Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Public Health

Program Steering Committee and Advisors
Jonathan Forde, Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Gregory Frost-Arnold, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Keoka Grayson, Associate Professor of Economics
Jessica Hayes-Conroy, Chair, Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality and Intersectional Justice
Justin Miller, Professor of Chemistry

The public health program is an interdisciplinary program offering a major and a minor for students preparing for professional or graduate training in health care or careers enhanced with public health understanding. Public health is a field dedicated to understanding and improving the health of people and the communities they live within. The Public Health program serves students planning to enter a variety of health professions fields. Students in the program can expect to graduate with a deep appreciation for the complex social, biological, economic, cultural, and ecological dimensions of human health. The program has also been designed in a way that facilitates opportunities for pursuing a pre-med pathway or other pre-professional pursuits. Students are encouraged to study abroad through programs including (but not limited to) those in Galway, Ireland; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Stockholm, Sweden.

Mission Statement

The public health program seeks to advance an approach to human health and wellness that embraces multiple perspectives, invites reflexivity, encourages critical thinking, and centers justice as our foundational goal.

Offerings

Public Health Studies Major (B.A.)

interdisciplinary, 12 courses
Learning Objectives:

• To enable students to study important issues of human health and health care in the United States and abroad.
• To teach students to recognize the varied social, cultural, economic, biological, and ecological determinants of health.
• To allow students to think critically, creatively, and expansively about what it means to study and intervene in human health at both the clinical and population level.
• To allow students to gain auxiliary skills vital to public health professionals in the 21st century.
• To encourage students to improve communication skills and to consider ethical foundations essential for health professionals.
• To enable students to pursue an area of concentration that deepens their knowledge of human health in ways specific to their career aspirations.

Requirements:
The required courses are PBHL 100 (Introduction to Public Health), either PBHL 201 (Epidemiology) or PBHL 301 (Critical Social Epidemiology), GSIJ 204 (Politics of Health), a Tools Course, and PBHL 400 Capstone. In addition, students must take three Public Health Core Electives from at least two different disciplines, three courses within a chosen area of concentration (Health Science, Environmental Health, Global Health, or Health Justice), and one additional course from any listed for the major. No more than three 100-level courses can be counted for the major, and students must take at least two 300- or 400-level courses in addition to the capstone. Six courses must be unique to the major. All courses must be passed with a grade of C- or higher. Credit/no credit courses cannot be counted toward the major. Note: Students may take both PBHL 201 and PBHL 301. In such cases, one will fulfill the required epidemiology slot, and the other may count as either a Tools Course (for PBHL 201), a Core Elective (either 201 or 301), or the additional course required for the major (either 201 or 301).

Public Health Minor

interdisciplinary, 6 courses
Requirements:
The required courses are PBHL 100 (Introduction to Public Health), either PBHL 201 (Epidemiology) or PBHL 301 (Critical Social Epidemiology), GSIJ 204 (Politics of Health), and a Tools Course. In addition, students must take two Public Health Core Electives, one of which must be at the 300- or 400-level. Three courses must be unique to the minor. All courses must be passed with a grade of C- or higher. Credit/no credit courses cannot be counted toward the minor. Note: Students may take both PBHL 201 and PBHL 301. In such cases, one will fulfill the required epidemiology slot, and the other may count as either a Tools Course (for PBHL 201) or a Core Elective (either 201 or 301).

Tools Courses
ANTH 273 Field Methods
BIOL 230 Biostatistics
ECON 202 Statistics
ENV 203 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems
ENV 207 Environmental Statistics
GEO 107 Statistics for Citizens
GEO 207 Environmental Statistics
GSIJ 305 Food, Feminism & Health
INRL 371 Research Design and Ethics
MATH 351 Math Statistics
PSY 201 + 202 Statistics in the Psychological Science / Introduction to Research Methods in Psychological Science

Core Electives

Natural Science Division:
BIOL 160 Nutrition
BIOL 167 Introductory Topics
BIOL 215 Evolutionary Genetics 
BIOL 220 General Genetics 
BIOL 224 Anatomy
BIOL 302 Immunology
BIOL 322 Microbiology
BIOL 327 Cancer Biology
BIOL 332 Cell Biology
BIOL 333 Physiology
BIOL 340 Neurobiology 
BIOL 341 Developmental Biology 
BIOL 380 Genomics
CHEM 148 Nutrition 
CHEM 348 Biochemistry I

Social Science Division:
ANTH 228 Biological Anthropology
ANTH 260 Medical Anthropology
ECON 243 Political Economy of Race
EDUC 202 Human Growth and Development
EDUC 203 Children and Disabilities
EDUC 221 Understanding Autism
EDUC 306 Technology and Disability
EDUC 330 Disability and Transition: Life After High School
GSIJ 211 Place & Health
GSIJ 212 Gender & Geography
GSIJ 305 Food, Feminism & Health
GSIJ 362 Theories of Bodies, Health, and Wellbeing
SOC 248 Medical Sociology

Humanities Division:
BIDS 235 Healer and Humanist: Frantz Fanon the Revolutionary
ENG 114 Sickness, Health & Disability
GSIJ 219 Black Feminism
GSIJ 220 Body Politic
GSIJ 247 History, Psychology, and Feminism
GSIJ 302 Trans Studies
GSIJ 303 Disability & Sexuality
HIST 151 Food Systems in History
PHIL 156 Biomedical Ethics
REL 213 Death & Dying
REL 292 Deviance and (De)Medicalization

Fine Arts Division:
DAN 225 Anatomy & Kinesiology
DAN 305 Somatics
MUS 221 Introduction to Music Therapy

Concentrations

Health Science Concentration:
BIOL 160 Nutrition
BIOL 167 Introductory Biology
BIOL 215 Evolutionary Genetics
BIOL 220 Genetics
BIOL 224 Anatomy
BIOL 300 Evolution
BIOL 302 Immunology
BIOL 322 Microbiology
BIOL 327 Cancer Biology
BIOL 332 Cell Biology
BIOL 333 Physiology
BIOL 341 Developmental Biology
BIOL 380 Genomics
CHEM 110 Introductory General Chemistry
CHEM 120 Intermediate Chemistry
CHEM 190 Accelerated General Chemistry
CHEM 148 Nutrition
CHEM 240 Introductory Organic Chemistry
CHEM 241 Intermediate Organic Chemistry
CHEM 348 Biochemistry
MATH 237 Differential Equations
MATH 353 Math Models
PHIL 238 Philosophy of Natural Science

Environmental Health Concentration:
AFS 211 Black Earth: Nature and African American Writing
ATMO 245 Climate Change Science
BIOL 167 Introductory Biology
BIOL 225 Ecology
BIOL 338 Aquatic Biology
BIOL 339 Global Change Biology
CHEM 210 Quantitative Analysis
ENV 200 Environmental Science
ENV 201 Environment & Society
ENV 203 Fundamentals of GIS
ENV 237 Environmental Justice in Indian Country
ENV 281 Remote Sensing
ENV 285 Environmental Afrofuturisms
ENV 309 Environmental Change in the Indigenous World
ENV 310 Advanced GIS
ENV 320 Natural Resource Law
ENV 345 Decolonial Environmentalisms
GEO 140 Environmental Geology
GEO 142 Earth Systems Science
GEO 182 Introduction to Meteorology
GEO 255 Global Climate and Oceans
GEO 365 Environmental Meteorology
GSIJ 212 Gender and Geography
PHIL 154 Environmental Ethics
REL 295 Sustainability, Fashion and Justice

Health Justice Concentration:
AFS 208 Growing Up Black
ANTH 110 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 341 Making Babies
ECON 122 Economics of Caring
ECON 243 Political Economy of Race
ECON 305 Political Economy
ECON 310 Economics and Gender
EDUC 203 Children and Disabilities
EDUC 221 Understanding Autism
EDUC 306 Technology and Disability
EDUC 330 Disability and Transition: Life After High School
ENG 114 Sickness, Healthy, and Disability
ENG 246 Decadence
GSIJ 205 Queer and Trans Social Movement
GSIJ 206 Reading Feminisms
GSIJ 209 Queer of Color Critique
GSIJ 211 Place & Health
GSIJ 213 Transnational Intimacies
GSIJ 218 Queer Representation in Theater and Film
GSIJ 219 Black Feminisms
GSIJ 220 Body Politic
GSIJ 247 History, Feminism, and Psychology
GSIJ 250 Chicana Feminism and Visual Culture
GSIJ 300 Intersectional Feminist Theory
GSIJ 302 Trans Studies
GSIJ 303 Disability & Sexuality in US Culture
GSIJ 305 Food, Feminism & Health
GSIJ 308 Chicana and Latina Art
GSIJ 309 Stormy Weather, Ecofeminism
GSIJ 310 Queer Theory and Methods
GSIJ 362 Theories of The Body, Health, and Wellness
HIST 227 African-American History I
HIST 228 African-American History II
HIST 284 Africa: From Colonial to Neocolonial
HIST 348 Black Women and the Struggle for Rights in America
HIST 354 Lives of Consequence
PHIL 156 Biomedical Ethics
PHIL 162 Ethics of Civic Engagement
PHIL 250 Feminism: Ethics and Knowledge
PHIL 345 Power, Privilege, and Knowledge
POL 175 Introduction to the Politics of Women, Gender, and Liberation 
REL 213 Death and Dying
REL 295 Sustainability, Fashion and Justice
SOC 205 Men and Masculinity
SOC 221 Race and Ethnic Relations
SOC 223 Inequalities
SOC 248 Medical Sociology
THTR 290 Theatre for Social Change

Global Health Concentration:
Note: this concentration’s electives also include up to 2 language courses at the 200 level or above

AFS 150 Foundations Africana Studies
ANTH 260 Medical Anthropology
ANTH 221 Human Rights of Indigenous People
ANTH 296 Africa: Beyond Crisis, Poverty, and Aid
ANTH 354 Seminar: Food, Meaning, Voice
BIDS 235 Healer and Humanist: Frantz Fanon the Revolutionary
ECON 227 Women and International Development
ECON 210 Economic Inequality
ECON 211 The Economics of Energy, Development and Climate Change
ECON 227 Women and International Development
ECON 233 Comparative Economics
ECON 240 International Trade
ECON 311 The Economics of Immigration
ECON 344 Economic Development
GLS 101 Introduction to Global Studies
GLS 201 Global Cultural Literacies
GSIJ 213 Transnational Feminisms
RUSE 251/351 Sexuality, Creativity and Power
HIST 151 Food Systems in History
HIST 237 Europe Since the War
HIST 240 Immigration and Ethnicity in America
HIST 284 Africa: From Colonial to Neocolonial
HIST 286 Plants and Empire
HIST 301 The Enlightenment
HIST 318 Making of the Individualist Self
HIST 353 Invention of Africa
INRL 208 Gender & Politics in Middle E & N Africa
INRL 254 Globalization 
INRL 258 State, Society, and Market in the Middle East and North Africa 
INRL 259 African Politics 
INRL 260 Human Rights and International Law 
INRL 275 Environmental Insecurity
INRL 285 Borders, Belonging, and Rights in the Middle East and North Africa 
INRL 301 International Relations of India 
INRL 350 International Relations of China 
INRL 380 Theories of International Relations
REL 236 Gender and Islam
REL 347 Gender and Identity in the Muslim World
RUSE 251/351 Sexuality, Creativity and Power (same as GSIJ 251/351)
SLA 304 LatinX-Latin American Literature
SLA 316 Voces de Mujeres

Course Descriptions

PBHL 100 Introduction to Public Health  Drawing from interdisciplinary sources as well as key scholarship from within the field of public health, this course provides an introduction to the core functions of public health, covering both US and global contexts. The course uses historical and contemporary examples to highlight the role of public health in promoting the health status of different populations, and the relationship of public health to other forms of health promotion in clinical and community settings. Focal topics include issues of global health, environmental health, health justice, and clinical health. Students are encouraged to think critically and reflexively about what it means to intervene in human health in such contexts, and to consider how social inequality and structural injustice plays a significant role in health outcomes. (Offered every semester)

PBHL 201 Epidemiology  Epidemiology is the foundational science of public health, concerned with the distribution and determinants of health-related states and events in populations. This course emphasizes the quantitative foundations of epidemiology, introducing students to core concepts, study designs, and analytic tools that are central to mainstream practice in public health. Students will learn about data sources, measures of disease frequency, study design, screening tools, and the application of quantitative methods to topics such as infectious and chronic diseases, mental health, and environmental hazards. Historic and contemporary examples will be used throughout. (Staff, offered annually)

PBHL 260 Graphic Medicine  This course introduces students to graphic medicine, a field within the health humanities that harnesses the power of comics to tell stories about health, illness, disability, and care. Students will read and analyze a range of graphic medicine texts addressing topics such as pandemics, disability, dementia, mental health, medical ethics, environmental health, and HIV/AIDS care, alongside critical essays that explore the field's rapid growth and significance to medicine and public health. In addition to reading and discussion, students will experiment with making comics through guided workshops and exercises, culminating in the creation of a graphic medicine piece of their own. No prior artistic skill is required. The course is offered at both the 200- and 300-level: students enrolled at the 300-level will complete additional readings, produce an extended comparative book review, and meet higher expectations for depth and refinement in all work. (offered occasionally; Hayes-Conroy)

PBHL 301 Critical Social Epidemiology  Critical social epidemiology examines how patterns of health and disease emerge through social and political processes, always shaped by history and context. In contrast to the quantitative focus of PBHL 201, this course introduces critical, qualitative, and theoretical traditions of epidemiology, exploring ways of understanding population health that are not typically centered in quantitative approaches. Students will examine the origins of epidemiological science, the historical erasures of marginalized voices, and the assumptions that underpin much contemporary epidemiological work. Topics include the ecosocial theory of disease distribution, the history of Latin American Social Medicine/Collective Health, the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, the relationship between epidemiology and racism/colonialism, qualitative epidemiology, and embodiment theory. The course draws from public health, health geography, disability studies, gender studies, and the health humanities to build a broader understanding of how population health is studied and imagined. (offered every other year or annually; Hayes-Conroy)

PBHL 360 Graphic Medicine  This course introduces students to graphic medicine, a field within the health humanities that harnesses the power of comics to tell stories about health, illness, disability, and care. Students will read and analyze a range of graphic medicine texts addressing topics such as pandemics, disability, dementia, mental health, medical ethics, environmental health, and HIV/AIDS care, alongside critical essays that explore the field's rapid growth and significance to medicine and public health. In addition to reading and discussion, students will experiment with making comics through guided workshops and exercises, culminating in the creation of a graphic medicine piece of their own. No prior artistic skill is required. The course is offered at both the 200- and 300-level: students enrolled at the 300-level will complete additional readings, produce an extended comparative book review, and meet higher expectations for depth and refinement in all work. (offered occasionally; Hayes-Conroy)

PBHL 400 Senior Capstone  This capstone course in Public Health Studies provides students with multiple pathways to integrate and extend their liberal arts education while preparing for future professional or academic trajectories. Students select one of three tracks: Research, Internship, or Professional Pathways. In the Research Track, students design and complete an independent project that culminates in a written report and presentation; enrollment requires prior consultation and an approved research plan before the start of the semester. In the Internship Track, students integrate an approved internship with academic analysis, producing a professional portfolio and a critical paper that situates their experience in relation to ethics, equity, and practice; internships must be secured and approved in the preceding semester. In the Professional Pathways Track, students engage contemporary texts and debates in public health and related fields while developing a portfolio of professional and public-facing writing aligned with their intended career path. While the outside-of-class work differs across tracks, all students participate in shared seminar discussions emphasizing ethics, cross-track dialogue, and collaborative workshops. (Staff, offered annually)