UMA Undergraduate Guide 2019-2020 Certificate Programs Culture, Health and Science Certificate Program (Five Colleges) The Program
The ProgramThe Five College Program in Culture, Health, and Science (CHS) is a certificate program that allows undergraduate liberal arts students to explore human health, disease, and healing from interdisciplinary perspectives. Graduate schools recognize that tomorrow's health experts will need interdisciplinary training to link their understandings of history, culture, and behavior with clinical, biological, and epidemiologic models of health and disease. Students design a plan of study that approaches "health" holistically from the perspective of natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Completing a CHS certificate builds on the liberal arts approach to equip students with tools to think critically about health issues. For example, students may learn to:
Students learn how behavior influences disease distribution, how biomedical categories change across time and culture, and how political and socioeconomic factors affect disease and treatment. CHS students learn to interpret and communicate their results to diverse audiences. RequirementsCourseworkThe seven required courses are to be distributed across the following five categories of inquiry: Category 1: Biocultural ApproachesInterdisciplinary and/or comparative approaches that explore the interdependent influences on human health and disease Category 2: Mechanisms of Disease TransmissionMechanisms of disease growth and transmission within individuals and populations Category 3: Population Health and DiseaseExploring the relationships among social, behavioral, economic and other aggregate population forces on human health and disease Category 4: Ethics, Policy and PracticeCovering structures of knowledge about health and healthcare decision making, including ethical and philosophical issues and their corresponding policy platforms, as well as the implementation of healthcare in practice Category 5: Research Design and AnalysisConcepts of evidence, data collection, research ethics, measurement and modes of analysis Further Details
Independent Research ProjectThe Certificate requires the completion of an independent project such as an internship, thesis, Division III project, course project, independent study or other activity. You work with your campus CHS advisor to develop a project that satisfies both the Certificate requirements and your own interests. Not sure if you have an independent project that qualifies? Meet with your CHS Campus Advisor to find out. Foreign LanguageAlthough not required, training in a foreign language may be necessary for students seeking internships or summer research positions. |