Course of Study 2020-2021
The courses included in the "Health and the World" Special Academic Initiative (SAI) will give students a liberal arts approach to medicine and health. Many courses in this collection will have a broad intersectional and cultural approach to health, shedding light on how health, healthcare, and access to medicine are often shaped by one’s social position. In other words, courses within this collection could help you explore the various ways in which 'health' is shaped by the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion and ethnicity.
Some broad questions that may be explored in the context of the classes include:
Through these courses, you may learn to:
Please note that some courses have pre-requisites and others do not.
*courses that will (or are expected to) be asking for “permanent” status
ANTH 113 Biological Anthropology
This course studies the biological diversity of our species and the evolutionary history that has lead us to our present condition.
ANTH 320 Anthropology of Food
This course investigates the central role food plays in human biology and culture.
ANTH 324 Human Ecology: Biocultural Adaptations
Although biological anthropology relies heavily on an evolutionary perspective, it is also concerned with understanding the interactions between human biology and culture and this perspective seeks to appreciate how humans adapt to their environment through a combination of biological, cultural and physiological adjustments.
ANTH 358 Medical Anthropology in Biocultural Perspective
Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the influences of both biology and culture on the human experiences of disease.
BIOL 211 Health Service and Biomedical Analysis
In this community-engaged learning course, students participate in and reflect upon a volunteer internship a local health-care facility, placing their observations and experiences in the context of the
primary biomedical literature.
DANC 322 Dance Kinesiology
"Dance Kinesiology" explores the vital, integrative connections between the body, the mind, and movement through the study of musculoskeletal anatomy, exercise physiology and somatic techniques.
ENGL 104.06 Health and Healing
In this course, we examine the relationship between medicine, illness and healing through an intersectional and transnational approach to literature.
HSPS 171 Human and Sport Nutrition
This course will teach the student the basics of human nutrition and nutrition for sport, focusing on individual nutrition as well as nutrition across the lifespan and global issues of nutrition.
HSPS 184 Wilderness First Aid
This course focuses on patient assessment, care, and evacuation from remote settings as well as basic survival skills.
INDS 160 Community Health Coaches
In partnership with Knox Community Hospital, this course trains students to become health coaches with the hospital's Community Care Network.
*PHIL 191 The Bioethics of Birth, Illness, Sex, and Death
A first-year seminar that introduces students to the ethical dilemmas that arise during the four biomedical experiences that all human beings share.
PHIL 201 Philosophy of Science
This course is concerned with the issue of whether or not, and upon what grounds, the scientific method generates knowledge. The course investigates the following conceptual elements of the scientific method: discovery and observation; evidence and confirmation; law, prediction, and explanation; data modeling; replication; peer review; and objectivity writ large.
PHIL 260 Philosophy of Mind and Brain
We use very different language to describe the workings of the mind and the workings of the brain. But clearly the mind and the brain are deeply related. In this course, we examine various ways in which the mind and the brain taken to be related.
PHIL 262 Philosophy of Perception
This course examines perception, with an emphasis on visual perception. We examine the ways in which perception works (and what we mean by that) and the many ways perception breaks down. The class focuses on the three main theories that attempt to systematize our understanding of perception.
PSCI 476 Rules for the World: International Organizations' Role in World Politics.
As part of this course, students will learn about the role that international organizations (particularly the World Health Organization) play in global health efforts.
PSYC 331 Positive Psychology
A course that considers the numerous elements of life (e.g., relationships, education, religion/spirituality) that can impact an individual's psychological well-being and their ability to live "the good life."
PSYC 321 Abnormal Psychology
An introductory course to the study of psychopathology that examines what makes us unwell for a variety of perspective (e.g. psychological, sociocultural, biological and social).
PSYC 327 Cross Cultural Psychology
A course that examines the influence of culture on psychology and includes such topics as the study of health and illness.
PSYC 342 Clinical Psychology
The study of the assessment and treatment of distress.
SOCY 224 Sociology of Health and Illness
A course that examines social determinants of health and illness, social interventions that affect health and illness and the social experience of health outcomes.
*SOCY 491 Health Identities and Inequalities.
A course that examines health inequalities across social identity categories such as race, class, gender, sexuality and embodiment.