Examines social and political thought that may include texts from ancient through contemporary times, addressing topics such as natural rights, revolution, law, freedom, justice, power. Questions may include: What is a community, and how are individuals related to communities? Can any particular form of government be morally justified, and if so, what kind of government? Can anarchism work? Is there something wrong with a society in which there is private ownership of property? What is oppressive? What is freedom, and are we free? What roles should different forms of power play in a society? Could and should there be a genderless society? Is ethnic diversity valuable?

Thoughtful people cannot help escape considering hard questions about our relationship to the natural world and what it means for the future of life on earth. In this course we think philosophically about these crucial concerns. We try to answer questions about our responsibilities to the environment and to future generations.

This course provides a 16-week long opportunity for students to synthesize, integrate, and apply the skills and competencies they have acquired during enrollment in the MPH Program and apply them to a public health problem or project in a professional public health practice setting. Students are expected to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the organization (not including preparation time) exploring how that organization deals with a particular public health issue and working on a project for that organization. In addition, students present the findings of their work in a poster session following the conclusion of the course. This public health experience is conducted under the direction of a faculty member and a community public health mentor. This class meets one hour prior to the regularly scheduled core and elective courses in the MPH Program. Prereq: Completion of core courses and permission of course instructor and MPH Program Director.

This course will require students to attend at least six approved workshops on concepts related to the Ten Essential Services of Public Health. After attending the required workshops, a student will write an integrating paper summarizing what s/he has learned across these workshops at it relates to the Ten Essential Services and identify the types of skills s/he will need to be more effective as a public health professional.