2024-2025 Academic Catalog 
    
    Nov 03, 2024  
2024-2025 Academic Catalog

Health, Science, & Society Minor


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Health Science & Society Overview


The Health, Science, and Society minor introduces students to health as a multi-dimensional lens through which to understand how biological, environmental, political, and social forces shape individual and societal well-being.  Students in Health, Science, and Society will learn about biological and social determinants of health, how health, debility, and disease occupy a fundamental place in human experience, how socio-economic structures foster wellness and good health as well as disease and health disparities, and the crucial ways that the human-environment nexus shapes health.  The minor is built on four main perspectives: biomedical science, social determinants of health, statistics-based data analysis, and ethical considerations. 

Thinking about health, disease, and medicine at a biomolecular level provides a critical perspective for anyone wishing to have a strong foundation in a health-related field. Considering social, economic, and environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status, education, the physical environment, employment, social support networks, and access to health care leads to a broader understanding of health issues within a society. In both social sciences and biomedical sciences, the appropriate use of statistical analysis of data is required for appropriate and meaningful conclusions to be drawn. Questioning what is good, just, fair, and compassionate provides insight about what a society or individuals should do to promote health equity using different kinds of evidence about health inequalities. Together, these perspectives provide a well-balanced lens through which to consider complex health-related questions. 

The minor is supported by faculty with diverse interests from many departments, and it provides a great opportunity for students to gain a strong foundation in diverse health sciences and strengthen their qualifications for a variety of professional directions.

Beyond the classroom, Health, Science, and Society minors learn about the research and field experience of faculty and their undergraduate and graduate student peers through workshops, panels, and informal gatherings. Students have the opportunity to build on and expand their knowledge with hands-on experience through either an internship or applied research.

Minor Requirements


Six total courses:

One course from the biomedical sciences course list shown below

One course from the social determinants of health course list

One course from the statistical analysis course list

One course from the health ethics & values course list

Two additional courses selected from any of the lists.

There are also many relevant courses offered at consortium schools and through study away/abroad programs that can be added to these lists.  To request a course to be considered, send a description and syllabus  (if available) to the HSS directors.

Course-counting rules:

Excluding the statistics course, no more than two of the other six courses may come from any individual department.

No more than two of the other six courses may be counted towards the student’s major.  Any additional transcript designations (second major, minor, etc.) may also have no more than two overlapping courses each.

A course that is listed on multiple course lists (for example both social determinants and ethics) may only be used to satisfy one requirement, not both.

In unusual or complex situations, the program head will decide how to apply the spirit of these rules.

Course Lists

Biomedical Science Course List

BIOL 101 - Introduction to Biology I  

BIOL 102 - Introduction to Biology II      

BIOL 109 - Microbiology  

BIOL 143 - Neuroscience  

BIOL 212 - Microbiomes  

BIOL 218 - Genetics and Disease  

BIOL 236 - Biology of Cancer  

BIOL 255 - Virology  

BCMB 237 - Chemistry and Biology of Medicine  

BCMB 276 - Chemical Biology - Techniques and Applications in Research  

Social Determinants of Health Course List

EN 120 - Discovering Environmental Science  

EN 265 - Cities, Regions, Climate Change & Health  

ID 106 - Healthy Cities  

ID 108 - What is Public Health?  

ID 121 - Culture, Health, and Development: What Makes Us Sick?  

ID 208 - Health (in)equity: social determinants and policy solutions  

ID 233 - Approaches to Community Health  

ID 248 - Gender and Health   

ID 277 - Approaches to Global Health    

SOC 241 - Sociology of Medicine  

SOC 277 - What Makes People Sick? Social Determinants of Health  

CRW 202 - Imagining Place: Writing Health, Science and the Environment  

Statistical Analysis Course List

BIOL 117 - Epidemiology  

GEOG 110 - Introduction to Quantitative Methods  

ECON 160 - Introduction to Statistical Analysis  

PSCI 107 - Research Methods  

QBUS 110 - Quantitative Methods for Managers  

Health Ethics & Values Course List

BIOL 144 - Bioethics: stem cells, embryos and reproduction  

PHIL 130 - Medical Ethics  

PHIL 104 - AIDS to COVID: Ethics and Pandemics  

For 2 electives courses in the minor, students may choose from any of the above or the additional courses listed as electives in the major.

Other Electives Course List (Note that some of these courses have significant prerequisites.)

SPAN 130 - Spanish for the Professions: Medical Spanish  

SOC 284 - Community and Health: Non-Profit Grant Writing  

SOC 277 - What Makes People Sick? Social Determinants of Health  

SOC 180 - Aging and Society  

PSYC 108 - Experimental Methods in Psychology  

PSYC 109 - Qualitative Methods in Psychology  

PSYC 138 - Health Psychology  

PSYC 173 - Psychopathology  

PSYC 203 - Research in Stigma, Intersectionality, and Health  

PSYC 215 - Research on Child Mental Health  

PSYC 226 - Research in Men’s Mental Health  

PSYC 227 - Research on Addictive Behaviors  

PSYC 231 - Couples Research  

PSYC 232 - Research in Community  

PSYC 236 - Stigma and Health  

PSYC 259 - Psychotherapies  

PSYC 281 - Understanding and Addressing Mental Healthcare Disparities in the U.S.  

PHIL 131 - Environmental Ethics  

ID 282 - Community Based Health Research  

ID 236 - Spatial Analysis for Health  

HSS 298 - Internship  

Health, Science & Society Faculty


Ellen Foley, SSJ (Director)

Michael Addis, Psychology

Nathan Ahlgren, Biology

Esteban Cardemil, Psychology

James Cordova, Psychology

Patrick Derr, Philosophy

Tim Downs, SSJ

Charles Jakobsche, Chemistry

Denis Larochelle, Biology

Deborah Merrill, Sociology

Neva Meyer, Biology

Arundhati Nag, Chemistry

Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, SSJ

Nicole Overstreet, Psychology

Deborah Robertson, Biology

Justin Thackeray, Biology

Rosalie Torres Stone, Sociology

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