Abstract

St. John Fisher College's “health-care humanities” co-major, scheduled for implementation in Fall 2007, provides a systematic introduction to humanities for students pursuing degrees in the health sciences. The major includes a core focus on bioethics, an emphasis on methods, and opportunities for students to pursue internships. Providing a cultural and intellectual context for empirical and vocational programs, the health-care humanities co-major creates a focus for courses in philosophy, history, English, and religious studies and an interdisciplinary focus for the College’s mission-driven emphasis on social justice and diversity. The program will capitalize on rich local resources, including a major teaching hospital with a thriving medical humanities program; ultimately we hope that it will provide a curricular focus that distinguishes St. John Fisher locally and nationally. We will provide an overview of the program and discuss two courses, one in philosophy and one in history, that will be included in the program.