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Food and the Environment Minor

Effective Winter 2023

Advising

Students interested in declaring either a major or a minor must attend an information session. Information sessions are held throughout the Fall and Winter terms. Appointments may be scheduled with Program advisors on-line at: /lsa.umich.edu/pite/minors/advising.html

PitE staff and faculty advisors working in tandem with faculty advisors in other units will help students navigate the Food and the Environment Minor.

Prerequisites

None.

Requirements

Minimum Credits: 15

The Food Systems Minor consists of no less than 5 courses for a total of at least 15 credits, at least two courses must be 300 -level or above, from the following categories as stated:

  1. Introductory Courses. Select at least one of the following as an orientation to the minor:
    • BIOLOGY 101 / ENVIRON 101: Food, Energy, and the Environment
    • BIOLOGY 102: Practical Botany
    • BIOLOGY 105: Biology of Nutrition
    • ENVIRON 270: Our Common Future: Ecology, Economics and Ethics of Sustainable Development
    • ENVIRON 290: Food: The Ecology, Economics, and Ethics of Growing and Eating
    • UC 254: Sophomore Interdisciplinary Seminar, section titled "Much Depends on Dinner"
  2. Topical Courses. Three courses chosen from the following:
    • Any course listed above not used to satisfy the introductory or synthetic course requirement
    • ANTHRBIO 364: Nutrition and Evolution
    • ANTHRBIO 373: Humans and Environmental Change
    • ANTHRCUL 254: Anthropology of Food
    • ANTHRCUL 458: Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology, section titled "Anthropology of Food and Eating"
    • ARCH 357 / URP 357: Architecture, Sustainability and the City: Ideas, Forces and People Shaping the Built Environment
    • BIOLOGY 102: Practical Botany
    • BIOLOGY 212: Plants and Human Health
    • CLARCH 382 / CLCIV 382: Food in the Ancient World: Subsistence and Symbol
    • CLCIV 382 / CLARCH 382: Food in the Ancient World: Subsistence and Symbol
    • EARTH 154: Ocean Resources
    • EARTH 159: Toward a Sustainable Human Future
    • EARTH 333: Inexhaustible Seas?: Marine Resources and Environmental Issues
    • EHS 540: Maternal and Child Nutrition
    • EHS 642: Community Nutrition
    • ENVIRON 219/MIDEAST 209: Food and Drink in the Middle East 
    • ENVIRON 236/HISTORY 236: Environment and History in Preindustrial Europe
    • ENVIRON 242: Topics in Environmental Social Science, section titled "2.5 Million Years of Human Foods and Foodways: A Framework for Understanding Modern Diets"
    • ENVIRON/ASIAN 258: Food and Drink of Asia
    • ENVIRON/EARTH 262: Plants and People
    • ENVIRON 302: Topics in Environmental Social Science, section titled "The Measure of Our Meals"
    • ENVIRON 314: Food Literacy for All 
    • ENVIRON 317: Conservation of Biological Diversity
    • ENVIRON/ASIAN/INTLSTD 351: Chinese Food in Crisis: Health, Ecology, and Identity in an Age of Globalization
    • ENVIRON 390 / RCIDIV 390: Environmental Activism: Citizenship in a Republic
    • ENVIRON 421: Restoration Ecology
    • ENVIRON 436: Woody Plants: Biology and Identification
    • ENVIRON 484: Localization: Transitional Thinking for the New Normal
    • HONORS 252: Honors Natural Sciences Seminar, section titled "2.5 Million Years of Human Foods and Foodways: A Framework for Understanding Modern Diets"
    • MOVESCI/AES 241: Exercise, Nutrition and Weight Control
    • NRE 501: Graduate Experimental, section titled "Urban Agriculture"
    • NRE 565: Principles of Transition: Food, Fuel and Finance in a Biophysically Constrained, Ethically Challenged World
    • PUBHLTH 309: Hunger in America
    • PUBHLTH 310: Nutrition in the Life Cycle
    • RCIDIV 390 / ENVIRON 390: Environmental Activism: Citizenship in a Republic
    • UC 370: UC Special Topics, section titled "The Measure of Our Meals"
    • URP 357 / ARCH 357: Architecture, Sustainability and the City: Ideas, Forces and People Shaping the Built Environment
  3. Synthetic Courses. Select at least one of the following courses, which synthesize approaches and knowledge bases relevant to the issue, as a conclusion to the minor:
    • ANTHRBIO 364: Nutrition and Evolution
    • ANTHRCUL 458: Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology, section titled "Food, Politics, and Environment"
    • ARTDES 300: Elective Studios, section titled "Sustainable Food System Design"
    • CLARCH/CLCIV 382: Food in the Ancient World: Subsistence and Symbol
    • EEB 498: The Ecology of Agroecosystems
    • ENVIRON 314: Food Literacy for All 
    • ENVIRON/ASIAN/INTLSTD 351: Chinese Food in Crisis: Health, Ecology, and Identity in an Age of Globalization
    • ENVIRON 484: Localization: Transitional Thinking for the New Normal
    • PUBHLTH 309: Hunger in America
    • PUBHLTH 310: Nutrition in the Life Cycle 
    • RCIDIV 316 / EEB 316 / ENVIRON 316: Introduction to Food Systems
      or
      RCIDIV 318 / EEB 318 / ENVIRON 318: Food, Land, and Society

    Related Courses. The Program in the Environment will provide students with a list of “cognate” or related courses that, while not labelled or primarily described as food systems courses, would nonetheless be of keen interest to our minors.

Food and the Environment (Minor) (Fall 2015 - Fall 2022)

Effective Fall 2015

Advising

Students interested in declaring either a major or a minor must attend an information session. Information sessions are held throughout the Fall and Winter terms. Appointments may be scheduled with Program advisors on-line at: /lsa.umich.edu/pite/minors/advising.html

PitE staff and faculty advisors working in tandem with faculty advisors in other units will help students navigate the Food and the Environment Minor.

Prerequisites

None.

Requirements

Minimum Credits: 15

The Food Systems Minor consists of no less than 5 courses for a total of at least 15 credits, at least two courses must be 300 -level or above, from the following categories as stated:

  1. Introductory Courses. Select at least one of the following as an orientation to the minor:
    • BIOLOGY 101 / ENVIRON 101: Food, Energy, and the Environment
    • ENVIRON 270: Our Common Future: Ecology, Economics and Ethics of Sustainable Development
    • ENVIRON 290: Food: The Ecology, Economics, and Ethics of Growing and Eating
    • UC 254: Sophomore Interdisciplinary Seminar, section titled "Much Depends on Dinner"
  2. Topical Courses. Three courses chosen from the following:
    • Any course listed above not used to satisfy the introductory or synthetic course requirement
    • ANTHRBIO 364: Nutrition and Evolution
    • ANTHRCUL 458: Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology, section titled "Anthropology of Food and Eating"
    • ARCH 357 / URP 357: Architecture, Sustainability and the City: Ideas, Forces and People Shaping the Built Environment
    • BIOLOGY 102: Practical Botany
    • CLARCH 382 / CLCIV 382: Food in the Ancient World: Subsistence and Symbol
    • CLCIV 382 / CLARCH 382: Food in the Ancient World: Subsistence and Symbol
    • EARTH 154: Ocean Resources
    • EARTH 159: Toward a Sustainable Human Future
    • EARTH 333: Inexhaustible Seas?: Marine Resources and Environmental Issues
    • EHS 540: Maternal and Child Nutrition
    • EHS 642: Community Nutrition
    • ENVIRON 242: Topics in Environmental Social Science, section titled "2.5 Million Years of Human Foods and Foodways: A Framework for Understanding Modern Diets"
    • ENVIRON 302: Topics in Environmental Social Science, section titled "The Measure of Our Meals"
    • ENVIRON 390 / RCIDIV 390: Environmental Activism: Citizenship in a Republic
    • ENVIRON 421: Restoration Ecology
    • HONORS 252: Honors Natural Sciences Seminar, section titled "2.5 Million Years of Human Foods and Foodways: A Framework for Understanding Modern Diets"
    • NRE 501: Graduate Experimental, section titled "Urban Agriculture"
    • NRE 565: Principles of Transition: Food, Fuel and Finance in a Biophysically Constrained, Ethically Challenged World
    • RCIDIV 390 / ENVIRON 390: Environmental Activism: Citizenship in a Republic
    • UC 370: UC Special Topics, section titled "The Measure of Our Meals"
    • URP 357 / ARCH 357: Architecture, Sustainability and the City: Ideas, Forces and People Shaping the Built Environment
  3. Synthetic Courses. Select at least one of the following courses, which synthesize approaches and knowledge bases relevant to the issue, as a conclusion to the minor:
    • ANTHRCUL 458: Topics in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology, section titled "Food, Politics, and Environment"
    • ARTDES 300: Elective Studios, section titled "Sustainable Food System Design"
    • EEB 498: The Ecology of Agroecosystems
    • RCIDIV 316 / EEB 316 / ENVIRON 316: Introduction to Food Systems
      or
      RCIDIV 318 / EEB 318 / ENVIRON 318: Food, Land, and Society

    Related Courses. The Program in the Environment will provide students with a list of “cognate” or related courses that, while not labelled or primarily described as food systems courses, would nonetheless be of keen interest to our minors.