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Volume 71, Issue 75,
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
News Honors College unveils minor Medicine and Society Program uses varied facets of Houston's own medical community by AMY WESTERGREN
University officials announced Tuesday the availability of a new minor at a reception in The Honors College commons. The Medicine and Society Program, directed by Associate Dean of the Honors College Bill Monroe and coordinated by professor Helen Valier, was approved in a December meeting of the Undergraduate Council. In the summer of 2004, Jerry Strickland, former UH provost, appointed a steering committee to explore the possibility of establishing a medical humanities minor.
Associate Dean of The Honors College Bill Monroe speaks Tuesday during a reception held to announce the launch of a new medicine and society minor. Gregory Bohuslav/The Daily Cougar Monroe said he hopes the program will spark interest among UH students and faculty. "The Medicine and Society Program at the University of Houston is in an interdisciplinary venture aimed at bringing together healthcare and health-studies specialists from across the city to offer college classes and public events on a wide variety of medical, technology and health-related issues in order to bring this ‘great conversation' to the University," Monroe said in a release. The departmental base for the new minor is The Honors College, but not all the required courses are classified as honors classes. The medicine and society minor, as well as all honors courses, are open to all students. Most classes pre-approved for the required 15 to 18 hours of study are not listed as honors courses. Monroe said the committee that decided the course requirements for the new minor hoped to utilize the broad curriculum offered by the University. The list of courses now approved for the minor is available in The Honors College, and students who decide to minor in medicine and society can petition for any class to be counted toward the requirements. Valier, the medicine and society coordinator, plans to keep the curriculum varied through her involvement in the program. "Part of my job is to be constantly on the lookout for new classes," Valier said. Valier also said she plans to work closely with the students through advising as well by placing interested medicine and society participants in internships around campus. Valier said she has been talking to faculty interested in the program who are doing research in fields related to medicine and society. The first internships are expected to be with the School of Optometry, Valier said. Though she hopes the program will appeal to students from all disciplines, students in pre-health professions programs can benefit from having medicine and society on their transcripts because it shows an in-depth interest in the subject of medicine, Valier said. "Having something that shows a real interest sets students apart when applying for medical school," Valier said. "This is something medical schools are increasingly looking at." Monroe said he supports the unique curriculum and that the opportunities offered to medicine and society students will help in recruiting more academically motivated students to the University. Valier, who is currently doing research at M.D. Anderson Hospital for a book about chemotherapy, said it is time for the University to take advantage of the abundant medical community around it. "Houston has one of the biggest medical centers in the world," Valier said. "We as a university ought to be engaging in that." Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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