Integrative Experience

This course examines the disparities in health status and health care in the United States. The course will review sociological, epidemiological, demographic and racial and ethnic actors that contribute to the disparities seen in health status among different populations. Students will critically examine the current research on health disparities and will be challenged to use theoretical frameworks used in this course to develop practical ideas to reduce health disparities in their community.

Liberal Education 300-level Integrative Experience courses are offered each term and the individual course descriptions are available at the time of registration. See also: ARH 340, BIO 330, ENV 308, ENV 315, ENV325, ENV 334, ENV 362, ENV 363, MAT 340, WRT 335

This field studies, integrative experience course is focused a critical examination of the African American experience from the period of slavery through contemporary American society.  We will cover myriad topics including conditions of enslaved people, the subjugation of people throughout history based upon racial and ethnic classifications, the Civil Rights Movement, poverty and injustice, mass incarceration, critical race theory, resilience, and the effects of natural and other disasters. The course requires a 6-day trip through and between the cities of New Orleans, LA and Montgomery, AL, and will include visits to historical sites, museums, and cultural landmarks. Students will be responsible, in groups, for outreach to communities that has a strengths- and resilience-based focus through arranged meetings, presentations, discussions, community work, or other outreach.

This course examines global health from an interdisciplinary perspective, critically examining the role that political, social, economic, and environmental factors contribute to global health outcomes. Topics such as health security, health inequalities, climate change and nutrition, as well as communicable and non-communicable disease burden, will be examined from an interdisciplinary perspective. The course will review literature on underlying factors that contribute to the disparities seen in health status among different populations. Students will critically examine the current literature on global health and will be challenged to use evidence-based research to develop practical ideas to improve global health outcomes.

Victims of abuse, trafficking, and strangulation may interact with the health care system at any point on their personal journeys. The holistic needs of individual victims as well as the long-term impact of the provision of crisis care on providers while considering systemic barriers to reporting and treatment are fundamental to understanding forensics in health care. Important concepts include: best practices in forensic care processes such as evidence collection, in educational training for specialties such as sexual assault nurse examiner, and in advocacy and collaboration such as coordinated response with crisis centers, hospitals, legal counsel, and law enforcement. Open to all majors. Prerequisites: Four core courses.

Leadership in Practice is a class that provides students with the opportunity for self-discovery, self-reflection and feedback in a community. The class is grounded in helping individuals identify the values they hold that lead to making a difference in the communities around them. Through self-assessment, intensive small group discussions, team-building challenges, attending on and off campus leadership programs and more, students will develop a vision for something they care about. They will use these insights to create service projects for the Colby-Sawyer/and/or New London community. By leading with passion, integrity, and a healthy disregard for the impossible, students explore who they are and the impact that they want to have on communities working towards a more caring, just and equitable society.

This course is a deep exploration of the concepts of becoming and connecting and related concepts such as intimacy and isolation, solidarity and discord, relationship.

This course will examine a topic that many feel uncomfortable around – death and dying. Death is one of those rare universal human experiences, yet most people spend little time considering the topic until it presents itself. The course will examine death and dying through multiple and diverse perspectives including history, the humanities, religion, science, the social sciences, literature, and the arts. This course seeks to provide a thorough understanding and critical examination of death and the dying process. More specifically, students will explore the different attitudes and perspectives around death, understand some of the historical and cultural impacts on death and dying as we know it today, the process of end-of-life decision making, funerals and body disposition, as well as reflections on what happens beyond death/after life.

This course will examine the many aspects of the "C" word - Cancer. This topic will be examined through the following lenses: biology, history, sociology, psychology, public health, medicine, politics and epidemiology.  Specifically, areas that will be covered include a history of cancer and the early treatments, an overview of cancer biology and the cell cycle as well as current diagnostics and treatment approaches. We will also investigate patient care (both physical and mental wellness), the politics of acquiring research funding, grant options, the challenges of developing new therapies, health care options and costs, access to health insurance and health care, epidemiology of cancer (in the USA and world-wide), patenting of new technologies, and bioethics.

The youngest members of our society are our hope for the future, yet we struggle to get the resources needed to help them to resources needed to help them to be successful. Be a part of the solution by learning how to facilitate the learning and development of children through training, storytelling, and family involvement. In this course, you will work directly and indirectly with children and families in the community to identify needs and create programs.

This course combines the visual arts and other creative processes to foster personal growth and community development. By exploring and integrating the arts with the greater community, students will learn to develop the resources necessary for healing, creativity and self-expression. The course will incorporate studio artwork with a focus on self-expression and reflection to be better able to understand their application in counseling and therapeutic contexts as applied to individuals and groups of all ages. This course is designed for students looking to gain experience using art within the local community and/or gain arts-related volunteer experience in preparation for graduate programs in art therapy or expressive arts. Students will develop skills in art making and collaborate with a variety of populations on and/or off campus.