From the Global Food Institute:
On behalf of the George Washington University’s Global Food Institute (GFI), I am pleased to invite you to submit proposals for the development or re-development of courses in the focal areas of food policy, innovation, and the humanities to support a new undergraduate minor degree program in food studies. The deadline for proposal submission is Tuesday, November 10, 2023. Submit a proposal.
About the Global Food Institute:
The newly chartered Global Food Institute is the product of chef and humanitarian José Andrés’ vision to “change the world through the power of food,” and the commitment and capacity of the George Washington University to make Jose’s vision a reality.
GFI will transform people's lives and the health of our planet by building the world's premier food institute, powered by interdisciplinary research, teaching, and action across three pillars: policy, innovation, and humanity. We will focus our efforts internally on engaging and activating GW faculty and students, and externally by convening expert groups to focus on innovative solutions to food-related issues.
The Global Food Institute is located within the Office of the Provost, which assures its university-wide reach and impact, and will be led by the Carbonell Family Executive Director, in collaboration with its founder, José Andrés, and Provost Christopher Bracey.
Creating the Food Studies Minor
GFI will foster faculty development, activities and student engagement through courses focused on action related to food policy, innovation, and the humanities, which will ultimately serve as the basis for development of a new food studies minor. The food studies minor will establish a basic understanding of terminology and processes crucial to analyzing problems and finding solutions related to food systems and food production. Consistent with our mission statement, we will build and strengthen courses related to food policy, innovative solutions to inequities associated with the food supply chain, and courses related to food and the humanities, such as food and faith, or food and women’s studies.
Funding from the Rockefeller Foundation will be used toward a grant program for faculty to develop new courses in each of these focus areas. The goal is to create new courses university-wide that grow GW’s expertise in food related activities, and to energize students to find novel solutions to the multiple inequities and adverse effects of the food supply chain. Funding for course development will range from $10,000 to $25,000, with preferential and higher levels of funding provided to courses that actively engage students in experiential learning.
The development of our undergraduate, and eventually a graduate curriculum, will focus on courses that use content to engage and activate students around finding and implementing solutions to our most pressing food-related challenges. We will work to bring experts into the classroom so that students can interact with world-class leaders in these fields. Through cross-disciplinary research and teaching, the food studies minor will ensure that students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to approach their professional and academic pursuits through the lens of food, and will help create the food solutions of tomorrow.
Please direct any questions to globalfoodinstitute@gwu.edu.
