Minor in Medical Humanities
Program Learning Outcomes for the Minor in Medical Humanities
Upon completing the minor in Medical Humanities, students will be able to:
- Describe the historical, literary, artistic, and ethical domains of medicine.
- Analyze and evaluate complex texts relating to the social and cultural aspects of medicine through close reading and critical interpretation of arguments, metaphors, and images.
- Explain the history of racism and anti-racism in health and medicine.
- Explain how disability shapes the healthcare experience for patients.
- Conduct independent research and communicate their own arguments about medical humanities in research papers, class presentations, and discussions.
Requirements for the Minor in Medical Humanities
Students pursuing the minor in Medical Humanities must complete:
- A minimum of 6-7 courses (18-21 credit hours), depending on course selection, to satisfy minor requirements.
- A minimum of 3 courses (9 credit hours) taken at the 300-level or above.
- A maximum of 2 courses (6 credit hours) from study abroad or transfer credit. For additional program guidelines regarding transfer credit, see the Policies tab.
The courses in the Medical Humanities program examine the social, cultural, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of medicine in contemporary and historical contexts, and are open to all undergraduate students at Rice from all backgrounds.
The courses listed below satisfy the requirements for this minor. In certain instances, courses not on this official list may be substituted upon approval of the minor’s academic advisor or, where applicable, the Program Director. (Course substitutions must be formally applied and entered into Degree Works by the minor's Official Certifier). Students and their academic advisors should identify and clearly document the courses to be taken.
Summary
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Total Credit Hours Required for the Minor in Medical Humanities | 18-21 | |
Minor Requirements
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirement | ||
| MDHM 201 | INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL HUMANITIES 1 | 3 |
| Elective Requirements | ||
| Select 4 courses from the Electives list below 2 | 12 | |
| Practicum 1 | ||
| Select 1 from the following: | 3-6 | |
| YEAR-LONG MEDICAL HUMANITIES PRACTICUM I and YEAR-LONG MEDICAL HUMANITIES PRACTICUM II 3 | ||
| MEDICAL HUMANITIES SPANISH PRACTICUM ABROAD 4 | ||
| MEDICAL HUMANITIES CHINESE PRACTICUM ABROAD | ||
| ONE-SEMESTER MEDICAL HUMANITIES PRACTICUM | ||
| TOPICS IN APPLIED MEDICAL HUMANITIES RESEARCH | ||
| ENGAGED LEARNING AND RESEARCH IN MEDICAL HUMANITIES | ||
| SPANISH PROFESSIONAL PRACTICUM I 5 | ||
| Total Credit Hours | 18-21 | |
Footnotes and Additional Information
| 1 | Students must complete the core course before they complete the practicum. The core course and the practicum may not be taken concurrently. MDHM 402 and MDHM 403 are a two-semester sequence and may not be taken individually. MDHM 430 is repeatable 3 times for credit, but only 3 credit hours may count towards the minor. If students are part of a rotation program in a Texas Medical Center Institution, this does not automatically count towards the minor. Students must enroll in the affiliated practicum course and complete all course requirements for the rotation to count towards the minor. For more information on the practicum courses, please refer to https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/ or consult a minor advisor on this point. |
| 2 | Up to 4 courses (12 credit hours) may be selected from the departmental (MDHM) course offerings as electives; additional MDHM course offerings may be completed to fulfill the Core Requirement and Practicum. A maximum of 2 elective courses (6 credit hours) may be selected from any single subject code outside MDHM to fulfill Elective Requirements. This limit applies to courses cross-listed with MDHM (e.g., MDHM 266/PHIL 266 counts towards the limit for PHIL classes, even if a student enrolls under MDHM 266). Of the 4 courses (12 credit hours) of Elective Requirements, at least 2 courses (6 credit hours) must be taken at the 300-level or above. A maximum of 1 course (3 credit hours) at the 100-level may count towards the minor. |
| 3 | MDHM 402 is taken in the fall semester, and MDHM 403 is taken in the spring semester. These courses are a two-semester sequence and may not be taken individually. |
| 4 | Rice in Country, offered by the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (CLIC), offers six-week Rice faculty-led summer study abroad programs in Pamplona, Spain (Rice in Spain), Taipei, Taiwan (Rice in Taiwan) designed for students interested in pursuing a career in medicine or health-related professions. (See the Opportunities tab for more information, or visit https://clic.rice.edu/study-abroad/spain/ or https://clic.rice.edu/study-abroad/taiwan/ for details and to apply.) |
| 5 | Students may take SPAN 323 as either an elective or the practicum, but it will not count toward both requirements. SPAN 323 has a prerequisite of MDHM 201 when taken to fulfill the practicum requirement. SPAN 323 is offered in many course sections, and only those sections designated as Spanish for Medical Professionals track count towards the Medical Humanities minor. See https://courses.rice.edu/ for the course schedule and section details. If SPAN 323 fulfills either the Elective Requirement or the Practicum, a maximum of 1 additional course (3 credit hours) may be selected from SPAN course offerings to fulfill Elective Requirements. With any questions, students should consult a minor advisor regarding this point. |
Elective Requirements
To fulfill the Elective Requirements for the Medical Humanities minor, students must complete a total of 4 courses (12 credit hours) from the following Rice departmental course offerings. Up to 4 courses (12 credit hours) may be selected from the departmental (MDHM) course offerings as electives; additional MDHM course offerings may be completed to fulfill the Core Requirement and Practicum. A maximum of 2 courses (6 credit hours) may be selected from any single subject code outside MDHM to fulfill Elective and Practicum Requirements. This limit applies to courses cross-listed with MDHM (e.g., MDHM 266/PHIL 266 counts towards the limit for PHIL classes, even if a student enrolls under MDHM 266). Of the 4 courses (12 credit hours) of Elective Requirements, at least 2 courses (6 credit hours) must be taken at the 300-level or above. A maximum of 1 course (3 credit hours) at the 100-level may count towards the minor if it carries the MDHM subject code.
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Elective Requirements | ||
| Select 4 courses from the following: | 12 | |
| African and African American Studies | ||
| RACE, MEDICINE, AND MASS INCARCERATION IN THE UNITED STATES | ||
| SPIRITS, SCIENCE, AND MENTAL HEALTH IN AFRICA | ||
| Anthropology | ||
| PLAGUES AND PEOPLE | ||
| ILLNESS NARRATIVES: RE-WRITING HEALTH INEQUALITIES | ||
| SOCIAL LIFE OF DNA | ||
| BLACK FEMINIST SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES | ||
| ETHNOGRAPHIES OF CARE | ||
| ILLNESS, DISABILITY, AND THE GENDERED BODY | ||
| GLOBAL HEALTH JUSTICE: HEALTHCARE INEQUALITIES IN CONFLICTS | ||
| MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY | ||
| ANTHROPOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION | ||
| ANTHROPOLOGY OF RACE, ETHNICITY AND HEALTH | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS 1 | ||
| Art History | ||
| REPRESENTATIONS OF DISABILITY | ||
| Asian Studies | ||
| QUACKS AND WONDER DRUGS: A HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN CHINA | ||
| MEDICINE AND EMPIRE IN ASIA | ||
| GENOMIC GOVERNANCE IN ASIA | ||
| Biosciences | ||
| CONCEIVING AND MISCONCEIVING THE MONSTROUS IN FICTION AND IN ART, IN MEDICINE AND IN BIOSCIENCE | ||
| CURRENT BIOSCIENCES AND HEALTH POLICY TOPICS | ||
| EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE | ||
| Chinese | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS: ADVANCED CHINESE I 1 | ||
| English | ||
| CREATIVE WRITING AND MEDICAL HUMANITIES | ||
| LITERATURE AND MEDICINE | ||
| MEDICINE AND MEDIA | ||
| MEDIEVAL ENGLISH MEDICINE & LITERATURE: INFECTIOUS IDEAS | ||
| POLITICS OF REPRODUCTION: SEX, ABORTION, AND MOTHERHOOD | ||
| Environmental Studies | ||
| JUSTICE IN THE FOOD SYSTEM | ||
| CULTURES AND MEDIA OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH | ||
| French Studies | ||
| UNMASKING MADNESS | ||
| German Studies | ||
| GERMAN FILM (IN ENGLISH) | ||
| FILM AND BIOPOLITICS | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS 1 | ||
| Health Sciences | ||
| PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE MEDIA | ||
| PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY HEALTH | ||
| UNDERSTANDING CANCER | ||
| VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: A PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE | ||
| DISPARITIES IN HEALTH IN AMERICA | ||
| History | ||
| RACE AND MEDICINE IN AMERICAN HISTORY | ||
| THE BODY IN GLOBAL HISTORIES OF MEDICINE | ||
| ENVIRONMENT, MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN LATIN AMERICA | ||
| HISTORY OF SENSATION | ||
| DISABILITY AND U.S. LAW | ||
| HISTORIES OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN ASIA | ||
| HISTORY OF MEDICINE: FROM ART TO SCIENCE | ||
| Latin American and Latinx Studies | ||
| WRITING TO HEAL: U.S. LATINE NARRATIVES ON MENTAL HEALTH | ||
| Medical Humanities | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO DISABILITY STUDIES | ||
| TOPICS IN HEALTH INEQUITIES | ||
| MEDICAL HORROR IN FILM AND LITERATURE | ||
| IMMUNITY IN MEDIA, SCIENCE, AND CULTURE | ||
| RESEARCH METHODS FOR TRUSTWORTHY HEALTH AI | ||
| PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH AND HUMANITIES | ||
| TOPICS ON EXPERIENCES OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS | ||
| NURSING AND NARRATIVE | ||
| TECHNOLOGIES OF HEALTH | ||
| GLOBAL HEALTH HUMANITIES | ||
| RESPONSIBLE AI FOR HEALTH | ||
| TOPICS IN MENTAL HEALTH | ||
| ETHICS AND THE HUMAN BODY | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS | ||
| Philosophy | ||
| ETHICS IN PANDEMICS | ||
| DEATH AND DYING: METAPHYSICS AND ETHICS | ||
| MEDICAL ETHICS | ||
| PHILOSOPHY OF SEX AND LOVE | ||
| ETHICAL DEBATES IN MEDICINE: DIGNITY AND WELFARE | ||
| THE PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE | ||
| ADVANCED TOPICS IN ETHICS 1 | ||
| TOPICS IN MEDICAL ETHICS | ||
| Religion | ||
| THE COLORS OF LIFE AND THE END OF LIFE | ||
| SACRED BIRTH | ||
| KNOWING BODY/GLOWING MIND: BUDDHIST ARTS OF CONTEMPLATION AND ANALYSIS | ||
| MEDICINE AND THE MUSEUM: CLINICAL AESTHETICS AND THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON | ||
| SEMINAR ON THE END OF LIFE | ||
| THE HUMANITIES OF CARE & END OF LIFE | ||
| RELIGION AND SCIENCE | ||
| Sociology | ||
| RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND HEALTH: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH | ||
| SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL HEALTH | ||
| MEDICAL SOCIOLOGY | ||
| REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND SOCIETY | ||
| BODIES IN CONTEXT: POWER, CULTURE, SOCIETY | ||
| HEALTH DISPARITIES IN THE UNITED STATES | ||
| GENDER AND HEALTH | ||
| Spanish | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS: ADVANCED SPANISH II 1 | ||
| SPANISH PROFESSIONAL PRACTICUM I 2 | ||
| CURRENT HEALTHCARE ISSUES IN LATINE COMMUNITIES | ||
| DISABLED BODIES: ILLNESS AND LITERATURE IN LATIN AMERICA | ||
| REPRODUCTIVE AND MATERNAL HEALTH IN LATIN AMERICA | ||
| Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality | ||
| GENDER AND SCIENCE | ||
Footnotes and Additional Information
| 1 | ANTH 477, CHIN 319, GERM 477, PHIL 460, and SPAN 322 are special topics courses, and not all sections are eligible to be applied towards the minor Elective Requirements. Please see a minor advisor for more information. If a specific instance of these courses is approved to fulfill minor requirements, the approval must be formally applied and entered into Degree Works by the minor's Official Certifier. |
| 2 | Students may take SPAN 323 as either an elective or the practicum, but it will not count toward both requirements. SPAN 323 has a prerequisite of MDHM 201 when taken to fulfill the practicum requirement. SPAN 323 is offered in many course sections, and only those sections designated as Spanish for Medical Professionals track count towards the Medical Humanities minor. See https://courses.rice.edu/ for the course schedule and section details. If SPAN 323 fulfills either the Elective Requirement or the Practicum, a maximum of 1 additional course (3 credit hours) may be selected from SPAN course offerings to fulfill Elective Requirements. With any questions, students should consult a minor advisor regarding this point. |
Policies for the Minor in Medical Humanities
Program Restrictions and Exclusions
Students pursuing the minor in Medical Humanities should be aware of the following program restriction:
- As noted in Majors, Minors, and Certificates, i.) students may declare their intent to pursue a minor only after they have first declared a major, and ii.) students may not major and minor in the same subject.
Transfer Credit
For Rice University’s policy regarding transfer credit, see Transfer Credit. Some departments and programs have additional restrictions on transfer credit. Requests for transfer credit must be approved for Rice equivalency by the designated transfer credit advisor for the appropriate academic department offering the Rice equivalent course (corresponding to the subject code of the course content). The Office of Academic Advising maintains the university’s official list of transfer credit advisors on their website: https://oaa.rice.edu. Students are encouraged to meet with the applicable transfer credit advisor as well as their academic program director when considering transfer credit possibilities.
Program Transfer Credit Guidelines
Students pursuing the minor in Medical Humanities should be aware of the following program-specific transfer credit guidelines:
- No more than 2 courses (6 credit hours) of transfer credit from U.S. or international universities of similar standing may apply towards the minor.
- Transfer credit received via the articulation of approved exam credit, such as Advanced Placement (AP) credit, International Baccalaureate (IB) credit, or A-level credit will not be considered towards minor requirements.
Distribution Credit Information
The determination of distribution credit eligibility is done initially as part of the new course creation process. Additionally, as part of an annual roll call coordinated each Spring by the Office of the Registrar, course distribution credit eligibility is routinely reviewed and reaffirmed by the Dean’s Offices of each of the academic schools.
Faculty and leadership in the academic schools are responsible for ensuring that the courses identified as distribution-credit-eligible meet the criteria as set in the General Announcements. Students are responsible for ensuring that they meet graduation requirements by completing coursework designated as distribution-credit-eligible at the time of course registration.
Additional Information
For additional information, please see the Medical Humanities website: https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/.
Opportunities for the Minor in Medical Humanities
Academic Honors
The university recognizes academic excellence achieved over an undergraduate’s academic history at Rice. For information on university honors, please see Latin Honors (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude) and Distinction in Research and Creative Work. Some departments have department-specific Honors awards or designations.
Distinction in Research and Creative Work
Students completing the minor in Medical Humanities are eligible to apply for the university honor Distinction in Research and Creative Work. If awarded, Distinction will be noted on the student's transcript upon graduation and on commencement materials. All applications for Distinction will be judged by a committee of faculty affiliated with the program in Medical Humanities. Distinction in Medical Humanities recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in the project submitted for this award.
- Applications for Distinction, including faculty evaluation forms, must be submitted 1 week before the last day of classes in the spring semester by 5:00 pm.
- As part of the application for Distinction, students must submit a single-authored research or creative work, created for a Medical Humanities class or a non-credit-bearing MDHM research project supervised by an MDHM-affiliated faculty member that represents the substantive output of a semester's work (length will vary by discipline).
- Portfolios of work assembling multiple assignments are ineligible.
- Group projects are ineligible.
- Generative AI may not be used to produce any aspect (text, images, etc.) of the work submitted. Work that treats AI as an object of analysis is permitted and may include examples of AI-generated text or images as evidence (as one might use a quote from a text). In such cases, the AI-generated material must be put in quotation marks, with the prompt and source identified.
- An interpretive humanistic element must be central to the project. All students must submit a brief statement written in their own words (approximately 300 words) addressing how humanities methods, questions, and/or perspectives are central to the work.
- Only materials submitted through the application process on the program's website (see below) will be assessed for Distinction. Students are always welcome to revise work that has already been completed for a class or submit work that they will further revise for a class. However, any work completed after the submission will not be considered.
- Applications are not complete without the evaluation form submitted by a Rice faculty member or postdoctoral fellow (former Rice faculty members are eligible) by the deadline. Faculty must email the form directly to the Program Administrator. Graduate student instructors are ineligible to complete the form.
- Applications and eligibility guidelines are available on the Medical Humanities website at: https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/distinction-research-and-creative-work.
Annual Best Essay and Creative Work Competition
Students who take any approved Medical Humanities core course or elective course may submit an entry to the annual Best Essay and Creative Work competition. For details, see: https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/annual-essay-competition.
Experiential Learning
Advanced students in the Medical Humanities minor have the opportunity to conduct experiential learning and research in our practica, credit-bearing classes in which students work with mentors at Houston-area hospitals, archives, and community partner institutions (options vary by year, see https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/practicum).
Students who have declared the MDHM minor are also eligible to apply for paid research assistant positions offered through the Medical Humanities Research Institute, though these do not carry course credit (see https://mhri.rice.edu/student-opportunities).
Study Abroad
Rice in Country, offered by the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (CLIC), offers six-week Rice faculty-led summer study abroad programs for 6 credit hours in Pamplona, Spain (Rice in Spain) and Taipei, Taiwan (Rice in Taiwan), designed for students interested in pursuing a career in medicine or health-related professions.
Through Rice in Spain, students complete a total of 6 credit hours, either SPAN 322 and SPAN 324 or SPAN 324 and MDHM 420. SPAN 322 counts as an Elective toward the Medical Humanities minor, and MDHM 420 counts as a Practicum toward the Medical Humanities minor. (Note: SPAN 324 does not count towards minor requirements.)
Through Rice in Taiwan, students complete a total of 6 credit hours, either CHIN 307 and CLIC 369 or MDHM 421 and CLIC 369. MDHM 421 counts as a Practicum toward the Medical Humanities minor. (Note: CHIN 307 and CLIC 369 do not count towards minor requirements.)
Admission to the programs are subject to proficiency requirements, prerequisite coursework, and/or interview.
For more information, please see the Rice in Spain website: https://clic.rice.edu/study-abroad/spain/ or the Rice in Taiwan website: https://clic.rice.edu/study-abroad/taiwan/.
Graduate Students
Medical Humanities offers several courses for graduate students, such as PHIL 566/MDHM 566 TOPICS IN MEDICAL ETHICS and MDHM 525/MDHM 526 TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICAL HUMANITIES (FALL, SPRING). Graduate students in the School of Humanities and Arts regularly serve as teaching assistants for large undergraduate courses in medical humanities, including MDHM 201 INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL HUMANITIES, MDHM 272/ENGL 272 LITERATURE AND MEDICINE, and MDHM 359 RESPONSIBLE AI FOR HEALTH.
The Medical Humanities Research Institute also offers opportunities for graduate students to learn about the field and engage in paid, mentored research projects. Opportunities vary; please visit https://mhri.rice.edu for more information.
Additional Information
For additional information, please see the Medical Humanities website: https://medicalhumanities.rice.edu/.