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Courses

Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS)
  • MHHS-M 201 Introduction to Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.) This survey course is an interdisciplinary introduction to Medical Humanities & Health Studies examining the contributions of humanities and social science disciplines to health care and medicine.Bio-ethical issues, socio-cultural factors of health, literary and historical perspectives, and examples of current research are covered. 
  • MHHS-M 301 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 art and science of healing. 
  • MHHS-M 390 A Body of Law: Medicine, Humanities, & Law (3 cr.) P: Student must have at least sophomore status. An introductory course into the intersection of law and medicine as viewed through the lens of the humanities. This course will focus on subtopics of law and medicine, including the legal bases of the doctor-patient relationship, bioethics and law, medical malpractice, and medical professionalization. Its purpose is to introduce students to the way the practice of medicine from both the physician and the patient perspectives is shaped by Constitutional, statutory, and common law. 
  • MHHS-M 410 Addiction Narratives (3 cr.) This course explores the ways in which, through literature, certain understandings of addiction are constructed, represented, and proliferated throughout our culture. We will explore the ways in which the experience of addiction is represented in various cultural forms and in specific texts. Additionally, we will look closely at the relationship between the idea of addiction and other categories such as gender, sexuality, normalcy, race and creativity. In this course we will compare various literary texts and films to see if some seem more "realistic" than others, and explore, through writing and discussion, the possibilities for why this may be so. We will consider how we as individuals and as a society are affected by various representations of addiction, and how this translates into everyday interaction with others. Are some representations dangerous? Students will explore the possibility that representation plays a significant role in our understanding of the experience of addiction and will be encouraged to think critically about the ways various media (film, popular texts, memoir, poetry, biography) affect the way we live our lives and the relationships we develop with others. 
  • MHHS-M 420 The Culture of Mental Illness (3 cr.) This course will consider how mental illness is represented in literature and film by exploring the following: Is there a relationship between the way we understand and perceive mental illness, and the way it is portrayed through pop culture? Have literary and film portrayals of mental illness aided our construction of how we think about mental illness today? How has our understanding of mental illness changed in the last century? We will consider the ways certain understandings of mental illness are constructed, represented and proliferated throughout culture. What are the different representational strategies, in particular the representation of the therapeutic encounter between doctor and patient? 
  • MHHS-M 480 MH Hospice Patient Volunteer Experience (1 cr.) A course to enhance the learning experiences as a patient visitor volunteer for an organized hospice program through selected literature and peer group discussions.
  • MHHS-M 492 Topics in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (1-3 cr.) Intensive study and analysis of selected issues and problems in Medical Humanities and Health Studies. Topics will ordinarily cut across fields and disciplines.  May be repeated once for credit on a different topic.
  • MHHS-M 495 Independent Project/Seminar in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (3 cr.) P: Requires a minimum of 9 credit hours in the minor. A seminar or research project on a subject in Medical Humanities and Health Studies. 
  • MHHS-M 498 Readings in Medical Humanities and Health Studies (1-3 cr.) Individual readings and research. May be repeated once for credit on a different subject.
  • MHHS-M 501 Medical Humanities & The Illness Experience: Exploring the Human Condition (3 cr.) This course will proceed as an in-depth scrutiny of the philosophy and empiricism of medical science. The nature of Medical Humanities will be explored by debating issues affecting the human condition in general, and the illness experience in particular. These issues include evolutionary biology and the beginning of life; questions of artificial life and intelligence; the nature of consciousness; genetics and cloning; the pain of the nation over abortion and euthanasia; alternative and experimental medical techniques; organ donation and transplantation; redefining mental health; and the art and science involved in caring for the patient.
  • MHHS-M 504 Introduction to Research Ethics (3 cr.) Introduction to the basic concepts of research ethics. The course covers the historical development of concern with ethics in science as well as practical information needed by students working in science today. Format is lecture and discussion.
  • MHHS-M 510 Addiction Narratives (3 cr.) This course explores the ways in which, through literature, certain understandings of addiction are constructed, represented, and proliferated throughout our culture.  We will explore the ways in which the experience of addiction is represented in various cultural forms and in specific texts.  Additionally, we will look closely at the relationship between the idea of addiction and other categories such as gender, sexuality, normalcy, race and creativity. In this course we will compare various literary texts and films to see if some seem more "realistic" than others, and explore, through writing and discussion, the possibilities for why this may be so.  We will consider how we as individuals and as a society are affected by various representations of addiction, and how this translates into everyday interaction with others.  Are some representations dangerous?  Students will explore the possibility that representation plays a significant role in our understanding of the experience of addiction and will be encouraged to think critically about the ways various media (film, popular texts, memoir, poetry, biography) affect the way we live our lives and the relationships we develop with others.
  • MHHS-M 520 The Culture of Mental Illness (3 cr.) This course explores the ways in which our understanding of mental illness is constructed, represented, and proliferated throughout our culture, by examining text and film. We will consider how we as individuals and as a society are affected by different representations of mental illness, and how this translates into everyday interaction with others.
  • MHHS-M 592 Graduate Topics in Medical Humanities (3 cr.) Study of topics in Medical Humanities. May be repeated once for credit on a different topic.
  • MHHS-M 595 Clinical Practicum in Medical Humanities (3 cr.) The Clinical Practicum will allow students the opportunity to not only gain a better understanding of clinical medicine, but also develop a better understanding of how the humanities can inform and enrich the practice of medicine in particular and healthcare in general. The clinical experience is individualized based on the students' interests. Students will be provided a list of clinical opportunities from which they may design their practicum experience with guidance from the director.
  • MHHS-M 598 Graduate Readings in Medical Humanities (1-3 cr.) P: Permission of the Program Director required. Focused readings on selected topics in medical humanities by arrangement with the instructor.