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Umbra Institute: Center for Food & Sustainability Studies
Study food systems, sustainability, and the environment in Perugia, Italy.
The Umbra Institute is located in the historic center of Perugia on the grandiose Piazza IV Novembre. It focuses heavily on community engagement activities. Courses include service-learning components and activities that bring Umbra students together with the local Italian student population and the community at large.
Related Career Paths
The Umbra Institute food studies program is particularly well-suited to those hoping to cultivate a career in the food or environmental industries or seeking to continue their education at the graduate level.
Curriculum
Umbra's Food Studies program offers three tracks: Food Studies, Environmental Studies & Sustainability, and the dual track. Each thematic course includes a series of co- and extra-curricular activities that are an integral part of the curriculum; they include guest lectures, site visits, field trips, culinary activities, research projects, and other hands-on experiences. These activities allow students to directly observe the concepts studied in the classroom and analyze issues surrounding food, sustainability, and the environment in an Italian and global context from varied perspectives.
In addition, students take an Italian class while in the program.
Course Spotlight
ENV/FSST/SOC 330: Sustainable Food Production in Italy—Local Traditions and Global Transformations
Study the radical increase in food production over the last decades and the ecological and social problems it has created, as well as on some possible solutions.
Student Profile
