Undergraduate Programs
Minors
Medical Humanities and Health Studies
The interdisciplinary minor in medical humanities and health studies seeks to promote an increased awareness of the humanistic, social, and cultural dimensions of health care and health care systems. It provides an exciting opportunity for students to work in close conjunction with faculty who have strong teaching and research interests in the area of health care.
A survey of the relevant issues to be addressed during the course of study in the minor includes
- human values and ethics in decision making;
- the idea of preventive and holistic health and health care;
- patient care as an art form and scientific endeavor;
- the relation among ecology, economy, and health care;
- the relation between cultural and social systems and health and health care;
- the connection between health care systems and good health;
- the role of the provider-client relationship, especially in the areas of communications skills and the humanistic dimensions of patient care;
- the meanings of suffering, illness, and dying;
- the role of technology in improving care but creating a legacy of dehumanization of patients; and
- the role of the consumer in the health care system.
The minor entails successful completion of a minimum of 15 credit hours, distributed as follows:
Required Core Course
MH301 Perspectives on Health, Disease, and Healing (3 cr.) The course utilizes the perspectives of the humanities and social science disciplines to provide students with a broader understanding of the many facets of health and disease, suffering and dying, as well as the art and science of healing.Required Exit Course
MH495 Independent Project Seminar in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.) Each student pursuing a minor degree in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program who has completed at least 9 credit hours toward the degree will take a seminar or be given the opportunity to develop a research or applied project related to the interests of the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Committee. This seminar or project will allow the student to apply the knowledge gained from the course work taken in the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program, serving to tie together the humanistic and social scientific bases of health care in a directed endeavor of interest to the student. The student should contact the chairperson to arrange the details of this independent project.Electives (3 courses/9 credits)
At least 3 credits from each of both
- Humanistic perspectives
- Social Science perspectives
- Other electives
Communication Studies
- C392 Health Communication (3 cr.)
- C410 Health Provider–Consumer Communication (3 cr.)
- P393 Biomedical Ethics (3 cr.)
- L431 Literature and Medicine (3 cr.)
- H364 History of Medicine and Public Health (3 cr.)
- H374 History of Science and Technology II (3 cr.)
- H425 Topics in History: Humanitarian Assistance (3 cr.)
- P393 Biomedical Ethics (3 cr.)
- R384 Religion, Ethics and Health (3 cr.)
- R327 Sociology of Death and Dying (3 cr.)
Anthropology
- A337 African American Health Care (3 cr.)
- A460 Diseases in Human Evolution (3 cr.)
- B370 Human Growth and Development (3 cr.)
- B480 Human Variation (3 cr.)
- E421 The Anthropology of Aging (3 cr.)
- E445 Medical Anthropology (3 cr.)
- E307 Current Economic Issues: Health Economic Issues (3 cr.)
- E387 Health Economics (3 cr.)
- R285 AIDS and Society (3 cr.)
- R321 Women and Health (3 cr.)
- R381 Social Factors in Health and Illness (3 cr.)
- R382 Social Organization of Health Care (3 cr.)
- R410 Alcohol, Drugs, and Society (3 cr.)
- R415 Sociology of Disability (3 cr.)
- R485 Sociology of Mental Illness (3 cr.)
Other Electives
The remaining 3 credit hours of electives may come from the courses above or the following courses:Medical Humanities and Health Studies
- MH492 Topics in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.)
- MH498 Readings in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (1-3 cr.)
- S474 Applied Health Care Ethics (3 cr.)
- H316 Introduction to Environmental Health (3 cr.)
- H320 Introduction to Health Administration (3 cr.)
- H322 Principles of Epidemiology (3 cr.)
- H354 Health Economics (3 cr.)
- H420 Health Policy (3 cr.)