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.
Undergraduate Majors and Minors

Global Development
Major
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.
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.
Video spotlight
Meet Eli Newell ‘24, an undergraduate in global development who seeks to boost environmental health by using a key ingredient that is readily available – urine. Under the mentorship of Rebecca Nelson, Eli's work revolves around a growing field of research: circular bionutrient economy. With research partners from New York to Kenya, this work seeks to recycle nutrients from human and agricultural waste into fertilizer, which ultimately reduces pollution, improves sanitation, and promotes food security.
Students in the field
Learn how students in Global Development stepped out of the classroom to engage with communities.

In her time on campus working with the Cornell Farmworker Program, Soil Factory, and more, Maria explored and confronted a multitude of challenges that impact our food system. Recently selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Italy, she will explore how young Italians in Cosenza, Calabria maintain sustainable rural livelihoods.

Driven by the ongoing quest for global food security with sustainable development at its core, Noah worked with a local nonprofit in Malawi to learn how a community-based approach can protect local values amidst a desire to balance agricultural development and environmental conservation.

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

Lecturer and Research Associate
Department of Global Development
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Department of Global Development
- as286 [at] cornell.edu
- (607) 255-3092
- lm747 [at] cornell.edu

Senior Extension Associate
Department of Global Development
Director, Education Minor
Department of Global Development
- (607) 255-0417
- hmm1 [at] cornell.edu