The safety and well-being of our community is our highest priority. We know the recent news and allegations are deeply concerning, and we are committed to a safe environment for all. Learn how Cornell is addressing sexual violence.

Alert Close

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.

A multidisciplinary approach

The world is complex. But we believe understanding is possible.

Wellbeing and inclusion

“A World that Leaves No One Behind”

Studying the causes, manifestations and consequences of poverty and inequality in the global political economy, the histories and legacies of development projects, and alternative models to promote wellbeing

Environmental sustainability

“A Greener World and Greener Economies”

Addressing strategies to mitigate or reverse the effects of climate change, helping people and communities adapt to new environmental realities, and researching the social and political dimensions of human-environment interactions

Food and nutritional security

“Sustainable and Sustaining Food Systems”

Identifying pathways to sustainable food systems while investigating the social and political dynamics of these systems across the cycle from cultivation to distribution, consumption, and recycling

How will you change the world?

Our experts on the global stage

Latest news

Discover how Global Development is committed to making a sustainable impact

Shabana Mahdis ’29 carrying produce

Field Note

Shabana Mahdis ’29: Cultivating confidence and community at Dilmun Hill
As a first-generation global development major from Badakhshan, Afghanistan, Shabana Mahdis ’29 is interested in the ways agriculture connects with communities, sustainability, resources and development. She shares her summer experience working...
  • Agriculture
  • Global Development Section
  • Dilmun Hill Student Farm
Emily Bernhardt Headshot

Spotlight

Academic focus: Ecology, biogeochemistry, environmental science Research summary: The core of my research interests are in watershed biogeochemistry and freshwater ecology, with most of my current effort invested in understanding how the ways in...
  • Global Development Section
  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
image of patrick webb

News

Patrick Webb, a globally influential scholar of nutrition, food and agriculture policy, and humanitarian assistance, will join Cornell July 1 as the inaugural executive director of the Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment in...
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Global Development Section
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section

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.