Careers

After graduation, you may work to create and shape food systems that are resilient, sustainable, and equitable to contribute to human and planetary health; work on complex problems and develop interdisciplinary solutions; or attend graduate school.

What Can You do With This Major?

The Food Systems, Nutrition, and Health Major is designed to address interests and future careers that require the ability to disentangle complex problems and develop interdisciplinary solutions. This major is a liberal arts degree, which is extraordinarily valuable in today’s marketplace.

Employment

Graduates may find employment within the following job fields and titles.

Fields: health promotion and education; nutrition and health assessment; food policy; research; food advocacy; food-related teaching; public relations/journalism; aggregation and distribution services; wholesale or retail marketing; food trading; food service, catering, or restaurant industry; food processing and manufacturing facilities; or farm support services.

Titles: research coordinator; coordinator; program manager; community nutrition organizer; farm-to-fork coordinator; food marketing manager; food processing inspector; food trade analyst; agro-tourism operator; land use consultant; farmer; operations director; consultant; or program officer.

Skills

Graduates are not limited to a career in food systems because employers are interested in the skills, strengths, and experience you build during the time in your major. As you’ll be qualified for many career paths, we’ll work with you to narrow down options and focus on YOUR interests for your next step after graduation.

The major will equip graduates with the skills to:

• Apply a systems framework to real-world challenges, including designing and evaluating solutions
• Understand how various drivers and components of food systems affect nutrition and health outcomes
• Disentangle complex problems and develop interdisciplinary solutions
• Demonstrate clear and effective oral and written communication
• Exercise critical thinking skills, including analysis, design, ethical decision-making, future visioning, evaluation, and problem-solving
• Apply inquiry and analysis (assessment, critique, and reflection) techniques
• Explain and analyze inter-relationships among components of the food supply chains and economic, environmental, social, cultural, and health implications and outcomes
• Describe how regulations and policies concerning the food supply chain influence economic, environmental, social, cultural, and health implications and outcomes
• Articulate challenges the world is facing and will encounter in the future with respect to food

Graduate and Professional School

Graduates will also be academically prepared for graduate studies ranging from public health to interdisciplinary social science areas.