Medical Humanities and Societies
The Medical Humanities and Society minor offers an interdisciplinary curriculum that allows Augustana undergraduates to explore what it means to be human, to become informed about current issues in healthcare and medicine, and to examine the complexities of illness, health, medicine, and healthcare. Guided by these goals, the program offers an integrative and intentional approach to investigating, evaluating, and understanding the deep impacts of illness and disease on patients, health professionals, and the social worlds in which they live and work.
A truly transformational program, medical humanities and society (e.g., narrative medicine, history of medicine, institutional dynamics, contemporary issues of structure and agency, culture studies, science and society studies, ethics, economics, business, philosophy, and the arts) seeks to shape how undergraduate students preparing for careers in healthcare can use a foundational understanding in the natural sciences and integrate it with the humanities and social sciences.
Though not an exhaustive list, fields of interest for those considering this program include the following: pre-medical, nursing, exercise science, pre-dental, pre-physician assistant, pre-occupational therapy, pre-physical therapy, pharmacy, social work, speech therapy, hospital chaplains, healthcare administration, community health, public education, and athletic training. In a liberal arts setting, students in these areas of inquiry will have distinctive and authentic opportunities to encounter and contemplate the deepest meanings of health and healing, to reflect on the sacred nature of medicine as their vocation, and to integrate faith with learning and service.