The multidisciplinary Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (SAFS) serves students interested in improving the sustainability of modern food and agricultural systems. This major prepares graduates to understand the interdisciplinary and systems-based aspects of sustainability and provides them with the knowledge, leadership skills, and experiences required to excel in agricultural and food systems professions. A degree in SAFS prepares students for a broad range of careers related to agricultural production (including plant, animal, and biofuels) and food system management, rural and urban community services, education and development, as well as careers in agricultural, environmental, and economic policy and analysis. Employers may include private industry, local, state and federal government, public service agencies, non-profit organizations, nature preserves, community organizations, or any other group that aims to produce, distribute, or improve access to food, to improve the quality and/or sustainability of food or food systems, to improve human health related to diet and nutrition, to work towards social justice related to food access or hunger, or to develop policy or social structures related to food or food systems. The SAFS major also prepares students for graduate studies in a wide range of fields related to agriculture, food, water, and energy systems.
Core Curriculum - 42 hours
The Core Curriculum serves as a broad foundation for the undergraduate degree. All candidates for a bachelor’s degree must achieve core student learning outcomes, including communication, critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, teamwork, personal responsibility and social responsibility, by completing courses within each category or component area of the Core Curriculum as outlined below.
The University has approved specific courses that satisfy Core Curriculum Requirements. Approved courses can be found on the Core Curriculum Page. Students seeking the most efficient way to complete the core curriculum and major or minor requirements are advised to take approved courses that can fulfill both requirements. Although core curriculum courses can also be used to fulfill major or minor requirements, earned credits hours are only applied once.
The courses listed below fulfill core curriculum and major requirements. Students who have completed a core curriculum category with courses other than those listed below will still be required to take the listed course(s) to meet major requirements.
020 Mathematics - 3 hours
Choose one:
MATH 1314 | College Algebra | 3 |
MATH 1414 | College Algebra | 4 |
030 Life and Physical Sciences - 6 hours
ENVR 1401 | Introduction to Environmental Science I | 4 |
ENVR 1402 | Introduction to Environmental Science II | 4 |
Three-credit hours apply from each course.
080 Social & Behavioral Sciences - 3 hours
ECON 2301 | Principles of Macroeconomics | 3 |
090 Integrative and Experiential Learning - 6 hours
BIOL 1406 | General Biology I | 4 |
ENVR 1401 | Introduction to Environmental Science I | 4 |
ENVR 1402 | Introduction to Environmental Science II | 4 |
One credit hour from each required Life and Physical Science course applies.
Major Requirements - 68 hours
Required Courses - 33 hours
Sustainability Core
BIOL 1406 | General Biology I | 4 |
BIOL 1407 | General Biology II | 4 |
ENVR 3305 | Sustainable Agriculture | 3 |
ENVR 3409 | Environmental Ecology and Sustainability | 4 |
Three hours from BIOL 1406 apply.
Choose four:
Students must complete a minimum of four courses from the list below. Total minimum credit hours for this section is 12. Hours completed will vary based on student selection of three or four credit hour courses. Additional hours beyond 12 will be applicable to the minimum 120 hours required for the degree.
ANTH 4310 | Food and Culture | 3 |
ECON 3355 | Development Economics | 3 |
EEMS 4360 | Food Science | 3 |
EEMS 4388 | Global Change Ecology | 3 |
ENVR 3301 | Natural Resources Conservation | 3 |
ENVR 3304 | Sustainable Development | 3 |
ENVR 4320 | Fundamentals of Soil Science | 3 |
HIST 4333 | Food and Agricultural History | 3 |
PHIL 4318 | Philosophy of Food | 3 |
SAFS 4429 | Agroecology | 4 |
Capstone
Students will complete six hours from one pair: CESL 3301 and CESL 3302 or EEMS 4381 and EEMS 4382 and one credit hour from EEMS 4193.
CESL 3301 | Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning Internship I | 3 |
CESL 3302 | Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning Internship II | 3 |
Or | ||
EEMS 4381 | Community-Engaged Service Learning I | 3 |
EEMS 4382 | Community-Engaged Service Learning II | 3 |
And | ||
EEMS 4193 | Interdisciplinary Synthesis & Communication | 1 |
Prescribed Elective Courses - 35 hours
A minimum of 35 hours of prescribed electives are required. Students are strongly encouraged to seek counseling early in the program to devise a course of study suitable for their career goals. Students should always consider the prerequisites of desired courses when selecting electives. Students must also ensure that sufficient courses at the 3000 and 4000 level are taken to achieve the institutional minimum of 42 advanced hours.
Chemistry and Biochemistry
CHEM 1111 | General Chemistry I Lab | 1 |
CHEM 1112 | General Chemistry II Lab | 1 |
CHEM 1311 | General Chemistry I | 3 |
CHEM 1312 | General Chemistry II | 3 |
CHEM 2123 | Organic Chemistry I Lab | 1 |
CHEM 2125 | Organic Chemistry II Lab | 1 |
CHEM 2323 | Organic Chemistry I | 3 |
CHEM 2325 | Organic Chemistry II | 3 |
CHEM 3101 | Inorganic Chemistry Lab | 1 |
CHEM 3303 | Biochemistry I | 3 |
CHEM 3401 | Environmental Chemistry | 4 |
CHEM 4320 | Nutritional and Exercise Biochemistry | 3 |
NUTR 3201 | Phytochemicals and Herbal Medicine | 2 |
SAFS 4306 | Medicinal Food Chemistry | 3 |
Communications
COMM 1315 | Public Speaking | 3 |
COMM 3321 | Public Relations: Theory and Practice | 3 |
COMM 4338 | Communication Campaigns | 3 |
COMM 4345 | Conflict Management | 3 |
Connected Humanities
ANTH 1324 | Human Evolution | 3 |
ANTH 2311 | Global Health and Social Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Illness and Inequality | 3 |
ANTH 4310 | Food and Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4314 | Environmental Anthropology | 3 |
ANTH 4385 | Topics in Anthropology | 3 |
HIST 3302 | World Environmental History | 3 |
HIST 3332 | Mexican-American History | 3 |
HIST 4333 | Food and Agricultural History | 3 |
MASC 2301 | Introduction to Mexican American Studies | 3 |
PHIL 1300 | Critical Thinking | 3 |
PHIL 1312 | Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy | 3 |
PHIL 4318 | Philosophy of Food | 3 |
PHIL 4322 | Political Philosophy | 3 |
PHIL 4328 | Environmental Philosophy | 3 |
Data Analysis, Statistics, and Forecasting
ECON 3341 | Econometrics | 3 |
ECON 3342 | Business and Economics Forecasting | 3 |
GEOL 4411 | Introduction to Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
GEOL 4412 | Advanced Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
MATH 2412 | Precalculus | 4 |
MATH 2413 | Calculus I | 4 |
POLS 2470 | Introduction to Political Science Research | 4 |
QUMT 2341 | Business Statistics I | 3 |
QUMT 2398 | Decision Analytics | 3 |
QUMT 3341 | Business Statistics II | 3 |
QUMT 4343 | Prescriptive Analytics | 3 |
SOCI 3301 | Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences | 3 |
STAT 2336 | Statistical Computing and Data Management | 3 |
STAT 3301 | Applied Statistics | 3 |
STAT 4332 | Experimental Design and Analysis | 3 |
Economics
ECON 2302 | Principles of Microeconomics | 3 |
ECON 3343 | Economics of the Government Sector | 3 |
ECON 3351 | Macroeconomic Theory | 3 |
ECON 3352 | Microeconomic Theory | 3 |
ECON 3353 | International Trade | 3 |
ECON 3355 | Development Economics | 3 |
ECON 3358 | Labor Economics | 3 |
ECON 3360 | Managerial Economics | 3 |
Entrepreneurship
ACCT 2301 | Introduction To Financial Accounting | 3 |
ACCT 2302 | Introduction To Managerial Accounting | 3 |
ENTR 3340 | New Venture Creation and Innovation | 3 |
ENTR 3356 | Introduction to Entrepreneurship | 3 |
FINA 3380 | Introduction to Finance | 3 |
FINA 3388 | Fundamentals of Financial Planning | 3 |
FINA 3393 | Entrepreneurial Finance | 3 |
MARK 3300 | Principles of Marketing | 3 |
MARK 3330 | Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility | 3 |
MGMT 3361 | Principles of Management | 3 |
Food Science & Technology
EEMS 4360 | Food Science | 3 |
EEMS 4366 | Nanotechnologies for Food and Agriculture | 3 |
SAFS 4306 | Medicinal Food Chemistry | 3 |
Microbiology, Toxicology, and Epidemiology
BIOL 2401 | Anatomy and Physiology I | 4 |
BIOL 2402 | Anatomy and Physiology II | 4 |
BIOL 3311 | Mammalian Physiology | 3 |
BIOL 3315 | Cell and Molecular Biology | 3 |
BIOL 3401 | General Microbiology | 4 |
BIOL 3414 | Invertebrate Zoology | 4 |
BIOL 4316 | Environmental Toxicology | 3 |
BIOL 4317 | Disease Epidemiology | 3 |
BIOL 4319 | Medical Entomology | 3 |
BIOL 4413 | General Virology | 4 |
BIOL 4415 | Entomology | 4 |
BIOL 4428 | Medical Genomics | 4 |
Natural Resource Management
BIOL 3313 | Genetics | 3 |
BIOL 3404 | Conservation Biology | 4 |
BIOL 4316 | Environmental Toxicology | 3 |
BIOL 4423 | Wildlife Ecology and Management | 4 |
EEMS 4388 | Global Change Ecology | 3 |
ENVR 3301 | Natural Resources Conservation | 3 |
ENVR 3304 | Sustainable Development | 3 |
ENVR 3311 | Introduction to Air Pollution Science | 3 |
ENVR 4301 | Environmental Regulations | 3 |
ENVR 4302 | Environmental Impact Analysis | 3 |
Nutrition and Dietetics
BIOL 1322 | Human Nutrition | 3 |
HLTH 3372 | Nutrition and Health | 3 |
HPRS 3316 | Nutrition Concepts for Allied Health Practitioners | 3 |
NUTR 2351 | Introduction to Clinical Nutrition | 3 |
NUTR 3201 | Phytochemicals and Herbal Medicine | 2 |
NUTR 3354 | Food Systems Management | 3 |
NUTR 3452 | Culinary Nutrition | 4 |
NUTR 4310 | Nutritional Education and Counseling | 3 |
NUTR 4357 | Research Methods in Nutrition | 3 |
Organismal Sciences Related to Production
BIOL 3345 | Animal Nutrition | 3 |
BIOL 3408 | Plant Morphology | 4 |
BIOL 4402 | Marine Zoology | 4 |
BIOL 4404 | Ichthyology | 4 |
BIOL 4405 | Plant Physiology | 4 |
BIOL 4408 | Plant Pathology | 4 |
BIOL 4410 | Marine Botany | 4 |
BIOL 4411 | Ecological Physiology of Animals | 4 |
BIOL 4414 | Plant Taxonomy | 4 |
BIOL 4415 | Entomology | 4 |
BIOL 4426 | Marine Ecology | 4 |
BIOL 4432 | Animal Behavior | 4 |
MARS 3350 | General Aquaculture | 3 |
Political Science
POLS 2330 | Introduction to Globalization | 3 |
POLS 2340 | Introduction to Political Theory | 3 |
POLS 2350 | Introduction to Political Economy | 3 |
POLS 3310 | U.S. State and Local Government | 3 |
POLS 3321 | Comparative Politics of Developing Nations | 3 |
POLS 3333 | Gender Theory in World Politics | 3 |
POLS 3341 | Modern Political Theory | 3 |
POLS 3351 | Interest Groups and Political Movements | 3 |
POLS 3355 | U.S. Public Policy | 3 |
POLS 3356 | U.S. Economic Policy | 3 |
POLS 4313 | U.S. Legislative Process | 3 |
POLS 4316 | U.S. Latin@ Politics | 3 |
POLS 4332 | International Organizations | 3 |
POLS 4333 | U.S. Mexico Border Relations | 3 |
POLS 4350 | Political Socialization and Civic Engagement | 3 |
POLS 4356 | U.S. Environmental Policy | 3 |
Sociology
SOCI 3312 | Environmental Sociology | 3 |
SOCI 3348 | Disaster and Society | 3 |
SOCI 4310 | Sociology of Gender | 3 |
SOCI 4313 | Race and Ethnic Relations | 3 |
SOCI 4352 | Social Stratification | 3 |
SOCI 4380 | Social Protest and Social Movements | 3 |
Sustainable Agricultural Production
BIOL 4408 | Plant Pathology | 4 |
EEMS 4191 | Interdisciplinary Seminar Series Fall | 1 |
EEMS 4192 | Interdisciplinary Seminar Series Spring | 1 |
MARS 3350 | General Aquaculture | 3 |
SAFS 4429 | Agroecology | 4 |
Sustainable Societies and Environmental Governance
ANTH 4310 | Food and Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4314 | Environmental Anthropology | 3 |
EEMS 4191 | Interdisciplinary Seminar Series Fall | 1 |
EEMS 4192 | Interdisciplinary Seminar Series Spring | 1 |
ENVR 3304 | Sustainable Development | 3 |
ENVR 4301 | Environmental Regulations | 3 |
ENVR 4357 | Urban Sustainability | 3 |
HIST 3335 | American Environmental History | 3 |
HIST 4333 | Food and Agricultural History | 3 |
POLS 4356 | U.S. Environmental Policy | 3 |
SOCI 1301 | Introduction to Sociology | 3 |
SOCI 1323 | Social Problems | 3 |
Free Electives - hours will vary
Free electives credit hours required may vary to achieve the institutional minimum of 120 hours for a degree.
Free elective credit hours at the advanced level may be needed to achieve the institutional minimum of 42 advanced hours.
Total Credit Hours: 42
View this program’s recommended roadmap to graduation.
UTRGV Roadmaps are a suggested sequence of courses designed to assist students in completing their undergraduate degree requirements. This is a term-by-term sample roadmap of courses required to complete the degree. Students must satisfy all requirements in their catalog including, but not limited to course prerequisites, grade point average and course grade benchmarks, progression requirements, and graduation requirements.
Students should meet with their academic advisor every semester to discuss their individualized path toward completion. Degree progress within this roadmap depends upon such factors as course availability, individual student academic preparation and readiness, student time management, work and personal responsibilities, and financial considerations. Students may choose to take courses during summer terms to reduce course loads during long semesters.