Undergraduate registration has begun!

This fall, GFI is expanding its course offerings to give our students a deeper understanding of the complex systems shaping our food world. From offering hands-on, real-world experience providing nutrition education to exploring how the role of women can be studied in the context of climate change and food security, we are building on the foundational coursework we first offered last year.

Please share these opportunities with students interested in food system work.

Note: Some of the courses are in the final process of being approved to post in the Fall 2025 Schedule of Classes. They will be there shortly. 

Join GFI and Affiliate Faculty Events 

On Thursday, April 10, learn about the historical roots of systemic inequities and solutions for Black farmers' empowerment in Tracing the Legacy: Black Farmers and the Fight for Equity, led by series host Dr. Mya O. Price and co-hosted by GW's Global Food Institute, GW's Equity Institute, and GW's Department of History.

This series will educate, inspire, and motivate students, faculty, policymakers, farmers, and other stakeholders who want to elevate the impact of Black farmers in their community.

12 - 12:30pm: Lunch Reception
12:30 - 1:35pm: Opening and Panel Discussion
1:35 - 2pm: Q&A with Audience & Closing

GW Science and Engineering Hall
Lehman Auditorium / B1270

Virtual Option Available

On Friday, April 11, the GW community is invited to learn more about the impacts and the future of foreign aid at the Foreign Aid Teach-In, a day of roundtable discussions reflecting on the state of U.S. foreign aid for the purpose of educating the GW community.

GFI will host a roundtable discussion about food assistance with Eric Mitchell, President of the Alliance to End Hunger, and Erin Kolodjeski of the House Appropriations Committee (other panelists pending).

Event sponsors: The Humanitarian Action Initiative; Gender Equality in International Affairs (GEIA); Global Food Institute; The Global Women's Institute (GWI); The Institute for Public Diplomacy & Global Communications; The GW Media and Peacebuilding Project; The Milken Institute School of Public Health; International Development Studies Program; Refugee Educational Advancement Laboratory (REAL); Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness

Stop by a Building System Dynamics Connections Seminar on Thursday, April 20, from 12-1pm, with presenter Caitlin Grady, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering.

The session will take place at 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue on the Mezzanine level.

If you have any questions or would like to share ideas for upcoming sessions and/or collaborations, please reach out to Sydney Pryor at sydneypryor@gwu.edu. Feel free to invite others who might be interested!

On Friday, April 25 from 9am - 2:30pm in Duques 254, join the Sustainable Chocolate Workshop - including a Sustainable Chocolate Tasting!

The Cocoa, Carbon and Community (C3) project has partnered with impact investors to adopt innovative strategies to promote greater productivity, lower carbon, and prosperous cocoa communities in Trinidad and Tobago. The Workshop provides a forum to: discuss how the ‘lessons learned’ from the C3 project could be expanded to improving sustainable supply chains in other countries’ cocoa sectors and other global commodity supply chains; and, discuss industry perspectives on current practices and future efforts to enhance sustainable global supply chains.

Join GFI Affiliate Faculty Masha Belenky and Lynn Westwater, part of GW’s Department of Romance, German and Slavic Studies (RGSS), for the final installment of a romance language movie series centered around food.

Snacks will be provided!

Sunday, April 27
6 - 8pm
Phillips Hall 209

Chocolat (2000)
dir. Lasse Hallström

A rural French town is shaken up when a woman and her young child move to the town and open a chocolate shop that disrupts the Catholic traditions of the town.

Developing countries experiencing rapid urbanization, tenuous global supply chains, and a changing climate face a critical challenge – food security. 

GFI, in partnership with the College of Professional Studies, will offer graduate students the opportunity to explore this challenge firsthand, immersing them for two weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. Taught by GFI Affiliate Faculty member Dr. Mesbah Motamed, the summer short course, "South Africa: Urban Food Security in the Developing World," will invite students to examine the links between agriculture, nutrition, urbanization, poverty, and economic growth. 

Participants will engage with farmers, food distributors, policymakers, and city planners to examine the key drivers of urban food security in developing countries.

The deadline to apply is Monday, April 28. Spread the word to other faculty and graduate students:

GFI hosted a Spring 2025 Affiliate Faculty gathering in early March, bringing together experts and colleagues dedicated to shaping the future of food systems. The event provided an opportunity to share key updates, welcome new Affiliate Faculty, and strengthen partnerships that drive innovation in food policy, sustainability, and education.

Key highlights included discussion of the food leadership minor expansion and new research partnerships.

This gathering reinforced the importance of cross-sector collaboration in creating a more sustainable and equitable food system. Thank you to all our Affiliate Faculty members and other partners who joined us. We look forward to building on this momentum in the months ahead!

As part of GW's Milken Institute School of Public Health's Research Day on Wednesday, April 16, GFI will sponsor four prizes to recognize presentations that describe how to achieve equitable access to healthy foods through improved production, storage, distribution, and pricing.

Be sure to stop by GWSPH’s Research Day, and stay tuned for information about the winning presentations!

Zhengtian Xu, Affiliate Faculty member, was awarded an NSF CAREER Award, NSF’s most prestigious honor supporting new work from junior faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in their field.

Several Affiliate Faculty members were announced as recipients of 2025 Faculty Honors. They will be recognized at the 15th Annual Faculty Honors Ceremony on Thursday, April 24.

Y. Tony Yang will receive the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Scholarship (Research); the Trachtenberg Prizes are the highest faculty awards that the university bestows.

James E. Foster will receive the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) Distinguished Career Award.

Cindy Liu will receive the GW Early Career Inventor of the Year Award.

Maureen McGuire-Kuletz will be recognized with the Silver Anniversary Faculty Award as an active-status faculty member who has completed 25 years of continuous, full-time service.

We want to lift up your work and share information about events, opportunities to collaborate or whatever you think is important to share. Email us at globalfoodinstitute@gwu.edu.