Food Studies Mentored Minor

The Food Studies mentored minor is overseen collaboratively by the OWU Department of Health & Human Kinetics and the Environment and Sustainability Program, and views food from a multidisciplinary perspective. We recognize the importance of food as biological fuel, as a natural resource with problems of abundance and scarcity, as a focus of celebration, as a human obsession, as a cultural expression, as a multi-billion dollar industry, and as an interaction with the global environment through agriculture and waste disposal. By studying food across a range of disciplines, students in this minor will improve their ability to investigate, debate, and solve some of the most important problems affecting the human condition in the 21st century, including food scarcity, malnutrition, obesity, preserving cultural heritage in a global society, and feeding people in a world of 7 billion and more.

Minor Requirements

To complete the mentored minor, a student must:

Identify an OWU faculty member associated with the Food Studies minor to serve as their mentor.
Create a proposal, in collaboration with their mentor, to the food studies faculty contacts, outlining courses and projects that fit with their specific interests in food.
Complete 5.5 units of coursework, consisting of:
- 3 units of courses selected from the list below, 1 unit from each of 3 different departments
- 0.5 unit INT 300.6 – Interdisciplinary Food Seminar (after completion of at least 1 full unit food course)
- 2 project-based units (Independent Study, Directed Readings, Internship)

Courses

The following are the courses that can be used for the 3 non-seminar and non-project courses required in the minor. As a reminder, students must take the 0.5 unit Interdisciplinary Food Seminar (INT 300.6 – Interdisciplinary Food Seminar) and select three other courses representing three different departments. They must complete at least 1 full unit of coursework from this list before enrolling in the Food Seminar. The Food Seminar will be offered in alternating years.

BIOL 122 - Organisms and Their Environment (Anderson, Downing, Hankison, Johnson, Kelly, Reichard)
BIOL 103 - Biology of Cultivated Plants (Murray)
BIOL 106 - Enology (summer only) (Goldstein)
BIOL 107 - Food (summer only) (Wolverton)
ENG 145 - Reading: (Comorau)
Reading: The Global Kitchen
GEOG 499 - Seminar in Geography (Krygier)
Sustainability Practicum
NUTR 100 2 - Introduction to Food and Nutrition (Nix)
HHK 114 - Personal Health and Exercise (Hall)
NUTR 200 3 - Food, Culture and Society (Fink)
NUTR 270 - Sports and Exercise Nutrition (Staff)
HHK 347 - Special Topics in Health and Human Kinetics: A Qualitative Investigation (Fink)
HHK 300 8 - Health Program Planning (0.5 unit) (Fink) and
HHK 300 9 - Health Instructional Strategies (0.5 unit) (Fink)
PHIL 250 - Environmental Ethics (Stone-Mediatore)
PSYC 262 - Health Psychology (DiLillo)
SOAN 111 - Cultural Anthropology (Howard, Peoples)
SOAN 347 - Health, Culture, and Society (Howard)
SOAN 367 - Human Ecology (Peoples)
BIOL 101 - Human Biology (Kelly)
BIOL 325 - Human Physiology (Kelly)
BIOL 335 - Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology (Kelly)

Mentors

A current list of mentors can be obtained from the faculty contacts for this minor, Dr. Laurie Anderson (Botany/Microbiology) and Dr. Christopher Fink (Health & Human Kinetics). Faculty mentors will oversee the development of proposals from students and may also serve as the faculty supervisors of independent studies, directed readings, or apprenticeships.

Food Studies Mentored Minor Faculty Contacts

Dr. Christopher Fink (Health & Human Kinetics) and Dr. Laurie Anderson (Botany/Microbiology)