Human Ecology Urban Semester Program
June 1-July 30, 2010
HE 4060 Fieldwork in Diversity and Professional Practice: The Culture of Medicine and Public Health
The hospital-setting option is open to rising juniors and seniors. The public health option is open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Students develop their own medical rotations, public health placements, and/or research placements through the Urban Semester Program's partnership with the New York Presbyterian Hospital system and Weill Cornell Medical College.
Over the course of eight weeks, students use experience-based learning strategies and ethnographic methods to enhance their competencies as initiates of medical practice or public health work. Focus is on the values and behaviors of health care and health promotion practice with an emphasis on service.
Students in hospital settings will develop rotations that include one rotation with the New York Presbyterian Hospital Volunteers Department and one rotation in a public health setting, a minimum of four hours each week in each of these two areas.
Students in non-hospital/non-MD public health settings will intern in the placement of their own choosing.
The program includes seminars with Dr. Sam Beck, director of the Urban Semester Program; seminars and discussions with physicians, researchers, and administrators of Weill Cornell Medical College and individuals from public health fields; site visits to New York City neighborhoods and communities; and discussion with local leaders to connect students' medical experiences with diverse urban populations.
Instructor: Sam Beck, Ph.D.
Dr. Beck, director of the program, is a social and cultural anthropologist. He has carried out research in many parts of the world. He is a member of New York Presbyterian Hospital's Medical Ethics Committee and a member of the advisory board of the hospital's Pastoral Care and Education Department.
HE 4080 Fieldwork in Diversity and Professional Practice: Community and Public Service
HE 4090 Fieldwork in Diversity and Professional Practice: Finance, Business, Law, and Other Settings
Both courses are open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
These two courses meet together one day per week to increase students' awareness about the idea of "service" in a variety of professional settings including private and non-profit sectors. The courses focus on the students' experiences of professional work and culture in their internship placements. Students examine professional practice in the corporate and governmental sectors as well as community service in the non-profit sector. Discussions consider "assets and differences" students encounter and how these contribute to the global workplace of the twenty-first century. These "assets and differences" include, but are not limited to, gender, race, economic class, ethnicity, nationality, age, religion, language, geography, and education.
The ideal internship enables students to participate in the daily round of the placement's activities, virtually as an employee of the organization. We encourage a close student-mentor relationship with students actively engaged in meaningful work.
In these experiential learning courses, students are expected to draw on both their own internship experiences and those of their peers, as well as from professionals in various fields of interest. In addition, we will be joined by guest speakers from sectors of the economy reflecting student career interests and internship placements, including finance, education, youth and community development, and public service.
Instructor: Marianne A. Cocchini, M.A.
Professor Cocchini is the founding president of AER/MAC Consulting, Inc. She is a program evaluator, urban planner, and community and organization consultant with professional experiences in hospitals, higher education institutions, public and parochial schools, religious institutions, foundations, private not-for-profit organizations, and a variety of volunteer programs, service organizations, and institutions.
