Courses in this cluster introduce students to the behavioral foundations of healthy lifestyles. Courses will also explore the impact of advances in biotechnology, medical research, medical ethics, and the operation of the heath care system on the human condition. Special attention is paid to health and lifestyle issues affecting women, the elderly, and the African American community.

UNST 202. Ecological Approach to an Active Healthy Lifestyle
This course examines the integration of cultural, psychological, sociological, and ethical issues affecting and affected by the health and wellness of individuals and the society in which they live. Students explore the contextual and theoretical basis of holistic approaches including the complex nature of humans with regard to health and well-being from ecological perspectives. Students gain experience with specific methods to foster greater appreciation for personal responsibility for health and strategies to enhance and preserve the individual's and the public's health. Societal health issues and the factors that impact on the health and wellness of communities and the individual's role in health policy are also examined.

UNST 209. Disparities in Public Health Care: The Effects on Race, Gender, and Class
This course is designed to explore the disparities that exist among the categories of race, gender, and class in relationship to healthcare. The course focuses on six areas of major health inequities including infant mortality, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and immunizations.

UNST 214. Maps, Mapping, and Environmental Health
This course encourages students to conceptualize and assess environmental and health issues from a spatial or geographical perspective. Topics such as air pollution, water pollution, population dynamics, occupational health, food protection, epidemiology, disease causation and prevention, vector-borne disease, and consumer protection are covered. Geographic Information Systems technology is used to model environmental health topics.

UNST 215. Comparative Socio-Cultural Environments of Health Care Systems
This course examines the differential effects of social, political, economic and cultural factors on the development and utilization of health care systems across diverse societies. Students further explore the interrelationships among specific aspects of the socio-cultural environment and the availability and use of health care.

UNST 217. Health and Wellness in the 21st Century
This course explores the impact of globalization on health and wellness from the perspectives of culture, religion, politics, history, economics, and technology. 

UNST 218. Fitness for Life
This course is a combination of classroom and activity-based learning activities with a focus on proper nutrition and the mastery of the knowledge and skills necessary for students to become accomplished monitors of their personal fitness.

UNST 221. Thematic Writing and Speaking: Technology and Society
This course is designed to improve students’ abilities to write, speak, and think critically about important issues in the contemporary world by focusing on the rhetoric of science, technology, and progress. Students examine rhetoric as represented in fiction and nonfiction: essays, short stories, drama, poetry, novels, film, popular culture (including popular science writing and journalism), and speeches.

UNST 225. Epidemiology
This course will introduce students to the basic principles, theories and concepts of epidemiology and their application specifically pertaining to the distribution and determinants of disease. The course will focus upon the biological, environmental, social, and analytical approaches to understanding the determinants of human health, and the application of that knowledge to improving the health of populations.

UNST 226. A Personal Approach to Health
This course will address the relationship between lifestyle health-related issues, including sexual responsibility, psychological health, nutrition, and exercise. Additionally, issues such as weight control, stress management, tobacco, and alcohol use will be addressed.

UNST 227. Global Health and Socio-Economic Development
This course will introduce students to the main concepts of global health and the critical links between public health and social and economic development. The course reviews the determinants of health status in terms of biology, demography, epidemiology, culture, sociology, economics, and politics. Global Health introduces students to key concerns regarding reproductive health, child survival, nutrition, communicable diseases, and chronic diseases.

UNST 228. Contemporary Issues in Public Health
This course explores current public health, environmental health, and health service delivery issues in the U.S. Topics include organization and costs of health systems, access to care, and the interrelationships between risk factors and health.

UNST 301. Evolutionary Medicine
The course examines the relevance of evolutionary biology to biomedical research and clinical practice. We will examine how and why evolutionary perspectives on defense, infection, novel environments, genetic variation, design compromises, and phylogenetic legacies should be indispensable concepts in medicine. Topics will include the evolutionary theory of senescence, pediatrics, obstetrics, infectious disease, cancer, and psychiatry.

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BIO 100. Biological Science
This is a general education course that stresses the objectives presented under the general education program of the University. This course stresses central concepts in biology including; basic chemical and physical phenomena, biochemistry, cell form and function, genetics, evolution, and multicellular organization. The laboratory will examine major biological concepts. Biological Science is not open to Biology majors.

FCS 135. Food and Man's Survival
This course acquaints students with the most common information regarding foods, nutrition and health, with attempts to dispel misconceptions about food properties and factors affecting the quality of foods. Areas of discussion include man’s struggle for foods; chemical additives and food safety; modern food preservation; organic and health foods; and nutrition and the consumer.

HPED 219. Human Sexuality
This course introduces students to the biology of human sexuality, the anatomy and physiology involved in the human sexual response, and the emotional and cultural perspectives of human sexuality.

HPED 222. Health and Wellness in the 21st Century
This course explores the impact of globalization and its associated issues on the health and wellness of humanity. Such phenomena are examined from the perspectives of culture, religion, politics, history, economics and technology. These issues are also analyzed and addressed within the context of developing and developed countries and synthesized from a global perspective.

LIBS 307. Food and the Global Community
This course uses multidisciplinary perspectives to examine the connections between food and human lifeways. Focusing on varied ethnic food traditions and people around the world, this course will explore 1) the interplay of class and gender in the preparation of food, 2) the role of political and economic power in the accessibility and distribution of food, and 3) the religious and cultural symbolism of eating.

MATH 111. College Algebra and Trigonometry
This course is a review of basic algebra; first and second degree equations; polynomial and rational functions-systems of equations-inequalities, right triangle trigonometry; and trigonometric identities and equations. Prerequisites: Mathematics 099 or two units of high school algebra, one unit of high school geometry and a satisfactory score on the mathematical portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

MATH 112. Calculus for Non-Mathematics Majors
This course includes a brief treatment of basic concepts of differential and integral calculus with applications to business, economics, social and behavioral sciences; polynomial, rational, exponential and logarithmic functions. Prerequisite: MATH 102, 110, or 111.

NURS 305. Nutrition for Healthy Lifestyles
This course introduces fundamentals of human nutrition for the promotion of optimal health and wellness across the life span.

NURS 306. Health Care in an Aging Society
This course is intended to introduce the student to the principles of health care in an aging society. Students will be exposed to the concepts that are applicable to caring for the elderly as well as being introduced to various interdisciplinary agencies that work with the elderly to ensure a holistic approach to their care.

NURS 315. Issues in Women's Health
This course examines health and health care from a historical perspective. Implications of female gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and spirituality are examined. The course explores healthcare delivery systems and the impact of environment on health.

NURS 415. Health Care in a Global Society
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the impact of health and illness of all populations in the USA and select countries worldwide. Students will be able to compare the major public health concerns in the United States to those in other countries. Prerequisites: Junior Standing in the University.

PHIL 266. Contemporary Moral Problems
This course begins with an examination of various ethical theories and then applies these theories to address moral challenges faced by today’s society. Topics include the environment, abortion, treatment of animals, drug use, pornography, hate speech, euthanasia, famine relief, affirmative action and the death penalty.

PSYC 320. General Psychology
This course includes an introduction to psychology as a life science especially designed for the major in areas other than psychology. Topics given major consideration include maturation and development-motivation, emotion, and personality; mental health, intelligence and aptitude; perception and attention; learning, forgetting, language, and thinking; social influence, attitudes, and beliefs, and vocational adjustment. PSYC 320 or 321 serves as a prerequisite for all psychology courses except for PSYC 242.

SOCI 304. Social Aspects of Human Sexuality
Social aspects of human sexuality and American sexual behavior and its influence on life styles will be studies. Emphasis will be on social roles.

SOCI 308. Sociology of Marriage and the Family
The family as a social institution and family types in cross-cultural perspectives will be studied.

SOWK 370. Aging in Society
Aging and its implication in social institutions are studied. Prerequisite: Junior standing

SOWK 409. Disability and Employment
This course will focus on selected mental, physical, and social disabilities, and their implications for coping and employment.

SOWK 415. Medical Sociology
This course includes sociological analysis of medical services, the roles of the sick professional organizations and quasi-professional groups; socializational structure of hospitals; sociodemographic and socioepidemiologic variables in relation to modern societies. Cultural and cross-cultural customs and traditions affecting attitudes toward health and the healing art will also be studied.

*Use of these courses as theme-cluster electives in subsequent semesters is not guaranteed.

Community, Conflict and Society

Energy, Environment and Society

Health, Lifestyles and Society

Philosophy, Religion and Society

Science, Technology and Society

• Students are required to complete twelve (12) credit hours within a single thematic cluster.

• Theme-based courses are communication intensive (oral and written) and emphasize interdisciplinary learning motivated by societal issues and problems.

• Course descriptions of approved thematic courses can be found within the theme cluster website links above as well as in the requisite sections of the University Bulletin.

• If a student decides to change to a different thematic cluster, he/she will have to satisfy all the course requirements for the new cluster. The Dean of University Studies will consider exceptions to this rule based on individual petitions.