Beginning spring term, a new program which relates the study of human biology to issues in ethics, government, economics and a variety of other fields will provide students with another way to satisfy the College's much-sought-after Interdisciplinary course requirement.
Three classes will be offered through the new Humanitates vitae program (listed as Human Biology in the ORC). The first two of these, entitled "Life on Mars" and "Human Biology in a Changing Global Environment" will premiere next term, while the third, "Controversies in Health, Biology, and Politics: How Decisions Are Really Made," is scheduled for Winter 2002.
The focus of each of these classes will be "inherently interdisciplinary," said Lee A. Witters, program director and professor of medical and biological sciences.
"We aren't trying to create more bio majors, or more pre-meds. We're actually trying to reach out to the religion majors, the history majors, the philosophy majors," Witters told The Dartmouth.
"The student who's a govy major and goes to work on Capitol Hill will need to understand the ethics surrounding, for example, the human genome. We also feel that no student should graduate without some course work that relates to human biology," he continued.
Instead of solely using a lecture format, the daily routine of the classes will combine small group work on case studies and problem solving, discussions and independent reading with the more standard lectures from the faculty.
The professors for these classes will be drawn from the Dartmouth Medical School, the Tuck School of Business, the Thayer School of Engineering and a variety of departments from within the College.
"All of the faculty will be participating throughout the entire course -- it's not going to be sequential teaching in which you see one teacher one week and another the next," said Witters.
Witters also noted the unusual access Dartmouth undergraduates have to the resources of its professional and graduate schools.
"There are very few places in which the medical faculty is really involved with undergraduates. To be able to bring those teachers in with faculty from the arts and sciences is an amazing opportunity. Cornell's medical school isn't even in the same city and Harvard's is on the opposite side of the Charles River," Witters noted.
The ideas for the classes were developed 18 months ago when students and professors participated in a series of meetings and retreats. The group of students involved was composed based on faculty suggestions within both the sciences and humanities departments.
The courses will be capped at 60 students, and limited to freshmen, sophomores and those obtaining special permission from the faculty. "We felt that the first time these are taught, we should keep it small enough to break down classes. If they're wildly popular, we may decide to offer them twice a year later on," said Witters.
The restriction to first- and second-year students partially due to a $150,000 grant that Humanitates Vitae received from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. "They asked us to create a program for the undifferentiated student -- those without a major," said Witters of the grant.
As the program evolves, older students may have the opportunity to enroll. Witters stated that the department hopes to add a few more courses over the next several years, with the possibility of offering enough for a minor in the more distant future.
It is possible that the classes will obtain approval to satisfy the College's SCI requirement. Students interested in the program can obtain more information at www.dartmouth.edu/~humbio.
