Undergraduate Programs & Courses

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Principles of business management are provided using a variety of examples from industries in agribusiness, which offer real-world experiences. Exploring the institutions and issues, such as food safety and biotechnology, that are unique to managers in the agribusiness sector is emphasized.

3 credit course. Offered Spring, Summer, and Fall. This course will introduce students to the breadth and scope of animal agriculture in North America with an emphasis on food-producing animals.

3 credit course. Offered Spring, Summer, and Fall. This course provides information that will be used to make informed decisions about pet ownership, pet care, controversial legal issues, and societal responsibilities. Satisfies General Education - Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS).

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Concepts, strategies, and techniques of local economic analysis, planning, and development; and decision-making exercises.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Social organization, processes, and change in communities; use of sociological principles in the analysis of community problems and development.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. This course is designed for non-science majors who have no science background, thus, there are no course prerequisites. The amazing world of insects and how they interact with humans is the focus of the course. Materials are presented in a multi-media format, including several videos. There are 24 lessons with weekly quizzes, a midterm and a final exam. Students will complete a writing assignment involving summarizing and critically analyzing a current news story in the popular press about insects.

3 credit course. Offered Spring. The intimate association between honey bees and human societies dates back over 8,000 years, which has fostered a rich, nuanced, and complex history binding the two through the ages and across the globe. In this class, you will learn about honey bee biology and colony organization, and the many cultural, political, and ethical implications of beekeeping that have shaped historical and current perspectives on honey bees worldwide.

3 credit course. Offered Summer (even years) and Fall. Introduces students to a thorough understanding of insects and their relatives, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and control strategies.

3 credit course. Offered Spring. General overview and principles; food constituents and properties; quality and safety; preservation methods; processing animal and plant products.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Fermented beverage production has been a driving force for scientific discovery and as such is a wonderful way to introduce areas of scientific knowledge. This course will use beer, wine, and other fermented products, as well as their ingredients to teach core scientific concepts. These concepts will include the biology of fruit development, the microbiology of wine and beer production, the physics of carbonated beverages, and the flavor chemistry induced through fire. Through these areas, students will learn critical thinking skills, as well as apply what they have learned to practical problems including utilizing some of the key mathematical equations used in beer and wine production. Upon completion, students will be expected to be able to understand key elements of fermented beverage production, along with the science behind it, and to be able to apply that knowledge to practical problems.

3 credit course. Offered Summer. The field of Sensory and Consumer Science is primarily focused on responses of consumers to food products and non-food fast-moving consumer goods (e.g., shampoo). These responses may be sensory/perceptual (i.e., how sweet, how bitter, how smooth) or affective (i.e., liking/preference), with the assumption that the former generally drives the later. Numerous tools have been developed by sensory practitioners over the last 70 years, with additional influences from experimental psychology. The course also addresses contemporary research on pedagogy that indicates applied statistics are best taught in context to the field in which students will apply the statistical concepts. Here, students will gain practice applying introductory statistical topics (t-tests, Analysis of Variance, etc.) to sensory and consumer data collected from human participants.

3 credit course. The goal of this course is to provide food industry professionals with information to assist them in recognizing and applying measures to prevent intentional contamination of the food supply.

3 credit course. Offered Spring, Summer, and Fall. Introduction to horticulture with an emphasis on plant domestication, morphology, classification, world food crops, commodities, gardens, propagation, and agrochemicals.

3 credit course. Offered Summer and Fall. Plants have played a dynamic role in shaping our life. In reality, human existence on Earth is made possible by the breath of plants through photosynthesis. Likewise, our botanical connections and interactions are many: we need plants for food, beverages, medicines, materials, healthy lifestyles, and aesthetics. Plants have also played an important role in where our ancestors settled and where we live today. Some of the important topics discussed in this class will include the role of tea in transforming world cultures, the importance of sugar in the Civil War and the establishment of the Caribbean nations, the effect of the Irish potato famine on Europe and the US, and the use of plants in solving crimes.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Fundamentals of Home Landscaping offers broad coverage of the environmental, human, technological, and aesthetic issues associated with residential landscape design. Beginning with the way we perceive, manage, and design the landscape, the course examines the arrangement of land, water, plant forms, and structures for their best use and greater enjoyment. Relying on actual procedures and underlying principles utilized by experienced residential landscape designers, the course will introduce students to basic design principles, concepts, specific procedures for preparing site plans and associated documents. The course will also explore designing with and general care of plants, assorted hardscape types, and how to properly assess a site. From choosing trees, shrubs, groundcovers that are correct for the site to properly installing patios, decks, and walkways, students will be presented with the varied ways plants and hardscape are installed and maintained. The course will conclude with students completing a design for a residential site.

3 credit course. Offered Spring. This course focuses on agriculture in developing countries and frames this focus with a discussion of contemporary crucial issues facing agriculture on a global scale, emphasizing global hunger and food security.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. This course provides an introduction to various aspects of plants including growth strategies, cellular makeup, genetics, and reproduction. Special attention will be paid to gardening, crop biotechnologies, and to plant adaptations in response to environmental stressors.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. This course provides a broad overview of hemp's natural ecosystem, biology, domestication, phenotypic plasticity, industrial cultivation, and business models within the hemp industry that foster bioeconomic empowerment for growers. The course starts with the basic biology of Cannabis species, the effects of light on the production of cannabinoids, the various uses in the economic fabric of industrialized nations, and concludes with what makes hemp (THC < 0.3%) a unique plant for industrial production. Despite the legalization of hemp, optimal conditions for indoor and outdoor cultivation of cannabis remain not well understood. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to basic principles, best horticultural practices, and specific concepts for getting started in industrial hemp production. Throughout this course, potential business opportunities are emphasized for various aspects of the hemp industry.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. This course provides an introduction to plant pathology. Diseases of horticultural crops are examined stressing their cause, diagnosis, control and the roles they play in national and international trade and bio-security. The biology of plant diseases involving a broad range of biotic and abiotic plant pathogens will be discussed.

3 credit course. Offered Fall. This course provides an introduction to concepts of disease processes in plants and biology of plant pathogens, environmental and cultural management factors influencing disease development, and integrated turfgrass disease management practices for root and foliar disease.

3 credit course. Offered Summer and Fall. Introduces students to the variety and complexity of soils on a local, national, and international scale. The students learn to identify the physical, chemical, and biological properties and processes of soils and relate these to the way that societies use and abuse soils.

1 credit course. Offered Spring and Summer. Covers chemical toxicity, formulations, environmental fate, labels, MSDS, calibration, IPM, safety, handling, storage, and Pennsylvania certification and regulations.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Fall. Characterization of the primary plant species used for sports, lawn and utility turf; includes turfgrass morphology, environmental adaptation, and cultural requirements.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Summer. Introduces the development of integrated weed management strategies utilizing a variety of cultural and chemical methods.

1–18 credit course. Offered Summer and Fall. Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

3 credit course. Offered Spring. This is a course developed to instruct students, interested in working in the turfgrass management profession. Note: PLANT 217 may not be substituted for TURF 307 for prescribed course credit. The majority of the course is devoted to irrigation topics with a strong concentration on turfgrass irrigation applications, while the remainder concerns surface and subsurface drainage. The course covers the following topics: The influence of weather on irrigation management; sprinkler characteristics, selection; management of piping and control systems; maximizing irrigation efficiency by using turfgrass evapotranspiration, soil characteristics, and expectations of venue; fundamental hydraulics, irrigation layout and piping sizing; pump characteristics and system winterization; surface and subsurface drainage systems. The course also includes short field trips to various local industry-related facilities for educational evaluation.

3 credit course. Offered Spring. A study of turfgrass maintenance practices and how their interrelationships can be utilized to develop management systems. Students will integrate different turfgrass maintenance practices into sound management strategies that lead to the production of high-quality turfgrass areas.

3 credit course. Offered Spring and Summer. Students will learn to interpret soil physical results using the United States Golf Associated specifications for greens construction, evaluate and manipulate the physical properties of a soil in order to provide a quality turfgrass stand under varying conditions, and more.

4 credit course. Offered Spring. A study in the nutrition and growth of turfgrass plants, emphasizing constructed and mineral soil fertility, nutrient uptake and function, and fertilizer use efficiency.

3 credit course. Offered Fall. Case study and discussion considering integrated management of selected turfgrass sites; emphasis on problem analysis, principle application, and decision making.

1 credit course. Offered Fall. Oral presentations developed by students in consultation with the course instructor.

1–18 credit course. Offered Summer and Fall. Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.

1 credit course. Offered Spring. Exploring career pathways in veterinary medicine and the allied health industry.