Course Descriptions

MEHU 6101-ETHICS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (1 credit hour)
This course will employ small-group discussion to explore ethical issues in the conduct of scientific research. Students will meet with co-instructors from the IMH and the GSBS to discuss readings and cases dealing with the philosophy of science, the ordinary practice of scientific research, conflicts of interest, and the value conflicts that arise between scientists and society at large. Course grades (S/U) will be determined by attendance, which is required at all sessions (60%), and adequate class participation based on an understanding of the basic concepts of the course (40%).

Prerequisite: None
Term offered: Summer
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: 15 contact hours in 3 days
Co-Directors: TBA
Changed effective Summer Term, 2005

MEHU 6375–HUMANISM AND THE HUMANITIES (3 credit hours)
This course will provide an historical and conceptual overview of Western humanism and its evolution into university-based humanities disciplines. It will begin with the contemporary debate over the canon and core curriculum in academic circles. This debate about whether American society possesses any shared values on which to build a unified community will frame our historical exploration of humanism and our approach to the medical humanities. Readings will include a textbook on the history of Western humanism; primary sources from antiquity, the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, the emergence of the modern university and of modern professionalism, and contemporary analyses by advocates of postmodernism and critics of the Western tradition. Course grading will be based on class participation (25%) and three essays about course readings (25% each).

Prerequisite: None
Term offered: Fall
Year offered: Biennially-Odd Years
Hours per week: Seminar 3
Instructor: Anne Hudson Jones, PhD
Changed effective Fall Term, 2007

MEHU 6378-HUMANISM AND THE MEDICAL HUMANITIES (3 credit hours)
This course introduces students to central themes in humanistic thought since 1800. Drawing on both European and American authors of cultural criticism, medicine, and social theory, it will follow relations between varieties of humanism and medicine. Topics include the flourishing of liberal humanism in the nineteenth century; the professionalization of the humanities in the new research universities; the evolution of intellectuals as a social class; the modern split between scientific medicine and humanistic thought; the attack on humanism and the end of modernity; the growth of the medical humanities; and the rise of multiculturalism. Grading will be based on class participation (25%), and three short papers (25% each) that address questions from the required readings. Readings will include works by Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Hughes, Lasch, Trilling, Habermas, Taylor, Lyotard, Rothman, Pellegrino, Clouser, Ramsey, Engelhardt, Carson, and Kass.

Prerequisite: None
Term offered: Spring
Year offered: Biennially-Even
Hours per week: Lecture 3
Instructor: Ronald A. Carson, PhD
Changed effective Fall Term, 2008

MEHU 6382-CLINICAL ETHICS PRACTICUM (3 credit hours)
This course is designed to provide an opportunity for graduate students in the IMH to learn about the culture of clinical medicine by engaging them in health-care encounters and relationships that typify medical practice. Students will be introduced to basic concepts of clinical ethics through observation of the patient-doctor relationship in various practice sites. The student, with guidance, will select a pre-approved clinical site or sites (i.e., clinical practice, medical ICU, hospice) and observe and interact with the care team, on a weekly basis, for three hours. Further objectives of the course will be dependent on individual student needs but may include understanding of medical terminology and the vocabulary of medicine, readings in a particular area of clinical ethics or ethics consultation, and observation of ethics consultations, clinical ethics teaching, and ethics committee meetings. Students will complete a project (paper, presentation, or case analysis). Grading will be determined as 20% from attendance and participation, 40% from discussions of readings and clinical experiences, and 40% from the project.

Prerequisite: Students must contact the instructor for prior approval at least 30 days before class begins
Maximum number of students: 3
Term offered: Fall, Spring, Summer
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Conference or discussion 2; Clinical 3
Instructor: Cheryl J. Ellis Vaiani, PhD
Changed effective Summer Term, 2005

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