Your journey to make the world a better place starts here
At Global Development, we don’t sit still. Here our students engage with real-world issues at home and abroad to deliver lasting social benefit to all. We connect science to the needs of people to improve lives, reduce inequality, protect the environment, and actually change the world for the better.
Major in Global Development
The Global Development major responds to the need for innovative and critical thinking on the concept and practice of development. It prepares students to interpret problems, clarify solutions, develop leadership and foster positive social change. Students receive comprehensive training in the key ideas, issues, and debates central to global development. All students take a breadth of interdisciplinary coursework in development scholarship and practice and gain depth in a concentration of their choice, selecting from social and economic development, agriculture and food systems or environment and development.
More Undergraduate Majors and Minors

Community Food Systems
Minor
- In Community Food Systems, you'll learn to engage with critical contemporary issues relating to food security, food sovereignty, and food justice. This minor integrates interdisciplinary course work with community-based learning and research opportunities that together help students contribute to more sustainable and equitable food systems.
- Learn more about the Community Food Systems minor.
Education
Minor
- Prepare for a career in teaching and lifelong learning by taking courses in education while at Cornell. This minor will not only prepare you for the classroom, but also for engaged learning at any stage in life.
- Learn more about the minor in Education.
Leadership
Minor
- Identify and grow your strengths with Cornell's Leadership minor, which is available to all students across the university. The minor empowers students to be more actively engaged, reflective and effective citizens with a deeper understanding of the complexities, dynamics and interdependencies of life.
- Learn more about the Leadership minor
Development Sociology
Major
- The Development Sociology major welcomed its final class of first-year students in the Fall of 2021. We accepted sophomore transfers through the Spring of 2022 and will be accepting junior transfers through the Fall of 2022. We encourage students interested in this program to explore the new Global Development major.
- Development sociology is about understanding how society works in order to better tackle poverty and improve the health, income, education, and well-being of people. It's purpose-driven and community-focused: we like our work to have real world impact, and we like to work with people and communities directly. Our curriculum will provide you the skills and training to diagnose, understand, and contribute to solutions in issue areas like food security, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation.
- Learn more about the Development Sociology major.
International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD)
Major
- The International Agriculture and Rural Development major welcomed its final class of first-year students in the Fall of 2021. We encourage students interested in this program to explore the new Global Development major.
- Our IARD major is designed for students who are interested in tackling the unique and interdisciplinary issues associated with food systems and rural development in emerging nations. You’ll have the opportunity to gain meaningful experience, hands-on by participating in projects and research all over the world. Our students prepare to make a real world impact on rural communities across the globe with concentrations in economics and development, agricultural and food systems, or environment and ecosystems.
- Learn more about the IARD major.
Resources for current students
Are you a current student trying to find information? Look no further for information and forms for:
- Global Development major
- IARD major
- Development Sociology major
- Education minor
- Community Food Systems minor

Faculty-led study trips
Apply classroom-based lessons in real-world development contexts by participating in a faculty-led study trip

Undergraduate Research Spotlight
Youth engagement
Kate McHale '24
Kate McHale ’24 is on a mission to increase youth engagement specifically as it relates to nutrition. As an eight-year alumna and current student leader of 4-H, Kate advocates for youth’s voices in national policy. Throughout her time at Cornell, Kate has led high school students to research and present their findings to state and federal government bodies.
Environmental Sociology
A Different Angle: A Story of Environmental Disasters
A series of articles produced by Professor Zinda's Environmental Sociology course look at an environment, its people and the traditional natural environment, to examine the disaster’s connection to the sociological framework.
By juxtaposing real experiences and theory, they hope to use the sociological perspective to illuminate the full impact of a disaster.
Food systems
Sammi Lin '24 named Cargill Global Scholar
Sammi is on a mission to promote inclusivity and sustainability in food systems with local communities in New York and across the Americas. Locally, Sammi has engaged with food security challenges as an intern and researcher with Cornell Cooperative Extension, and globally explored issues of food and nutritional security as an intern with Terra Genesis and PROAmazonía in Ecuador.
Social Justice
Christina Ochoa '23 earns national award for addressing social change
Christina earned the Newman Civic Fellowship for her efforts to transform systemic injustice in prisons and parole policies. Ochoa advocates for incarcerated people serving life sentences in New York state through the Cornell University Parole Initiative.
Health and development
Nasra Ismail '22: At the intersection of health, human rights & development
Nasra is committed to developing critical health solutions for underserved communities globally. As an intern with the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organization, Nasra worked directly with local partners to develop real-world strategies to eradicate the cholera outbreak in Yemen.
Sustainability and social equity
How Alice Sullivan ’22 is advocating for equity in global supply chains
Guided by engaged learning experiences in Global Development, Alice Sullivan ’22 has engaged in the struggle for farmworkers’ rights in New York State and the restoration of Malaysian rainforests with indigenous place-based knowledge. As an incoming supply chain analyst for a global company, she is using her Cornell CALS education to prioritize climate justice and sustainability in the development of products used by billions.
Affordable Housing
Lorelei Meidenbauer ’22: A vision for justice in affordable housing
Lorelei's passion for affordable housing and social justice in the U.S. is helping create a flourishing world. From supporting rural schools in New York State through grant writing to biking across the country with Bike & Build, Lorelei seeks to make an impact in the classroom and in real world communities.
Local Activism
Streetology: Stories of Community Engagement Through Lived Experience
A new book published by Cornell students honors the journeys and life’s work of 13 Cornell Civic Leader Fellows, who are grassroots leaders that have played critical roles in developing resilient communities in and around Ithaca. For the past five years, undergraduate students documented the oral histories of local community leaders as part of their senior capstone course.








Where are they now?
Learn more about where a Global Development education can take you.

Ph.D. student in Sociology, UC Berkeley
"This is a department that will teach you the non-status quo information that is not usually taught in the classroom, which will change your entire fundamental framework of seeing the world."

Communications associate, Farmers Market Coalition
"It was the deep understanding from my Community Food Systems minor about the value of putting community first that really prepared me best to listen and serve in my career."

Chief of staff, FirstWave Group (Zambia)
“Understanding the role of agriculture as a mobilizer in emerging markets allowed me not only to engage more deeply with my work but gave me a critical understanding of how agricultural markets play out across economic, social and environmental areas.”

Legal associate, Keller and Heckman LLP
“My experiences at Cornell have allowed me to methodically approach legal questions and consider the consequences of their solutions with a global perspective.”

Cloud Analyst, Oracle
“My time at CALS helped further my understanding of systemic and structural inequality at each level of the social hierarchy and fueled my passion to aid and be a light to those disenfranchised by the system.”

Legal & Marketing Analyst
"Making connections with people, sharing resources and knowledge and working together towards a better solution is truly irreplaceable."
Contact Us

Associate Professor of the Practice
Department of Global Development
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Global Development
- (607) 254-2896
- sh104 [at] cornell.edu
- (607) 255-3092
- lm747 [at] cornell.edu

Engaged Learning Coordinator
Department of Global Development
Education Minor Director
Department of Global Development
- (607) 255-0417
- hmm1 [at] cornell.edu