DEVELOPING A COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATE: CULTIVATING HUMAN RESOURCES FOR PLACE-BASED FOOD SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT IN APPALACHIA

The goal of this education/teaching project is to strengthen institutional capacities at West Virginia University (WVU) to train Regional Food System Development professionals through cross campus collaboration between the WVU Eberly College of Arts & Sciences and the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Design. This project will recruit new food, agricultural, natural resources and human sciences (FANH) students, enhance curriculum, develop new instructional delivery systems, and expand career opportunities through field experience, internships, and food system symposiums with employers engaged in regional food system development. Integrating agricultural and social sciences, this project's targets WVU undergraduate students and secondary students in pre-college programs emphasizing food systems such as 4H. Objectives; 1) Revise existing courses and develop interdisciplinary curriculum to advance regional food system development, 2) Develop new course in regional food system development, 3) Align academic programs to develop model instructional delivery system for online course delivery and field practicum experiences, 4) Expand FANH student career opportunities in agriculture and rural development, 5)Evaluate curricula, instructional delivery systems, student progression, learning outcomes, recruitment, and retention. We will implement a new approach to agriculture education and rural development training at a Land Grant University in economically vulnerable communities in WV, with opportunities to solve complex problems in a real-world context. Students completing the Regional Food System Development curriculum will gain knowledge and leadership capabilities as food system change-agents and be ready to work in the fields of FANH, nutrition, rural development, social entrepreneurship, data science and food and farm policy. ?