What is Human Science?
The Human Science minor is a multidisciplinary program that brings together elements of Biology, Anthropology, and Psychology to understand our species, Homo sapiens, as a complex biological and social organism. Goals for the students in this minor are twofold: (1) Through a set of basic core courses in the three disciplines students will gain a multidisciplinary, scientific understanding of human beings. (2) Students will then pursue their own interests in Human Science through elective courses in at least two of the three disciplines.
Interdisciplinary work that crosses the life sciences and social sciences is of growing importance in the sciences. Both the federal government and the National Academy of Sciences have strongly recommended new levels of institutional support for interdisciplinary efforts. Furthermore, the National Science Foundation is currently funding an interdisciplinary “Dynamics of Human Behavior” program which aims to ”advance understanding of human behavior and performance at individual, social and population levels” and “encourage researchers to "think big" about integrated research questions …. that allow substantial coordination across researchers, disciplines and project areas.” (http://www.nsf.gov/news/priority_areas/humansocial/index.jsp) Thus, the Human Science minor contributes to a nationally recognized need for crossing academic boundaries through interdisciplinary education. It is now abundantly clear that humanity's problems have both biological and social roots, and graduates with a Human Science minor will receive training that allows them to think synthetically across the natural and social sciences. They will be better prepared to grapple with the complex problems of the 21st century.
Human Science at JMU is administered by a steering committee of four core faculty, and Dr. Andrea Wiley currently serves as program coordinator. Students are encouraged to meet with her to plan their curriculum, and they should also seek out the core faculty in the discipline to which they are most closely affiliated (anthropology, biology, psychology). Because some of the required courses and some of the electives have prerequisites, students should plan ahead to make sure that they complete their minor coursework. HSC 400 will be offered every spring semester, and students should plan to take it after they have completed most or all of their minor courses (it can be taken concurrently with other minor courses).
Careers for Human Science Minors
The Human ScienThursday, October 26, 2006 2:12 PMa program that focuses on the scientific, multidisciplinary study of humans.
Such careers include the health-oriented professions, law, government, public policy, and academic study in the humanities, social and life sciences. Furthermore, graduates of the Human Science minor will be taught to think synthetically across the natural and social sciences, and thus will be better prepared to grapple with the complex, interdisciplinary problems of the 21st century. Consequently, they will be well situated to take advantage of the rapidly developing and diverse career opportunities of the coming years and decades.
Oxford University and Stanford University have unified the disciplines of anthropology, biology, and psychology into a single program. Oxford's Human Sciences program (http://www.human-sciences.ox.ac.uk/) has matriculated over 400 students and their graduates have gone on to a wide range of careers in business, industry, and academics. Stanford's Interdisciplinary Human Biology program is one of their largest majors (ca. 12% of undergraduates) (http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humbio/about.html). Stanford Human Biology graduates find work in a broad array of fields including academics, government, and industry. A large percentage of their students go on to advanced study in professional and graduate schools, e.g., law, education, medicine, and biology.
