurship, food policy, public health, and nutrition. Guidance for obtaining internships for credit will be provided.

Contact Carol Kelly, the coordinator of the Sustainable Food Systems Minor, at ckelly7@scu.edu, to set up a meeting to review the requirements of the minor and fill out the Program Petition Form on the Office of the Registrar Forms page (Section 1 on the form).

The form will be signed and you will receive an email to pick up the form.

Submit the completed and signed form to One Stop, Enrollment Services Center.

Two courses must be taken from each of the following three dimensions, Cultural/Societal, Sustainable Development, and Innovation and Change. One course must be chosen from the Experiential Learning Dimension. Four of the seven courses must be upper-division. No more than three courses can come from a student’s major. Courses marked with an asterisk (*) must receive prior approval from the program director, which will be determined based on the relevance of the course topic, research project, or fellowship. Students should check for any prerequisites before selecting a course to fulfill a requirement for the minor.

Click here for an updated course list and prerequisite information.

Cultural/Societal Dimension

  • ANTH 5 Popular Culture and Bioanthropology
  • ANTH 50/ENVS 50/POLI 50 World Geography
  • ANTH 140/ENVS 136  Food, Culture, and the Environment
  • BIOL 105/PHSC 105 Human Nutrition and Metabolism
  • BIOL 106/PHSC 124 Health Consequences of a Western Lifestyle
  • ENVS 79 Environmental Thought
  • ENVS 185 Garbology
  • ITAL 101 Italian Food Culture
  • SOCI 12A Cultures & Ideas II: The Human Condition
  • SOCI 132 Inequality and the American Dream

Sustainable Development Dimension

  • ANTH 133 Human Nutrition and Culture
  • ANTH 138 The Biology of Poverty
  • ENVS 132 Agroecology L&L
  • BUSN 150 Feeding the World
  • CENG 124/ENVS 124 Water Law and Policy
  • ECON 135 Gender Issues in the Developing World
  • ENVS 22 Introduction to Environmental Studies
  • ENVS 146 Agriculture, Environment, and Development: Latin America
  • ENVS 147 International Environment and Development
  • ENVS 149 African Environment and Development
  • PHSC 1 Introduction to Public Health
  • POLI123 Global Environmental Politics

Innovation and Change Dimension

  • ANTH 137 Evolutionary Medicine
  • BIOL 18* Exploring Biotechnology L&L
  • ECON 101/MGMT 173 Resources, Food, and the Environment
  • ECON 134 African Economic Development
  • ENGR 161/MGMT 177 Cultures of Innovation
  • ENVS 155 Environmental and Food Justice
  • MGMT 40 Foundational Knowledge of Managing for Sustainability
  • MGMT 42 Managing from the Triple Bottom Line
  • MGMT 172 Social Entrepreneurship
  • MGMT 176 Sustainable Food Systems
  • MKTG 187 Innovation and New Product Marketing
  • SOCI 60/130 Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

Experiential Learning Dimension

Students must choose one class from the following list. Additional classes may be approved as satisfying the Experiential Learning Dimension providing 1) the course is a credit-bearing course related to sustainable food systems, and 2) a grade is earned for the course. Some examples include a food-focused internship or research project, a senior design project, or a food-related study abroad course. Miller Center Fellows, Global Fellows, and students participating in an immersion with a food-emphasis may use these programs/courses to meet the minor’s experiential requirement with prior approval.

  • BUSN132* CLASP (Contemplative Leadership and Sustainability Program)
  • BUSN 151 A&B Food, Hunger, Poverty, and Environment Immersion
  • BUSN 188* Field Studies: NPI Small Business Improvement Project
  • BUSN 195* A&B The Global Fellow Experience
  • ELSJ 134/135* Participation in the Miller Center Fellowship
  • ENVS 95* Sustainability 101
  • ENVS 191 Urban Agriculture Practicum
  • ENVS 195* SLURP ( Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project)

Students are encouraged to complement their minor coursework with various programs offered by the Sustainable Business Institute (SBI).