Master in Food Studies | Chatham University

Food Studies (MAFS)

Food Studies (MAFS) Overview

Everyone eats. Food is an ubiquitous part of the human experience, connecting us to each other as well as to plants and animals. At Chatham’s Master of Arts in Food Studies program, you will build knowledge through hands-on experience and opportunities that open you up to a holistic and equity-based view of the food system, from agriculture and food production to cuisines and consumption.

Program School

Falk School of Sustainability & Environment

Application Deadlines

Priority & Regular

Priority deadline for fall enrollment is February 1 (all application materials must be received by this date for first consideration for fellowships and assistantships). Regular deadline for fall enrollment is June 15. Regular deadline for spring enrollment is November 1.

Credits Required

41

The Chatham University's MA in Food Studies requires 41 credits to complete and can be completed in 2 years of full-time study. A part-time enrollment option is also available.

Cultivating Connections

Community Partnerships

The Falk School of Sustainability & Environment cultivates robust partnerships with entities in Pittsburgh and beyond.

Dual-Degree Option

MAFS + MBA

Students may also choose to pursue a dual-degree MAFS + MBA.

Explore the Master of Arts in Food Studies Degree:

Students study agricultural and culinary history and examine food production and consumption through sociological, cultural, political, ecological, economic, and geographic lenses. At the heart of the curriculum model are common preparatory, experiential, and core courses, which allow students to develop a shared knowledge base and community-based networks.

Admission Requirements

A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university
Overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale. Applicants with less than a 3.0 who show extreme promise through other achievements may be granted conditional admission.
Completed Application Form (found here), which includes submission of the following documents:
- Curriculum vitae or resume
- Admissions Essay
- Two letters of recommendation, preferably from an academic source
- Official undergraduate and graduate transcripts, sent directly by the institutions
- Additional writing sample (optional, but encouraged)

International Applicants

International Applicants must submit additional documentation to the Office of Admissions. A list of these documents can be found on the International Admission web page.

FST 607: Sustainable Consumption

A sustainable food system supports environmental health and local economies and is socially just. Eating “sustainably” implies acting on these concepts when making food choices. This course begins by defining and describing a “sustainable diet” in the context of regional food system work and regional food system assessments. Students will then explore Sustainable Consumption from three perspectives: the consumers’ viewpoint, including nutritional health, perception of “sustainability”, how food choices are made, and marketing issues like eco-labels; the growers’ and producers’ viewpoint, including questions of logistics and food safety; and the institutions’ or food business’ challenges of incorporating what we would consider foods grown and/or sourced in a sustainable manner in their operations.

FST624: Chocolate, Politics and Pleasure

This course will explore chocolate as a global product including history and culture, agriculture (growing trees, processing beans), direct/fair trade, labor and justice, health, chocolate production, sales, marketing, and sustainability. Experiential components include chocolate making, tempering; culinary practices, and site visits to chocolate manufacturers, culminating in the design and marketing of a sustainable chocolate product.

FST532: Sustainable Meat Production

As part of sustainable agriculture and culinary knowledge, understanding meat production outside the conventional large scale processing facilities is a critical skill for students who will work with restaurants, farm markets, and other distribution venues.

I entered the food studies program convinced that industrialized farms were the enemy and that local/organic farms were the avenue to creating a more just food system. I’ve learned that there is no black and white in the world of food. There are many obstacles to achieving a just and equal food system, but this program is giving me the tools to ‘fight the good fight.'

—KAITLYN BEST, MAFS ’13

Photo of the rooftop gardens on the Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh, situated along the river

Cultivating Partnerships

The Falk School of Sustainability & Environment cultivates robust partnerships with entities in Pittsburgh and beyond. Find out how one such partnership brought new life to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown.

Our Faculty

Faculty members are accomplished teachers, scholars, practitioners, and active leaders in the field.

Full Faculty

Alice Julier

Professor, Food Studies Director, Center for Regional Agriculture Food and Transformation (CRAFT)

Sally Frey

Assistant Professor, Food Studies

Nadine Lehrer

Associate Professor of Food Studies

Laura Livingston

Assistant Professor

Christopher Murakami

Assistant Professor, Agroecology

Miriam (Mim) Seidel

Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Internship Coordinator

Neil Brown

Adjunct Faculty

Sherrie Flick

Senior Lecturer

Nicolette Spudic

Adjunct Faculty

Photo of a masked Chatham University student working in the agroecology garden on Eden Hall Campus

Experiential Learning: Agroecology Demonstration Garden

In Chatham's Master of Arts in Food Studies program, we stress experiential learning, which often focuses on "learning how" alongside "learning what". One way we accomplish this is through the student-driven Agroecology Demonstration Garden (ADG).

Learn About the ADG

Community Partnerships: La Prima Coffee

Since the start of Chatham University’s Master of Food Studies program, students have been touring the Pittsburgh coffee purveyor . Through partnerships like this one with local businesses, government, non-profits, farms, purveyors, and restaurants across the region, Chatham MAFS students gain the kind of hands-on, experiential understanding of their field that marks our Food Studies program as truly unique.

Support to Build Your Projects

Frankie Williams, MAFS is the fire master for the Eden Hall bread oven, a community gathering place on campus. The bread oven was a thesis project by MAFS alum Shauna Kearns, who wrote a successful grant for this project.

Eden Hall Campus

Located 20 minutes north of Pittsburgh, Chatham's Eden Hall Campus is the world's first academic community built from the ground up for sustainability. The grounds and infrastructure support research and learning around energy and climate; water and aquaculture; food and agriculture; community and health; and design and planning. As an MAFS+MBA student, you will balance your time between the Shadyside Campus and Eden Hall.

Center for Regional Agricultural, Food, and Transformation (CRAFT)

An affiliate of the MAFS program, provides resources, learning opportunities, and technical assistance on food systems, regional food cultures, and sustainable economies to individuals, organizations, and businesses. It offers ample opportunities for students to be involved in assistantships, research, and project engagement.

Photo of a group of volunteers wearing the same grey shirt, with fake milk mustaches, each holding a small carton of milk

The Smarter Lunchrooms Movement comes to Pittsburgh Public Schools

Simple changes in the environment can lead to healthier lunchtime choices. That’s the thinking behind the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement (SLM), a program started in 2009 by researchers at the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition.

Photo of a female Chatham University student working on her laptop

Virtual Information Sessions

Can’t join us on campus? Explore the Master of Arts in Food Studies—and get your questions answered—by . Click the button below to view recordings of past information sessions for Falk School of Sustainability & Environment programs.

View Past Information Sessions

Photo of a masked Chatham University student holding a blue bowl of harvested produce, at the entrance to a greenhouse on Eden Hall Campus

Tuition & Funding

The cost of a graduate degree consists of university tuition (per credit charge), fees, and any other personal expenses you may require for earning your degree. Chatham also offers graduate assistantships, fellowships, and professional campus work positions for many graduate programs that can help make a Chatham graduate education more affordable. Our Financial Aid and Admissions offices will also work with you to understand loan and financing options you may qualify for.

Explore Tuition & Funding

Master of Arts in Food Studies

Photo of two people wearing masks, one with a notebook and pen in hand. Behind them there are barrels.

Course Highlight: Sustainable Fermentation

Where can you brew beer, make yogurt from scratch, learn about the inner workings of a cider house and produce a student-run magazine? In Chatham’s Sustainable Fermentation class, of course!

Photo of two men holding glasses of red wine, looking at one another in conversation across a table

Hal B. Klein, MAFS '12

Hal Klein graduate from Chatham in 2012 with a Master of Food Studies. Now, he's the associate editor and restaurant critic for Pittsburgh Magazine. .

Solar Power at ChathamU

Hal Klein graduate from Chatham in 2012 with a Master of Food Studies. Now, he's the associate editor and restaurant critic for Pittsburgh Magazine. .

Photo of a young woman working in the agroecology garden

Agroecology Demonstration Garden

Find out about Chatham's Agroecology Demonstration Garden, a student-focused garden at Eden Hall Campus where they pursue projects that illustrate what they're learning in class.

Photo of a Black woman, Toni Simpson, stirring food in a pot and demonstrating to a younger Black woman in an apron and mask who is observing

Toni Simpson, MAFS '21

ChathamU alum Toni Simpson knows the power of food to unite and inspire.

Close-up photo of several large trees in a row

Rachel Waugh, MAFS '19

As a final project, that focuses on the earliest known occupants of the land, acknowledging that it “shares the legacy and continued violence of settler colonialism with the rest of the state and country.”

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