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Global Development

For a flourishing world

We confront the most urgent and complex challenges facing people and the planet.

By uniting critical scholarship and practice at the intersections of agricultural, environmental, life, and social sciences, we advance a more equitable, sustainable, and food-secure world for all. Side-by-side with our diverse network of global and community partners, we engage in education with impact and create a flourishing world now and for future generations.

With a focus on education with impact, our transdisciplinary approach emphasizes real-world engagement on a global scale — with communities in New York State, across the United States, and around the world. Our dynamic learning atmosphere and academic culture goes beyond purely technical work to provide a balance of skill-building and analytical coursework toward transformative solutions.

Catalyzing change to build a more just world.

Students in Global Development engage with life-changing research and social impact through our two majors, four minors, innovative graduate programs, impact-driven professional development and projects spanning 30+ countries. 

Learn more about degrees & programs in Global Development
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60+

Faculty and academic staff

200+

Undergraduate students

70+

Graduate students

New undergraduate major in Global Development

Engage in critical scholarship and global field training while exploring some of the most urgent challenges facing people and the planet

Discover more about the major
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The world is complex. But we believe understanding is possible.

We take a multidisciplinary approach to tackle the biggest challenges of our time.

Food Security & Nutrition

Feeding 9 billion people by 2050 

Development Sociology

Understanding human behavior and interactions

Rural & community development

Solving local problems with homegrown solutions

Climate change

Sustaining a healthy Earth

Gender, race and ethnicity

Fighting for equality for everyone, everywhere

Economics

Confronting the cycle of poverty 

Education & leadership

Cultivating next-generation leaders  

Plant Sciences

Breeding crops for a food-secure world

Demography

Studying the structure of the human population

On the international stage

A home of global thought leaders.

We work to build an equitable, environmentally sustainable world through boots-on-the-ground practice, cutting edge research, innovative teaching and community-based extension.

Explore our 27 programs and projects.
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Engaged research
Play Jump Start your Career in International Agriculture with IARD 6020 - Global Development at Cornell
Experiential learning

54+

Visiting scientists & fellows

from over 20 countries

Land acknowledgement

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York State and the United States of America. 

We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

Making a sustainable impact

Recent insights, news and events in the Department of Global Development

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News

Diversification can curb farm waste fires
A trio of Tata-Cornell Initiative researchers writing in The Print argued that the farm waste fires contributing to dangerously high air pollution in North India can best be addressed by incentivizing farmers in the region to grow less rice.
  • Department of Global Development
  • Global Development
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News

In Costa Rica, plant breeders are preparing for a warmer world
At the Central American and Caribbean Crop Improvement Alliance (CACCIA), scientists are dedicated to building a food-secure future for the region. CACCIA — one of four centers of innovation through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop...
  • Department of Global Development
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Breeding and Genetics Section
Two students stand in the Ag Quad.

News

Program promotes African links, diversity in plant sciences
The Cornell Assistantship for Horticulture in Africa (CAHA), a program that brings master’s students from sub-Saharan Africa to Cornell to complete doctorate degrees in horticulture, has now added a second assistantship for African Americans, with the goal of increasing diversity in the plant sciences – a field that lacks minority representation.
  • Department of Global Development
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
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