Penn's Nutrition minor was designed to cross academic disciplines and break traditional academic boundaries, because Nutrition plays an integral role in so many aspects of human existence. Jointly sponsored by the Schools of Nursing and Arts and Sciences, the Nutrition Minor presents a broad view of the field, and illustrates the pervasiveness of nutrition-related issues in such diverse fields as anthropology, economics, folklore, history, physiology, psychology, health care and public policy.

The Nutrition Minor is designed to give each student flexibility in course selection, and provides an advising program to assist students in selecting courses that most complement their interests and career goals.   The SON/SAS Joint Minor in Nutrition is administered by a committee comprised of faculty members representing the School of Nursing and the School of Arts and Sciences and the School, who have a special interest in the field of nutrition.

The Joint Nutrition Minor consists of a minimum of six or seven courses.  Three or four are Core and the remaining three (or more) are Elective.  It is strongly recommended that Core courses be taken prior to enrolling in elective courses.  All courses must be taken for a grade, and a GPA of 2.0 must be attained in all courses presented for the minor.

Course of Study

CORE COURSES
(Choose one per category, for a total of three courses)

Basic Nutrition                              

• NURS 054 – Principles of Human Nutrition
  OR
• NURS 065 - Fundamentals of Nutrition AND NURS 066 - Fundamentals of Clinical Nutrition
  OR
• NURS 112 – Nutrition: Science and Applications

Scientific Basis of Nutrition 

• NURS 040 and 042 – Principles of General and Organic Chemistry; Introduction to Microbiology and Human Biochemistry
  OR
• NURS 061 and 062 - Biological Based Chemistry and Cellular Biology
  (for Nursing majors)
  OR
• BIOL 101, BIOL 121, BIOL 017, or BIOL 091– Introductory Biology
  (for majors from the other 3 undergraduate schools)

Advanced Nutrition                          

• NURS 517 – Advanced Nutrition and Metabolism

ELECTIVE COURSES
(choose any three courses)

Nutrition, Behavior and Exercise
NURS 313/513            Obesity and Culture (Fall)
NURS 376                   Issues in Nutrition, Exercise and Fitness (Spring)
PSYCH 127/BBB 227    Physiology of Motivated Behaviors (Fall)
PSCI 335/HSOC 335    Healthy Schools (Spring) @@

Nutrition, Culture and Evolution
ANTH 184                    Food and Culture (Fall)
ANTH 248                    Food and Feasting: Archeology of the Table (Spring)
ANTH 252                    Food Habits in Philadelphia Communities (Spring) @@
ANTH 359/URBS 359    Nutritional Anthropology (Fall) @@
BIOL 017                     Biology of Food
NURS 316/516             International Nutrition: The Political Economy of World Hunger (Spring) @@
PSCI 135/HSOC 135     Politics of Food (Spring)

Clinical Nutrition

NURS 312                     Nutritional Aspects of Desease (Spring)
NURS 365                     Case Analysis in Clinical Nutrition Theory  (Spring)
NURS 375                     Nutrition Throughout the Life Cycle (Fall)

Other nutrition-related courses will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

@@ - Academically Based Service Learning Courses