MSFS-590: Making Change in the Food System: Leadership Perspectives

This course focuses on key changemakers and the sectors they represent across the food system, from multinational corporations to local community programs, farms to restaurants, investment to technology. Students will experience ways to evaluate effective leadership traits in individuals and effective industry-wide leadership by companies and organizations. Each week's topic will center around an in-depth interview with a guest speaker to determine what makes them successful as leaders, what contributes to the ability of their companies and organizations to effect change (failures included), and what they are looking for when hiring new team members. Framing lectures and forum discussions will reinforce key learnings from the guest speakers, while projects will allow students to research and develop their own leadership strategies; by the end of the class, students will be able to begin designing and communicating successful leadership strategies, preparing them for their future careers in the food system leadership.