Director: Jefferson Gatrall
The Medical Humanities major offers a broad and flexible curriculum, drawing on the humanities, social sciences, the arts, biomedical sciences, and the caregiving disciplines. Majors take core courses in Bioethics, Medical Anthropology, and Literature and Illness and fulfill further requirements through a choice of offerings in psychology, history, sociology, religious studies, child advocacy, and biology. Majors also pursue personal academic and career goals through coursework in 4 tracks of electives. In their final year, all Med Hum majors work one-on-one with a faculty supervisor to create a capstone experiential learning project, one that may involve placement in healthcare institutions or health-related organizations in New Jersey and New York City.
The Medical Humanities major gives students a competitive edge in the healthcare industries, the fastest growing sector in the economy today. Med Hum majors acquire a knowledge base in diverse healthcare fields as well as the transferable job skills that employees value highly: writing, oral communication, critical thinking, and ethical decision-making. Med Hum graduates find employment opportunities in hospitals, insurance carriers, universities, pharmaceutical companies, nursing facilities, physicians’ offices, retirement communities, and outpatient centers. They also continue their studies at the postgraduate level, from medical and law school to a range of interdisciplinary PhD programs in the humanities and social sciences.
Program Requirements
Students must complete General Education requirements and World Languages and Cultures Requirements.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| MEDH 101 | Introduction to the Medical Humanities | 3 |
| ANTH 180 | Health and Healing in Cross Cultural Perspective | 3 |
| PHIL 204 | Philosophical Issues in Biomedical Ethics | 3 |
| MEDH 301 | Medicine, Literature and Illness | 3 |
| MEDH 491 | Capstone Project in the Medical Humanities | 3-6 |
| Human Biology Requirement | ||
| Complete 1 course from the following: | 4 | |
| Physical Anthropology | ||
| The Biology of Human Life | ||
| Principles of Biology I | ||
| Social Sciences Requirement | ||
| Complete 1 course from the following: | 3 | |
| Child Abuse and Neglect | ||
| Introduction to Psychology | ||
| Sociology of the Family | ||
| Humanities Requirement | ||
| Complete 1 course from the following: | 3 | |
| History of Public Health in the United States | ||
| Death, Dying and Afterlife | ||
| Medical Rhetorics: Texts, Bodies, Illness, Treatment | ||
| Electives | ||
| Complete 15 credits from the following: | 15 | |
| Caregiving, Aging Studies and Disability Studies | ||
| Introduction to Disability Studies, Rights, and Culture | ||
| Disability in US Popular Culture | ||
| Anthropology of Aging and the Aged | ||
| Introduction to Art Therapy | ||
| Introduction to Music Therapy | ||
| Nursing Care and the Aging Patient | ||
| Death, Dying and Afterlife | ||
| Body and Soul | ||
| Psychological Aspects of Aging | ||
| Communication and Advocacy | ||
| Literacy in Child Advocacy and Policy | ||
| Introduction to Health Communication | ||
| Health Communication Theory | ||
| Health Communication in Interpersonal Contexts | ||
| Intermediate French 1 | ||
| Transprofessional Communication Collaboration | ||
| Nursing Scholarship | ||
| Spanish I 2 | ||
| Medical Rhetorics: Texts, Bodies, Illness, Treatment | ||
| Human Biological and Psychological Well-Being | ||
| Physical Anthropology | ||
| The Biology of Human Life | ||
| Emerging Diseases | ||
| Principles of Biology I | ||
| Principles of Biology II | ||
| Psychological Aspects of Human Sexuality | ||
| Health Psychology | ||
| Developmental Psychology I | ||
| Psychological Foundations of Personality | ||
| Clinical Psychology | ||
| Systems of Psychotherapy | ||
| Community and Public Health | ||
| The Anthropology of Food and Nutrition | ||
| Community and Health | ||
| Medical Anthropology | ||
| Cultural Competencies in Child Welfare | ||
| Child Abuse and Neglect | ||
| Introduction to Public Health | ||
| Social and Behavioral Aspects of Health | ||
| Population and Global Health: Didactic | ||
| Health Psychology: Applications to the Community | ||
| Sociology of the Family | ||
| Statistics for Social Research | ||
| Sociology of Health and Illness | ||
| Total Credits | 40-43 | |