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.
Development Sociology
Major
- The Development Sociology major will be welcoming its final class of first-year students in the Fall of 2021. We will be accepting sophomore transfers through the Spring of 2022 and junior transfers through the Fall of 2022. We encourage students interested in this program to explore the new Global Development major, which is accepting first-year students for Fall of 2022.
- 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 will be welcoming 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, which is accepting first-year students for Fall of 2022.
- 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

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."
Undergrad Research Spotlight
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.
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.
Environmental Sociology
Beyond the Surface: Climate, Creatures and Contamination
In Professor Zinda's Environmental Sociology course, students produce public-facing articles about environmental controversies that interest them, analyzing reasons that produced the issue and also offering potential solutions.
Environmental Sustainability
Mary Beth Dale '21
An international internship brought Mary Beth to study sustainability, tropical ecology and eco-tourism in Costa Rica. There in the country's lush central region she explored diverse ecosystems and gained perspective on how people balance business and the environment.
International Agriculture & Rural Development
Global Fellows
CALS Global Fellows adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic by working virtually for organizations in Italy, Thailand and Kenya. International Agriculture and Rural Development (IARD) seniors Annie Weiss '21, Khusel Avirmed '21 and Matthew Sorge '21 were up for the adventure.
Gender & Income Equality
Elena Setiadarma ’21
The intersection between agriculture and technology drove Elena to explore innovative ways to take her passion for issues of gender and income inequality and transform her ideas into reality.







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

Senior Extension Associate
Department of Global Development
Education Minor Coordinator
Department of Global Development
- (607) 255-0417
- hmm1 [at] cornell.edu
Join us in the fight to build a more equitable world
