Click on the arrows to read more information about each course.

From the School of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (ASE):

• Thinking with Plants (ANTH 174)
  Explores use of plants as material resources (food, medicines, licit/illicit drugs, infrastructure) and as symbolic resources. Topics include circulation of plants; colonial cultivation, extraction, and power; place of plants in different lived environments and symbolic ecologies; plants, capitalism, and commodity chains; indigenous knowledge, tourism, and biopiracy; commercialization, criminalization and legality; multi-species approaches to living with and among botanicals. Tu 1:30PM – 4:00PM, Tatiana Chudakova
• Microbiology of Food (BIO 8)
  Systems-based approach to how microbes play critical roles in the production, processing, and consumption of foods. Tools that microbiologists are using to study the microbiology of food systems; basic principles of microbial diversity, ecology, evolution, physiology, and genetics using a farm-to-gut approach. Equal attention to beneficial microbes as well as the historical and contemporary impacts of pathogens. Guest lectures from farmers, chefs, and local food producers and in-class demonstrations and tastings. Tu 6:30PM – 9:00PM, Benjamin Wolfe
• Plants & Humanity (BIO 10)
  (Cross-listed as ENV 10.) Principles of botany accenting economic aspects and multicultural implications of plants, their medicinal products, crop potential, and biodiversity. Emphasis placed on global aspects of this dynamic science, with selected topics on acid rain, deforestation, biotechnology, and other applications. Also covered are medicinal, poisonous, and psychoactive species, as well as nutritional sources from seaweeds and mushrooms to mangos and durians. Tu, We, Fr 9:30AM – 10:20AM George Ellmore
• General Physiology I (BIO 115)
  Elements of homeostasis, circulation, respiration, and excretion are discussed at various levels, from the molecular to the organ system. Recommendations: BIO 13 and 14, or equivalent. Mo, We 1:30PM – 2:45PM, Harry Bernheim
• Food and Schools (ED 14)
  The story of food and schools, investigations into students’ own school experiences as they relate to food and school; the history of food in U.S. schools; the ways by which school food is a battleground for many beliefs about school and society; and how some schools approach feeding students and teaching about nutrition and food. Field work will involve visits to local educational institutions.Tu, Th 10:30AM – 11:45AM, Ryan D Redmond 
• Food Systems (ENV 9)
  Introduction to the structure and functions of past, present, and future food systems. Emphasis is placed on the psychological, biological, social, economic and political systems that impact food production, processing, distribution, and consumption. Examination of real-world issues facing stakeholders in the New England food system. Mo, We 10:30AM – 11:45AM, Cathy Stanton
• Planting Seeds of Curiosity and Justice: School Gardens in our Public Schools (EXP 2)
  Can gardens be a resource for public schools to deepen learning, enhance community and support the health of their students? This hands-on course will dig into the multi-faceted potential of school gardens to address key goals of our public schools. Using school gardens as a model, we will explore the benefits of outdoor education for students, mind, body and spirit. We will also look at the potential for school gardens to be a focal point for food and environmental justice, deep community building, and revolutionary educational models. In partnership with a local nonprofit, students will actively engage with school gardens in Somerville in a service learning capacity, giving back to the community as they learn. Wed, 6:00-8:30pm, Jessica Bloomer
• From Bees to Beetles: Insect Pollinators and Real-World Science (EXP 21)
  What does the crisis in bee populations mean for our food system? Animal pollination directly affects the yield and quality of 75% of globally important crops. Recently however, animal pollinator populations—specifically insect pollinators—are declining. What is the current state of our insect pollinators? How do insect pollinators contribute to food security? What factors contribute to the recent population decline? What can we, and the public, do to help? The course will aim to answer these questions through the study of diverse insect pollinators and nutritional ecology, with students learning how to digest research articles and use basic science to create applied solutions. Mondays, 6:00-8:30pm, Rachael Bonoan
• History Of Consumption (HIST 5)
  The socio-political history of the use made of goods, food, and energy by different groups through an analysis of class, race, and gender. The course examines economic factors through social and cultural history in order to understand consumption within a global economy. Analysis of social structures in the Americas, China, Europe, India, and the Ottoman Empire, from the seventeenth century to the present day. Mo, We 3:00PM – 4:15PM, Ina Baghdiantz-McCabe
• Physiological Psychology (PSY 25)
  The biological basis of behavior. Basic functioning of the nervous system; physiological basis of hunger, thirst, sex, aggression, sleep, sensory and motor systems, learning and memory. Lectures and demonstrations. NOTE Students cannot receive credit for both PSY 25 and PSY 103 (below). Mo 6:30PM – 9:00PM, Carolyn Knoepfler
• Brain & Behavior (PSY 103)
  Advanced course on the relation between behavior and the structure and function of the nervous system. Lectures and demonstrations. Students cannot receive credit for both PSY 25 and PSY 103. Pre-Req: BIO 13 and 14; Recommendations: Biopsychology major,CHEM 1; NOTE Students cannot receive credit for both PSY 25 and PSY 103 (above). Tu, Th 12:00PM – 1:15PM, Klaus A Miczek
• Food Justice (UEP 285)
  This class offers students different lenses, such as critical race theory to see how the intersectionality of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and citizenship play out in the development of systemic structural and socio-spatial inequities and injustices in food systems. It develops an understanding and contextualization of the role of food justice activism within the broader narrative of the alternative food movement and offers emerging ideas about how policymakers and planners can take a role in increasing food justice beyond the more mainstream and ultimately contested notions of what is ‘local’ and ‘sustainable.’ The course will help participants chart their role(s) in advocating for ‘just sustainability’ as a defining factor in becoming food systems planners and policymakers. Tu 1:30PM – 4:00PM, Julian Agyeman NOTE: This is a graduate-level class that usually fills with grad students, but a small number of undergrads may be able to register with permission of the professor.

From the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy:

• Fundamentals of U.S. Agriculture (NUTR 215)
  This course covers the major social, institutional and human aspects of the American agricultural system, both as it exists today as well as its historical development. After consideration of agricultural systems in general and of the values that underlie different concepts of agriculture, it covers some of the key historical forces that have made American agriculture what it is today, and the major role of the federal government, both past and present. The next part of the course deals with the economics of American agriculture as a whole and its large-scale structure, followed by an analysis of farming on the microlevel, emphasizing types of farms and farm-scale production economics. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or instructor consent. This course is cross-listed with the UEP Department (UEP 0223). We 9:00AM – 12:00PM, Timothy Griffin
• International Nutrition (NUTR 227)
  This course provides presentations, readings, and exercises relating to the broad range of nutrition interventions utilized in international programs: infant and young child nutrition, cash and food-based programs, agricultural-based interventions, micronutrient prevention and control activities, prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene activities. The course also covers malnutrition causality, nutrition architecture, and an overview of global nutrition platforms. Students become well versed in program design and appraisal techniques including dynamic models and program constraint assessments, and are responsible for major exercises relating to existing programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Pre-requisite: Graduate standing or instructor consent. We 3:15PM – 6:15PM, Erin Boyd
• Fundamentals of GIS (NUTR 231)
  Many problems in agriculture, food and nutrition are inherently geographic in nature. For example, livestock production is increasingly concentrated in large feeding operations, leading to new spatial patterns of water and air pollution or foodborne illness. Spatial clustering is equally important for food consumption, nutrition and public health, as in hunger hotspots, food deserts and disease corridors. This course will equip students with the skills needed to capture, analyze and communicate spatial data in geographic information systems (GIS), using a variety of examples from agriculture, food and nutrition. Pre-requisite: Graduate standing or instructor consent. Fr 9:00AM – 12:00PM, Paul Cote

In addition, this Experimental College class may count toward the minor with approval of the academic advisor:

• One Health: Animal, Human, and Environmental Connections (EXP 17-F)
  How are doctors, veterinarians, and environmentalists approaching the intersection of human and animal health? One Health is the integrative effort of multiple disciplines working together locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the shared environment. Health educators are increasingly reaching across disciplinary and professional lines to prepare a new generation of One Health problem-solvers. This course encourages pre-professional students to value the connectedness of animals, humans and the environment and to think innovatively about solutions to health care problems. Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30pm, Deborah Linder