Health and society

Human health is complex, influenced not only by the biology and chemistry of the body but also by social structures, culture,and politics and economics. The courses in the Health and Society major look at health from a community perspective and at health as a human right. Students integrate disciplinary perspectives to understand critical issues, such as HIV/AIDS, social disparities in health or universal health insurance from a liberal arts perspective. The issues we study are local and the global: recent student projects have focused on food insecurity in Beloit, communication about malaria prevention in Kenya, and teen pregnancy in Chile. Many of the major courses include hands on learning, from a trip to Nicaragua as part of Nicaragua in Transition course, or community health assessment in a Proseminar. In the words of a student, taking a global health perspective promotes intellectual promiscuity. The interdisciplinary approach of the Health and Society major bridges the different worlds of college classrooms, validates interdisciplinary, integrative thinking and encourages synthesis in thinking about real-world issues. The major includes introductory courses in the sciences and social sciences, followed by three of the existing core health care studies courses, Health Medical Care and Society, Medical Anthropology, Biomedical Ethics, Biological Issues: Emerging Diseases, and Women's Health. All students take a research methods course to prepare them for a required internship or research project. Students work with an advisor to select four courses to address their specific theme.

The major capstone is a 1/2 credit Health and Society Proseminar. Proseminar topics include Health Literacy, Practicum in Community Health, Health and Human Rights, Poverty as a Pathogen, and Medicine and Literature. A 6 unit minor includes core courses and an internship. Students who select the Health and Society major and plan to work in the United States will be strongly encouraged to develop fluency in Spanish language.In addition, students who plan to study abroad in Ecuador or Senegal need to study Spanish or French before they go.