298H Seminars - Summer/Fall 2024

In this course, we will explore and examine the healthcare system in Costa Rica. The International Center for Development Studies (ICDS), based in Costa Rica, will arrange lectures, site visits, observations, community work sessions, and cultural activities to provide students with in-depth content from local experts. Students will learn about the public-private model of healthcare and equity, healthcare management and case studies of healthcare services, and differences of healthcare systems in US and Costa Rica (including in Latin America as a whole). In addition, students will visit a local hospital and a clinic to observe and learn about how the medical facilities operate and challenges they are facing. From the on-site lectures and the first-hand observation and learning opportunities about the healthcare system in Costa Rica, students are stimulated to compare the healthcare system differences, strengths and challenges they are facing, future directions of the healthcare systems between US’s and one in Costa Rica.

Greenhouse gasses generated by human activity are causing an increased frequency of extreme weather events, record-hot summers, and melting glaciers. The problem has seeped into our collective imaginations, generating numerous apocalyptic visions of the future and a widely felt climate anxiety.

Yet, the effect of climate change on life on Earth represents an enormous opportunity to understand nature in an integrative way. Heat, water, and other physical features of the environment (e.g., acidity, gases) have broad effects on physiology, and these effects ‘scale up’ to impacts on organisms, populations, communities, and even whole biomes. Changes in one species may affect another species or even the physical environment, causing ripple effects throughout natural systems. Thermal stress, among other changes, may drive evolutionary responses, further changing the make-up of ecological communities. Understanding the biological effect of climate change requires, at a minimum, some ability to connect the dots among processes and organisms.

In this course, we will strive to connect the dots and follow the likely trails of effect from adding CO2 to the atmosphere to changes in natural phenomena. We will map out a logical flow of consequences and investigate the evidence for steps along the trail. We will then integrate across effects to make educated guesses about complex but critical climate impacts on things that many people care about, like coral reefs, polar bears, and coffee, and things we worry about, like malaria and growing food.

This course is specifically designed for students interested in the study of public health communication from a global perspective. We will explore the range of health communication and strategic communication theories that underpin health messages, campaigns, and interventions from critical and cultural perspectives and approaches from around the world. We will learn how to critically examine and unpack how global health issues are framed, such as infectious disease outbreaks (COVID-19, Ebola), chronic diseases (e.g., heart health, diabetes), and health campaigns and interventions (e.g., vaccines). We will then study perspectives from public health and global health campaigns to understand the various communication principles and approaches in the design of these health campaigns. Finally, the course will unpack the role of colonialism and its influence on the practices, structures, and processes of global health communication. In doing so, we will develop global awareness of on how various socio-cultural factors influence the planning, development and execution of public health communication around the world.

The Earth has been called the cradle of humanity. The only home that humankind has ever known. But are there circumstances that would force humankind to look to the stars as a last resort in the face of extinction? Could humanity become a multi-planet species? What are the current plans for such events? Now more than ever it is important to understand how science and STEM are used to make informed decisions in day-to-day operations and prepare for the future. This course is designed to be a “survey of STEM” in which individuals that may be unfamiliar with many topics in STEM can gain knowledge of the scientific method and the diversity of the disciplines. The course is also trans-disciplinary in nature. The intersection of STEM and non-STEM fields. How is art used in science? What is the science of art? These questions, and more, will be discussed at length in “How to Build a Starship.”