Courses of Study 2022-2023 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Courses of Study 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Global Development


In the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences .

 

Course Offerings in Global Development  

Overview


The Global Development (GDEV) undergraduate 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 GDEV 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.

As a Global Development major, students are required to spend at least eight weeks in a field-based internship. In their field experience, students work with and learn from innovative development practitioners and community leaders, crafting cutting-edge strategies to address some of the world’s most significant challenges and advance the well-being of people and the planet.

Website: https://cals.cornell.edu/global-development/education-training/undergraduate/global-development-major-requirements

Faculty


Complex problems require complex solutions. Our 60+ faculty, instructors and researchers provide students with rigorous training in sociology, agriculture, economics, gender, environment, plants and more to develop pathways for innovation across disciplines.

The Major (B.S.)


Declaring the Major: 

The Global Development major will be welcoming its inaugural class of first-year students in the Fall of 2022.

Current Cornell students who are interested in transferring to the Global Development major must meet the following requirements:

  • Minimum cumulative Cornell GPA of 3.0
  • Completion of GDEV/DSOC/IARD 1102: Intro to Global Development, PLSCI/GDEV/DSOC 1300: Just Food, and GDEV/DSOC/IARD 1105: Global Development Cornerstone completed before transfer with an average grade of a B+ or better across the three courses (note: the three courses are only offered in the fall semester).

To apply to join the major and be assigned a major advisor, students should contact the Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Lynn Morris (lm747@cornell.edu).

Requirements for the Major:

In addition to the requirements for the Major, students must also complete the General Requirements for CALS (see Graduation Requirements for Bachelor of Science).  All majors must complete the: 1) Global Development Core requirements; 2) Engaged Learning Requirements, and 3) the requirements of the thematic concentration of their choice.

Global Development Core Requirements

9 courses; 23 credits

These core courses ensure that students can demonstrate a broad introductory knowledge in the major disciplines involved in global development. They enable students to interpret a comprehensive multi-disciplinary set of issues related to socio-economic development, agriculture & food systems, and environmental sustainability in developing countries.

  1. GDEV 1102 - Introduction to Global Development  (3 credits; fall first year)
  2. GDEV 1105 - Global Development Cornerstone  (2 credits; fall first year)
  3. GDEV 1300 - Just Food: Exploring the Modern Food System  (4 credits; fall first year)
  4. GDEV 2070 - Social and Economic Dimensions of Development  (3 credits; spring first year)
  5. NTRES 2010 - Environmental Conservation  (3 credits; spring first year)
  6. GDEV 4961 - Perspectives in Global Development  (1 credit, fall/spring)
  7. GDEV 2130 - Introduction to Social Science Research Methods  (3 credits; spring second year)
  8. GDEV 3305 - Planning for Change  (3 credits; spring second year)
  9. Senior Seminar (1 credit, spring senior year)
Engaged Learning Requirements

3 courses, 1 field-based “learning experience”: 3 credits

Experiential and engaged learning is a defining feature of the Global Development undergraduate major, reflecting the overall vision of the Department of Global Development as a unit that unites scholarship and practice in pursuit of a better world for all. Thus, all students must complete a minimum 8-week field-based learning experience that develops their skills as a development practitioner. In this field experience, students work with and learn from innovative development practitioners, community leaders, and researchers, crafting cutting-edge strategies to address some of the world’s most significant challenges and advance the well-being of people and the planet. Students take a set of pre-and post-engagement courses that help them prepare for and build upon their engaged learning experiences. 

  1. GDEV 1104 - Global Development Internship Pre-Departure Course: Unit I: Preparing for Engagement  (1 credit; spring first year)
  2. GDEV 3104 - Global Development Internship Pre-Departure Course: Unit II: Preparing for Your Internship  (1 credit; spring before engagement experience)
    1. 8-week field-based engaged learning experience: Students may choose from a range of options for their eight-week experience, including independent internships, CALS Global Fellowships, SIT study abroad programs, and more.
  3. GDEV 3105 - Post-Internship Course: Making Meaning and Moving Forward - Maximizing Engaged Learning Experiences  (1 credit; fall or spring post engagement experience)

Read the full Engaged Learning Requirements and guidelines on how to identify and select your learning experience.

Concentration Requirements

To gain more depth in a particular aspect of development, all Global Development majors choose to affiliate with one of three thematic concentration areas and take an additional 24-26 credits of coursework within that concentration. The three concentration options are:

1. Social & Economic Development

​​​​​​The Social and Economic Development Concentration provides students an opportunity to explore global development issues, theories, policies, and practices in greater depth using the theories, approaches, and analytical frameworks of multiple social science disciplines. Students can develop individualized pathways through the concentration in consultation with their academic advisors. In addition, this concentration provides students planning to pursue graduate study in economics or sociology an opportunity to take advanced undergraduate coursework in those disciplines.

Required Courses for the Social & Economic Development Concentration:

All students must complete the following 2 courses

Select 5 from the following list (at least 3 should be at the 3000 level or above):

Development Theory, Policy and Ethics

Development Practice

Development Economics, Emerging Markets and Trade

Population, Migration and Health

Human/Environment Relations

2. Agriculture & Food Systems

​​​​​​ This concentration is built on an integrative systems perspective that melds the biophysical, socio-economic, and nutritional sciences towards the sustainable development of inclusive agriculture and food systems. Students will learn about how food is produced, significant trends and drivers of change, and how to assess systems from an interdisciplinary perspective across cultural contexts. Critical contemporary debates about the future of food systems, such as sustainability, social justice, and resilience, will be examined from various perspectives. Students will also gain foundational skills in agriculture and food systems, including analytics for decision-making, monitoring and evaluation, and project management. This major is designed to support a range of career paths, including development practice, food policy, agricultural extension, and academia.

Required Courses for the Agriculture & Food Systems Concentration

All students must complete the following 3 courses

Select 3 courses from one track and 1 course from the other track:

Plant & Agricultural Sciences Track

Social, Economic and Health Track

3. Environment & Development

Students in this concentration will build their capacity to analyze how development affects the environment and how the environment shapes development. Through a range of courses, students will explore how society makes difficult choices concerning the control, use, and long-term management of land, freshwater, and marine resources. In engaging with these ethically complex and politically laden issues, students also examine how these topics are inextricably intertwined with issues of global food security and health, culture and identity, livelihood security, and intergenerational environmental justice.

Required Courses for the Environment & Development Concentration

Select 2 from social science list; 2 from science list; 1 from methods list

Social Science Courses

Science Courses

Methods Courses (or others as approved by the student’s advisor)

Select 2 additional environmental science or social science courses from those listed above or from the following list

The Minors (Undergraduate)


The Global Development Department does NOT offer a minor in Global Development. However, our Faculty and Staff are engaged in a variety of university minors, and encourage students to consider a range of university minors. The department is closely affiliated with, and helps administer, the three minors listed below:

Community Food Systems Minor (CFS) - enables undergraduate students across the university to engage with critical contemporary issues relating to food security, food sovereignty, and food justice. In a context of diverse goals and approaches, the CFS Minor focuses on working with community partners to collaboratively understand and develop sustainable community food systems.

CFS Minor Requirements

Students must take all courses for a letter grade and achieve a final grade of “C” or better. All courses are expected to be 3 credits with the exception of the orientation to the practicum, which is a one-credit course. 

Required Courses

Elective Courses (choose 3 elective courses, at least one from each category)

Ethical and epistemic perspectives

Ecological perspectives

Agricultural perspectives

Education Minor- Cornell offers a minor in education that prepares students for a variety of post-graduate opportunities, including graduate programs in teaching and education policy as well as positions in professional development, training, outreach, extension, workplace learning and educational research. Teaching in public schools requires certification, which students can pursue at a variety of graduate and teacher-residency programs around the country. (Cornell faculty listed at education.cals.cornell.edu can advise students on program options.) An especially convenient and strong option is the program at Ithaca College that leads to a master’s degree and New York State certification. A special agreement between Cornell and Ithaca College streamlines the application process. For information about Cornell’s education minor, as well as certification areas available under the agreement with Ithaca College, visit education.cals.cornell.edu or ithaca.edu/grad programs/education.

Education Minor Requirements

Students must take all courses for a letter grade (with the exception of the capstone course that is only offered S/U) and achieve a final grade of “C” or better.

Required Courses

One course from each category below (two courses total):

Category 1: Education history, policy, philosophy

Category 2: Direct experience with learners

 

Elective Courses 

Take (at least) six credits of electives using two or more courses.

No more than four of these credits may be unstructured. Unstructured credits are internships (EDUC 4960), independent studies (EDUC 4970) or teaching assistantships (EDUC 4980).

Capstone

In the final semester before graduation, Education minors must participate in one of two possible culminating experiences:

  • Option 1 (Conversations): Education minors may participate in a 20-minute discussion with educators from the community. Minors spend five-to-seven minutes informally summarizing their new insights on education, how they developed and how they might be applied in the future. Q&A follows.

  • Option 2 (Publications): Education minors may submit a publication that summarizes their new insights on education, how they developed and how they might be applied in the future. “Publication” is broad, including but not limited to essays, editorials, short stories and poems. 

Leadership Minor- Prepares students to become actively engaged, reflective and effective citizens with a deeper understanding of the complexities, dynamics and interdependencies of life. Students work to develop the specific professional skills many employers say college graduates lack. The Leadership Minor features integrates courses with community activities and co-curricular experiences in a guided pathway that will help you develop the skills necessary to become a true leader and engage with diverse communities.

Master of Professional Studies in Global Development


A candidate for the Master of Professional Studies in Global Development degree must complete the following items to be eligible to graduate:

  • A minimum of 2 semesters of coursework, in residence, with a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester, and a total of 30 credit hours.
  • Out of the 30 credits, 20 must be in CALS; 18 must be for a letter grade; and all 30 must be in graduate-level courses 5000 and higher.
  • A maximum of 6 of the required 30 credit hours may be earned through the student’s capstone project.
  • Language courses and writing courses do not count toward the credits required for the degree.
  • A maximum of 6 credit hours earned outside the program at Cornell University or elsewhere may be counted toward the 30 credit hours requirement at the discretion of the faculty advisor. These credits must be appropriate to the subject of the chosen field of study and completed not more than 5 years prior to admission.
  • Satisfactory completion of a capstone project paper under the supervision of the faculty advisor. This paper may be the execution of an action program, the development of materials or methodology suited to the student’s situation, or development and execution of research appropriate to the profession.
  • Hold a minimum grade point average of 2.5.
  • Complete the degree within 4 years of admission.

Ph.D. in Development Studies Degree Requirements


The Ph.D. in Development Studies (previously known as Development Sociology) is administered by the Development Studies Field, but connected to the Global Development Department. This training integrates diverse frameworks and methodologies with classical sociological theory to fuel investigation, analysis, and evaluation of social phenomenon. Our graduate students are at the frontlines of developing solutions to pressing issues — from agriculture and food systems to gender, economics and demographics — on the local and global scale. 

Whether through ethnographies, statistical analyses, or participatory action research, our students are trained to produce the highest quality social science research in areas including:

  • Inequality across health, class, and gender
  • Impacts of social policy including health and education
  • Governance, community development, and civic organization
  • Food systems, food sovereignty, and sustainable agriculture 
  • Migration and demographic change
  • Political ecololgy and land use change

Graduate (PhD) fields at Cornell, including Development Studies, have no mandatory course work requirements nor credit hours to be earned, and courses can be taken within any school or department at Cornell. However, the Field of Development Studies has a set of four core courses which are highly recommended to all students. They should be completed within the first year for all Ph.D. students and include:

More details about the Ph.D. in Development Studies can be found on the Development Studies Ph.D. website.