Starting this spring, 20 third-year biology students will have the opportunity to declare the University's new interdisciplinary major in human biology.
The major, intended to allow students to study the interplay between modern biology and the humanities, will be administered through the biology department with the help of the Institute for Practical Ethics and the Center for Global Health. Faculty spanning multiple University departments also will participate in the major.
"The major integrates the increasing impact of the life sciences with societal issues in general on many different levels," said Michael Wormington, program director and biology professor. "It's a nice alternative for those wanting to combine life sciences with humanities and the social sciences."
The additional stated objectives of the major include the preparation of students to address multiple ethical, legal and policy issues raised by recent, groundbreaking developments in the life sciences.
"The main challenge of the new major will be to integrate all of these aspects of human biology," Wormington said.
The major would prepare students for further study in law, medicine, bioethics, public health, health policy and health evaluative sciences or for potential business careers in areas such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
"This is not a brand new idea," said Robert Grainger, Faculty Senate Chairman and a biology professor. Although Stanford University pioneered a similar program in the environmental sciences in the 1970s, the University's new human biology program, with its focus on ethics, represents "a relatively unique venture," he added.
"A few other Universities are starting to put programs [like the human biology major] together, but, because it's such a new endeavor, it's something the University is getting out in front of."
The major requires 27 credit hours of core biology classes and an additional four courses toward a specific area of concentration.
Potential areas of concentration for the major include ethics and research, ethics and medicine, science and technology, science and public policy, health care and public policy, and environmental policy.
The new major is a distinguished majors program, so it requires the completion of a capstone project and a thesis in a student's fourth year.
Examing issues such as cloning, stem cell research, genetic research, and infectious and genetic diseases, the project would "look at the ethical side of the biological sciences ... exposing students to ethical issues in biology," Religious Studies Professor James Childress said. "The goals is to build attention to ethical issues within the major"
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