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RURAL EXPERIENCE CORE
Take the following courses:
The Introduction to Poverty Studies course will offer students an interdisciplinary
exposure to the study of poverty, challenging them to explore the ways in which factors
such as class, culture, race, gender, and geographic place operate to form an interrelated
system that produces poverty and alters the trajectory of many important life outcomes.
Among other course objectives, students will gain an evidence-based understanding
of theoretical models of poverty and the ways in which poverty manifests differently
within this country and across the globe. 3 Credits This team-taught course provides an introduction to archives by covering their different
types and purposes, archival practices, and the use of archives by researchers. The
course will involve readings, discussion, hands-on experiences, and a field trip.
This course also serves a crucial role in the orientation to, and skill development
for, the larger Secondary Emphasis and certificate in Rural Poverty Studies. This class willfocus on representations of social and economic class in U.S. literature.
These texts illustrate how social class can define identity and shape perceptions
of the American Dream. The class will collect and distribute oral histories about
work experiences in collaboration with the local Huntingdon community members. 4 CreditsSW-LEPrerequisite or corequisite: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109 What does rural life look like in different places? What structural factors shape
rural life? How do rural communities respond to their particular histories and social
contexts? In this course, you will use methods from the humanities and the social
sciences to compare how people experience rural life in different areas of the United
States. Specificity of place and attention to the voices of the rural poor are central
to our study. We will conclude the semester-based course with a two-week study-away
experience in the Black Belt region of Alabama during summer session. 2 CreditsCONN,ICNOTES: Students must complete both CONN-390 and CONN-391 to fulfill the Connections
or IC requirement. Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when
taking a Connections course. What does rural life look like in different places? What structural factors shape
rural life? How do rural communities respond to their particular histories and social
contexts? In this course, you will use methods from the humanities and the social
sciences to compare how people experience rural life in different areas of the United
States. Specificity of place and attention to the voices of the rural poor are central
to our study. We will conclude the semester-based course with a two-week study-away
experience in the Black Belt region of Alabama during summer session. 2 CreditsCONN,ICNOTES: Students must complete both CONN-390 and CONN-391 to fulfill the Connections
or IC requirement. Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when
taking a Connections course.PY-190 Introduction to Poverty Studies
HS-222 Archives: Theory, Practice, and Use
EN-203 Class/Status/Identity in US Literature
CONN-390 Comparative Rural Experience I
CONN-391 Comparative Rural Experience II
ELECTIVE COURSES
Take two of the following courses (a total of at least six credits):
AH-301
African-American Art: Slavery to Social Justice
Considers the work of African-American artists from the American colonial period to
the present, seeking to understand the works of painting, sculpture and other media
as the products of major cultural movements such as the New Negro Movement, Harlem
Renaissance, and Civil Rights Movement, but also as the unique expressions of individual
artists.
4 CreditsF,I,CA,CW,SW-US
Pre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
BI-190 Human Biology
Course is a non-majors approach to the basic chemistry and biology of the human body,
as well as how humans fit into society and environment. Emphasis will be on applying
scientific process tocurrent health topics. Course required for the Social Work POE
and included in the Genomics Certificate and Rural Poverty Studies secondary emphasis.
3 CreditsN, WK-SP,CTGESPre- or Co-requisite: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
CM-310 Understanding Health Inequity
In this class, students will learn how to read, understand, and conduct social research
about individuals and systems that create disparity in health care and outcomes. The
research that we will read and learn to conduct will rely on texts and stories rather
than numbers and statistics. The class will address questions such as: what conditions
are present that allow some populations greater access to health care than others?
What social problems underlie the disparities in health outcomes for women, people
of color, and people from low-income backgrounds. Students will gather and analyze
their own research data.
3 CreditsS, WK-SIPre-Req or Co-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
CONN-340 Environmental Justice
This course will use case studies to explore issues of environmental justice and will
emphasize the ways in which environmental justice issues disproportionately impact
marginalized individuals and communities. Students will work collaboratively with
peers and faculty with different perspectives than their own in order to explore multi-faceted
problems from many directions and to propose solutions that address these problems.
4 CreditsCONN,ICNOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking a Connections
course.
CONN-350 Community Health Advocacy
In this course, students learn to recognize health disparities within communities
and identify ways to intervene and advocate to promote better health outcomes for
community members. Students will explore how poor health outcomes for individuals
and communities are linked to social determinants of health. This course uses the
competencies for community health workers established by the Pennsylvania Certification
Board. NOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking
a Connections course.
4 CreditsCONN,IC
CONN-392 Justice and Global Health
This course will introduce students to important contemporary debates about the nature
of justice and global health from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Topics covered
include philosophical approaches to justice, prominent debates within global health
around disparate health outcomes, and the impact of neoliberalism on public health
systems. NOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking
a Connections course.
4 CreditsCONN,IC
EN-211 Pennsylvania Literature
Pennsylvania is a rich and storied landscape featuring a large rural area bookended
by two historic cities, all serving as the backdrop for this course. Using literature
and film, as well as articles, musical selections, and local engagement activities,
this course will examine stories portraying various cultures, lifestyles, and people
in Pennsylvania. This course will also consider how many of the different communities
and peoples that make up the Keystone State have been represented historically and
in fiction. Students will also explore some of the complex social, political, and
economic contexts that have shaped the state's history as well as the lived experiences
of its people.
4 CreditsH,SW-USPre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.
EN-319 Writing for Social Change
This course immerses students into the study and practice of writing that strives
to bring about social change. Students explore the argumentative tactics of writing
in the service of advocacy, activism, and non-profit organizations, as well as its
circulation across audiences and platforms. Students create op-eds, persuasive articles,
posters, grants, and media campaigns.
4 CreditsH
ESS-206 Global Environmental Issues
Global Environmental Issues is a global public health course. Environmental problems
create some of the most pressing public health issues of our time. This course seeks
to train the participants to identify the public health challenges created by environmental
problems in various parts of the world and exploring practical solutions for those
problems.
4 CreditsN, WK-SI
HS-367 Women in Africa
This course will provide students with an understanding of women in sub-Saharan African
cultures, their history, traditions, diversity, resilience and adaptability. To do
this we will be looking at social structure, kinship networks, economic systems, gender
relations, ethnicity and ethnic conflicts, traditional religion, the HIV/AIDS epidemic
and other health issues.
4 CreditsCA, H, I, CTDH
PS-208 Policy and Community
In this course, students will engage in the policymaking process in Huntingdon. In
conjunction with local policymakers, students will research a community problem and
make policy recommendations based onthat research. Class discussions will focus on
common community issues in America (such as environmental and healthcare problems)
in addition to research methods and local policymaking processes.
4 CreditsSW-LEPrerequisite or corequisite: FYC or CWS
SO-101 Introduction to Sociology
The study of human social groups and the social processes that lead to both structural
and cultural integration and differentiation primarily within contemporary American
society.
3 CreditsS
SW-231 Social Problems & Social Welfare
This course explores persistent social problems including poverty, inequality, unemployment,
homelessness, family violence, substance abuse, and lack of healthcare access, using
historical, philosophical, and social science perspectives. The development of social
policies and services as institutional responses to these problems are described and
analyzed. Over the course of the term, students will review a significant body of
literature related to a social problem/policy of choice, and conduct a case study
with a community member who has experienced consequences of that same problem/policy.
3 CreditsS,WK-SIPrerequisites: FYC-101, EN-110, or EN-109.
AH-301 African-American Art: Slavery to Social Justice
Considers the work of African-American artists from the American colonial period to the present, seeking to understand the works of painting, sculpture and other media as the products of major cultural movements such as the New Negro Movement, Harlem Renaissance, and Civil Rights Movement, but also as the unique expressions of individual artists.
4 CreditsF,I,CA,CW,SW-US Pre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
BI-190 Human Biology
Course is a non-majors approach to the basic chemistry and biology of the human body, as well as how humans fit into society and environment. Emphasis will be on applying scientific process tocurrent health topics. Course required for the Social Work POE and included in the Genomics Certificate and Rural Poverty Studies secondary emphasis.
3 CreditsN, WK-SP,CTGESPre- or Co-requisite: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
CM-310 Understanding Health Inequity
In this class, students will learn how to read, understand, and conduct social research about individuals and systems that create disparity in health care and outcomes. The research that we will read and learn to conduct will rely on texts and stories rather than numbers and statistics. The class will address questions such as: what conditions are present that allow some populations greater access to health care than others? What social problems underlie the disparities in health outcomes for women, people of color, and people from low-income backgrounds. Students will gather and analyze their own research data.
3 CreditsS, WK-SIPre-Req or Co-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109
CONN-340 Environmental Justice
This course will use case studies to explore issues of environmental justice and will emphasize the ways in which environmental justice issues disproportionately impact marginalized individuals and communities. Students will work collaboratively with peers and faculty with different perspectives than their own in order to explore multi-faceted problems from many directions and to propose solutions that address these problems.
4 CreditsCONN,ICNOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking a Connections course.
CONN-350 Community Health Advocacy
In this course, students learn to recognize health disparities within communities and identify ways to intervene and advocate to promote better health outcomes for community members. Students will explore how poor health outcomes for individuals and communities are linked to social determinants of health. This course uses the competencies for community health workers established by the Pennsylvania Certification Board. NOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking a Connections course.
4 CreditsCONN,IC
CONN-392 Justice and Global Health
This course will introduce students to important contemporary debates about the nature of justice and global health from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Topics covered include philosophical approaches to justice, prominent debates within global health around disparate health outcomes, and the impact of neoliberalism on public health systems. NOTE: Students are expected to be in their third or fourth year when taking a Connections course.
4 CreditsCONN,IC
EN-211 Pennsylvania Literature
Pennsylvania is a rich and storied landscape featuring a large rural area bookended by two historic cities, all serving as the backdrop for this course. Using literature and film, as well as articles, musical selections, and local engagement activities, this course will examine stories portraying various cultures, lifestyles, and people in Pennsylvania. This course will also consider how many of the different communities and peoples that make up the Keystone State have been represented historically and in fiction. Students will also explore some of the complex social, political, and economic contexts that have shaped the state's history as well as the lived experiences of its people.
4 CreditsH,SW-USPre-Req: FYC-101 or EN-110 or EN-109.
EN-319 Writing for Social Change
This course immerses students into the study and practice of writing that strives to bring about social change. Students explore the argumentative tactics of writing in the service of advocacy, activism, and non-profit organizations, as well as its circulation across audiences and platforms. Students create op-eds, persuasive articles, posters, grants, and media campaigns.
4 CreditsH
ESS-206 Global Environmental Issues
Global Environmental Issues is a global public health course. Environmental problems create some of the most pressing public health issues of our time. This course seeks to train the participants to identify the public health challenges created by environmental problems in various parts of the world and exploring practical solutions for those problems.
4 CreditsN, WK-SI
HS-367 Women in Africa
This course will provide students with an understanding of women in sub-Saharan African cultures, their history, traditions, diversity, resilience and adaptability. To do this we will be looking at social structure, kinship networks, economic systems, gender relations, ethnicity and ethnic conflicts, traditional religion, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other health issues.
4 CreditsCA, H, I, CTDH
PS-208 Policy and Community
In this course, students will engage in the policymaking process in Huntingdon. In conjunction with local policymakers, students will research a community problem and make policy recommendations based onthat research. Class discussions will focus on common community issues in America (such as environmental and healthcare problems) in addition to research methods and local policymaking processes.
4 CreditsSW-LEPrerequisite or corequisite: FYC or CWS
SO-101 Introduction to Sociology
The study of human social groups and the social processes that lead to both structural and cultural integration and differentiation primarily within contemporary American society.
3 CreditsS
SW-231 Social Problems & Social Welfare
This course explores persistent social problems including poverty, inequality, unemployment, homelessness, family violence, substance abuse, and lack of healthcare access, using historical, philosophical, and social science perspectives. The development of social policies and services as institutional responses to these problems are described and analyzed. Over the course of the term, students will review a significant body of literature related to a social problem/policy of choice, and conduct a case study with a community member who has experienced consequences of that same problem/policy.
3 CreditsS,WK-SIPrerequisites: FYC-101, EN-110, or EN-109.
NOTE: Other courses, such as special topics courses, may be chosen with advisor/department chair approval.
Secondary Emphasis Credit Total = 19-21
Six credits must be at the 300/400-level. Any course exception must be approved by the advisor and/or department chair.