Health and Human Experience Minor

Contact: Kathleen Forni, Professor of English
Office: Humanities 242e
Telephone: 410-617-2816

The minor in Health and Human Experience is an interdisciplinary humanities and social sciences minor that prepares students to understand social, cultural, and environmental factors in health and delivery of care. The minor is intended to foster the analytical, communication, and empathic skills necessary to engage with individuals of varied backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Students are exposed to issues concerning medical ethics, and the relationship between healthcare and social justice. Depending upon the electives chosen, topics might include environmental effects on health, narrative medicine, culturally competent care, inclusion and equity in healthcare, and social determinants of health. The minor offers opportunities for students to learn how to confront medical issues holistically and with humanity, recognizing that health is one of the foundational ways to understand what it means to be human.

Learning Aims:

Students will be able to explain the diverse historical, cultural, ethical, social justice, and spiritual dimensions of health and medicine
Students will be able to analyze and evaluate complex texts relating to the social and cultural components of medicine
Students will be able to create solutions to ethical, empathetical, and practical challenges experienced by healthcare professionals
Students will be able to design communications related to a variety of audiences and purposes

Minor Requirements

Health Foundations Course

Students are required to complete one of the following:

Ethics Course

Students are required to complete one of the following:

Electives

Students are required to complete four electives from the list below. The courses must come from at least two different disciplines. Two of the courses must be 300-level or 400-level.

Two of the courses must be taken from the Communication and Media, Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Speech-Language-Hearing Science, and Sociology departments.
Two of the courses must be taken from the Classics, English, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Theology, Visual and Performing Arts, and Writing departments.

Notes:

Study abroad courses that are not pre-approved to transfer to the University can be applied to the minor with the director's approval.