Medical and Health Humanities, Bachelor of Arts
Program Overview
The Bachelor of Arts in Medical and Health Humanities is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on understanding health, and the medical field, analyzing human behavior within a global and multi-lingual framework, and developing ethical intelligence. The major is appropriate for students considering careers in the medical field, public health, patient advocacy, and other health-related professions. The program includes 15 hours of required coursework including 6 hours of major specific core curriculum courses, 6 hours of medical humanities courses, and 3 hours in health/healthcare communication. In addition, students complete 21 hours of prescribed electives from humanities and health-related disciplines. Students may use the remaining 48 hours of free electives to pursue a double major, pursue one or more minors, or complete prerequisites for their planned health career.
Core Curriculum - 42 hours
The Core Curriculum serves as a broad foundation for the undergraduate degree. All candidates for a bachelor’s degree must achieve core student learning outcomes, including communication, critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, teamwork, personal responsibility and social responsibility, by completing courses within each category or component area of the Core Curriculum as outlined below.
The University has approved specific courses that satisfy Core Curriculum Requirements. Approved courses can be found on the Core Curriculum Page. Students seeking the most efficient way to complete the core curriculum and major or minor requirements are advised to take approved courses that can fulfill both requirements. Although core curriculum courses can also be used to fulfill major or minor requirements, earned credits hours are only applied once.
The courses listed below fulfill core curriculum and major requirements. Students who have completed a core curriculum category with courses other than those listed below will still be required to take the listed course(s) to meet major requirements.
040 Language, Philosophy, and Culture - 3 hours
090 Integrative & Experiential Learning - 3 hours
| ANTH 2311 | Global Health and Social Justice: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Illness and Inequality |
Major Requirements - 30 hours
Required Courses - 9 hours
| MEDH 2311 | Introduction to Medical and Health Humanities |
| MEDH 4301 | Medical Humanities: Critical Perspectives |
| COMM 3346 | Health Communication |
| Or |
| COMM 3354 | Healthcare Provider Communication |
Prescribed Electives - 21 hours
Humanities - 12 hours
Health - 9 hours
Students may need special approval to enroll in one or more of the courses listed above.
Free electives - 48 hours
Free electives credit hours required may vary to achieve the institutional minimum of 120 hours for a degree.
Free elective credit hours at the advanced level may be needed to achieve the institutional minimum of 42 advanced hours.
Total Credit Hours: 42
Total Credit Hours: 120
View this program’s recommended roadmap to graduation.
UTRGV Roadmaps are a suggested sequence of courses designed to assist students in completing their undergraduate degree requirements. This is a term-by-term sample roadmap of courses required to complete the degree. Students must satisfy all requirements in their catalog including, but not limited to course prerequisites, grade point average and course grade benchmarks, progression requirements, and graduation requirements.
Students should meet with their academic advisor every semester to discuss their individualized path toward completion. Degree progress within this roadmap depends upon such factors as course availability, individual student academic preparation and readiness, student time management, work and personal responsibilities, and financial considerations. Students may choose to take courses during summer terms to reduce course loads during long semesters.