ENST 20224 (SOSC 20224)
Studying Online Cultures:  An Introduction to Digital Ethnographic Methods (Approved HLTH Elective) 
Caterina Fugazzola
M W F 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM 
“Virtual worlds are places of imagination that encompass practices of play, performance, creativity and ritual.” – Tom Boellstorff, from Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method This course is designed to provide students in the social sciences with a review of ethnographic research methods in an online environment, exposure to major debates on virtual ethnographic research, and opportunities to try their hand at practicing fieldwork virtually. We will analyze and problematize enduring oppositions associated with ethnographic fieldwork – field/home, insider/outsider, researcher/research subject, expert/novice, ‘being there’/removal-and we will debate epistemological, ethical, and practical matters in online ethnographic research. Mirroring the complexities and opportunities of research in virtual worlds, this course will alternate between in-person and online instruction, and will combine synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for conversation, work, and play.”

SOSC 20112
Introductory Statistical Methods and Applications for the Social Sciences (Methods Course)
Yanyan Sheng
M T W TH F 9:30 AM – 11:50 AM
This course introduces and applies fundamental statistical concepts, principles, and procedures to the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences. Students will learn computation, interpretation, and application of commonly used descriptive and inferential statistical procedures as they relate to social and behavioral research. These include z-test, t-test, bivariate correlation and simple linear regression with an introduction to analysis of variance and multiple regression. The course emphasizes understanding normal distributions, sampling distribution, hypothesis testing, and the relationship among the various techniques covered, and will integrate the use of R as a software tool for these techniques. After the course, the student will be able to (1) differentiate, utilize and apply statistical description and inference to applied research in behavioral sciences or other disciplines, (2) understand and be able to utilize various forms of charts and plots useful for statistical description, (3) understand and utilize the concept of statistical error and sampling distribution, (4) use a statistical program for data analysis, (5) select statistical procedures appropriate for the type of data collected and the research questions hypothesized, (6) distinguish between Type I and Type II errors in statistical hypothesis testing, (7) understand the concepts of statistical power and the influence of sample size on inference, and (8) summarize and write up the results.

ARCH 28702 (GISC, ENST, CEGU 28702, SOCI 20283)
Introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis (Methods Course)
Crystal Bae
M T W TH 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
This course provides an introduction and overview of how spatial thinking is translated into specific methods to handle geographic information and the statistical analysis of such information. This is not a course to learn a specific GIS software program, but the goal is to learn how to think about spatial aspects of research questions, as they pertain to how the data are collected, organized and transformed, and how these spatial aspects affect statistical methods. The focus is on research questions relevant in the social sciences, which inspires the selection of the particular methods that are covered. Examples include spatial data integration (spatial join), transformations between different spatial scales (overlay), the computation of “spatial” variables (distance, buffer, shortest path), geovisualization, visual analytics, and the assessment of spatial autocorrelation (the lack of independence among spatial variables). The methods will be illustrated by means of open source software such as QGIS and R.

ENST 20550 (SOCI 20278, SOSC 26032, MACS 20500)
Computing for the Social Sciences (Methods Course)
Jean Clipperton
M T W TH 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM
This is an applied course for social scientists with little-to-no programming experience who wish to harness growing digital and computational resources. The focus of the course is on learning the basics of programming and on generating reproducible research. Topics include coding concepts (e.g., data structures, control structures, functions, etc.), data visualization, data wrangling and cleaning, version control software, exploratory data analysis, etc. Students will leave the course with basic programming skills for the social sciences and will gain the knowledge of how to adapt and expand these skills as they are presented with new questions, methods, and data. The course is taught in R. Requirements: At least one prior course that made use of a programming language (e.g., Python, R, Stata, SPSS, etc.) in some capacity. If you are unsure or had some informal exposure, email the instructor to see if the course is a good fit.

GISC 20500 (SOCI, CEGU, ENST 20253)
Introduction to Spatial Data Science (Methods Course)
Pedro Amaral 
M W F 9:00 AM – 11:30 AM 
Spatial data science consists of a collection of concepts and methods drawn from both statistics and computer science that deal with accessing, manipulating, visualizing, exploring and reasoning about geographical data. The course introduces the types of spatial data relevant in social science inquiry and reviews a range of methods to explore these data. Topics covered include formal spatial data structures, geovisualization and visual analytics, rate smoothing, spatial autocorrelation, cluster detection and spatial data mining. An important aspect of the course is to learn and apply open source GeoDa software.

MACS 23005 
Introduction to Supervised Machine Learning for Social Scientists (Methods Course)
Fabricio Vasselai
T W TH 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM 
This course will cover the fundamentals of Supervised Machine Learning (SML). Students will be introduced to key prediction techniques like k-nearest neighbors, naive bayes classifier, regression (linear, logistic, non-linear and regularized regression models), decision trees, random forests and deep neural networks. Besides, students will learn about the importance of parameter optimization and also how to evaluate their SML model predictions using different types of cross-validation (Monte Carlo, leave-k-out, block) and with different metrics for classification problems (e.g. precision, recall, confusion matrices) or regression problems (e.g. Root-Mean Squared Error, Pearson or Spearman’s correlation). The course ends with a brief and conceptual discussion of bias, fairness and trustworthiness in SML and what is the role of interpretable methods, so that students can know where to go next to learn the state-of-the-art discussions on SML. Note that the main focus of the course will be on having the students learn the critical concepts and develop deep intuitions about the techniques. To achieve that, we will cover some of the crucial mathematical foundations, but students will also have the chance to test and play with many techniques using the R programming language (which is assumed to be known already).

HLTH 17000
Introduction to Health and Society
Eugene Raikhel
T R 2:00 – 3:20 PM
Disability, experiences of illness, categories of disorder, ideals of well-being, and models of medical intervention can all vary between cultural settings and across history. Rapid changes in medicine and biotechnology create new understandings and expectations about illness, health, and well-being. At the same time, inequalities in access to care and in health outcomes across populations, in the United States and globally, have become important to conversations in policy and practice alike. This course introduces students introduces students to the social, political, and economic processes that shape individual and population health, as well as to a range of concepts and methods which social scientists use to study these processes. A requirement for students undertaking the “Health and Society” minor, the class will also serve as an introduction to the faculty researching and teaching on issues of health and society in the Social Sciences Division and beyond.

HLTH 22107 (GNSE 20164)
Queer Reproduction
Paula Martin
M W 1:30 – 2:50 PM
What makes reproduction queer, and how do queers reproduce? In some senses, more people than ever before have access to reproductive technologies and to family building resources. People of all genders and sexualities utilize tools to combat infertility such as in vitro fertilization, gamete donation, surrogacy, and adoption, sometimes reproducing the normative family form and other times expanding it. Kinship categories, from “diblings” (donor siblings) to house mothers, can be artifacts both of culture and of science, and reflect ways of understanding what constitutes a family and what relationships become considered family. This course asks after the many mechanisms which can be taken to foster or hinder queer reproduction, thinking through the tools for managing social and biological infertility alongside cultural anxieties about queer reproduction more broadly, as enacted through bans on queer representation in classrooms and other policies. We will consider how specific technologies emerge and are utilized among groups who identity as queer and those who do not, ask after the legacy of queerness and its association with non-procreative forms of intimacy, and map the ways that the figure of the child is always bound up with some vision of the future (of the family, the nation, or humanity itself).

CCTS 22006 (HLTH 22006) 
Decision Modeling for Health Economic Evaluation
David Kim 
This course introduces decision science and economic evaluation that has been increasingly used to inform public health and health care decisions. With a specific focus on the development and application of decision-analytic models, students will learn the state of the current practice of economic evaluation, new tools and methodologies to conduct decision modeling, and emerging areas of research, including the value of information analysis. The course will provide hands-on computer-based learning using the R programming language for data analysis and modeling. A prior experience in R is welcomed, but not required. Applying the concepts and techniques learned in the course, students will undertake a course project of their choice to conduct economic evaluation using decision-analytic models. By the end of this course, students will gain knowledge and practical skills in economic evaluation and decision modeling to help make informed decisions.

CHDV 20000 (HLTH 20000)
Introduction to Human Development 
Sevda Numanbayraktaroglu
M 1:30 – 2:50 PM
This course introduces the study of lives in context. The nature of human development from infancy through old age is explored through theory and empirical findings from various disciplines. Readings and discussions emphasize the interrelations of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces at different points of the life cycle.

CHDV 24599 (HLTH 24599) 
Historical and Contemporary Issues in US Racial Health Inequality (2nd year standing or above)
Micere Keels 
M 1:30 – 4:20 PM 
This course explores persistent health inequality in the U.S. from the 1900s to the present day. The focus will be on racial gaps in urban health inequality with some discussion of rural communities. Readings will largely cover the research on Black and White gaps in health inequality, with the understanding that most of the issues discussed extend to health inequalities across many racial and ethnic groups. Readings cover the broad range of social determinants of health (socioeconomic status, education, access to health care, homelessness) and how these social determinants are rooted in longstanding legacies of American inequality. A major component of class assignments will be identifying emerging research and innovative policies and programs that point to promising pathways to eliminating health disparities.

ENGL 10620 (HLTH 26020)
Literature, Medicine, and Embodiment 
Heather Glenny 
This class explores the connections between imaginative writing and embodiment, especially as bodies have been understood, cared for, and experienced in the framework of medicine. We’ll read texts that address sickness, healing, diagnosis, disability, and expertise. The class also introduces a number of related theoretical approaches, including the medical humanities, disability studies, narrative medicine, the history of the body, and the history of science.

FREN 28888 (HLTH 28888) 
Mosquitos and Morphine: A Seminar in the Global Medical Humanities 
Nikhita Obeegadoo
This course examines well-being and illness from transnational, decolonial and intersectional perspectives. Together, we will explore the various ways in which fiction and film can help challenge and expand our notions of what it means to be sick or healthy in complex circumstances. Some guiding threads: To what extent is illness an intensely personal experience, and to what extent does it draw in those around us — family members, friends, partners, medical practitioners, legal counsel? What renewed valences do concepts of autonomy, care and responsibility take when overshadowed by the spectre of disease? How to ethically and productively relate the medical humanities to broader entangled concerns such as migration (both legal and clandestine), gender, class, race, community, queerness and neocolonialism? Beyond the justified responses of fear and anger, what are other ways to relate to death and mortality — ways that are infused with creativity and resilience? How does human “health” relate to planetary and interspecies well-being? Taught in English.

PBHS 23700 (HLTH 23700)
Sexual Health
David Moskowitz
T R 11:00 AM – 12:20 PM
Sexual health is a growing component of public health outreach. The goal of this course is to provide students with a foundational understanding of sexual health from a public health perspective. Through participation in this course, students will increase their knowledge about the history of sexual health promotion in the public health sphere. They will delve into sexual and gender identity construction and explore identity-behavioral expressions. They will critically examine and discuss common sexual health issues addressed by public health practitioners, their epidemiology, and their underlying social determinants; a global health lens will be applied to such examinations. Additionally, recognition of the key methodological considerations in the measurement of sexual behavior and sexual health outcomes will be elucidated (including strengths and limitations of various methodological approaches –quantitative, qualitative, clinical, and biomedical). By the completion of the course, students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and application of key theoretical foundations of sexual health promotion and sexual health behavior change and be able to promote sexual health messages through marketing and dissemination. From a policy perspective, student can expect an increased knowledge about issues related to social and legislative policy analyses, their applications, and implications.

PBHS 30910 (HLTH 20910)
Epidemiology and Population Health
Diane Lauderdale
M W 3:00 – 4:20 PM
Epidemiology is the basic science of public health. It is the study of how diseases are distributed across populations and how one designs population-based studies to learn about disease causes, with the object of identifying preventive strategies. Epidemiology is a quantitative field and draws on biostatistical methods. Historically, epidemiology’s roots were in the investigation of infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics. Since the mid-twentieth century, the scope of epidemiologic investigations has expanded to a fuller range non-infectious diseases and health problems. This course will introduce classic studies, study designs and analytic methods, with a focus on global health problems.

PBHS 31450 (HLTH 27450)
Social Inequalities in Health: Race/Ethnicity & Class
Aresha Martinez-Cardoso
M W 3:00 – 4:20 PM
This course examines how social stratification and social inequality shape racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in health. In particular, we will explore the production of race and class inequality in the US and draw on the extant theoretical and empirical literature to understand how these social factors influence health behaviors and health outcomes. Finally, we will review both the classic and emerging methodological approaches used by public health and social scientists to measure and test how these features of society get “under the skin” to shape a variety of health outcomes.

PBHS 31720 (HLTH 21720)
Climate Change and Human Health 
Kate Burrows
T R 2:00 – 3:20 PM
Climate change is one of the greatest global health threats facing the world in the 21st century. Through this course, students will gain foundational knowledge in the health effects of climate change. We will begin with several lectures on climate science as it related to the patterns of weather extremes experienced by populations. We will then identify the varying health outcomes linked to different climate-related exposures, emphasizing the specific impacts in vulnerable and high-risk populations. Specific topics include the effects of air pollution, extreme heat and heat waves, droughts, tropical cyclones, changes in vector habitats, and sea-level rise. Finally, we will discuss strategies for public health practitioners to aid communities in preventing or alleviating these adverse effects.

PBHS 34900 (HLTH 24900)
GIS and Spatial Analysis for Public Health Introduction to US Health Policy & Politics
Seleeke Flingai
T R 9:30 – 10:50 AM
This course serves as an introduction to the core concepts and tools for applying spatial analytic methods to public health questions. Using a combination of lectures, case studies, and hands-on in-class trainings, students will learn fundamental spatial concepts, as well as how to make sense of and prepare spatial health data for mapping and statistical analyses (including georeferencing, geocoding, merging data sources, and describing and analyzing spatial health patterns and relationships). Throughout the course, we will draw from writings and examples in public health, urban planning, sociology, and critical geography studies to gain an understanding not only of the use of mapping in understanding the spatial nature of health and disease, but also the power dynamics of map-making as a practice. By the end of the course, students will become familiar with a breadth of foundational concepts, technical skills, and critical perspectives to produce and interpret maps and spatial health analyses at an introductory level.

PBHS 35500 (HLTH 25500)
Introduction to US Health Policy and Politics
Loren Saulsberry
T R 12:30 – 1:50 PM
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the concepts needed to critically evaluate U.S. health policy issues. The course will 1) provide an overview of the U.S. health system including its institutions, stakeholders, and financing mechanisms, 2) describe the politics of health and illuminate how the structure of our political system shapes health policy outcomes, and 3) offer a framework for assessing the critical features central to health policy debates. Building upon this knowledge, the course will conclude with a discussion of strategies for influencing the health policy process and how they might be employed in future leadership roles within the health sector.

RLST 29020 (HLTH 29020) 
Reproductive Features 
Emily D. Crews
W 9:30 AM – 12:20 PM
What is the future of human reproduction? What do religious and literary narratives tell us about when, how, why, and with whom we should (and should not) be reproducing? What do alien pregnancies, magical births, forced surrogacy, and artificial wombs have to do with the landscape of contemporary religions? And what can religion, science fiction, and fantasy—as (sometimes inter-related) modes of speculation about what is possible in an uncertain world—help us to understand about the conditions under which the human species might persist or perish? In this course, we will address these and other questions by putting theories about/from the areas of religion, reproductive politics, and science fiction into conversation with novels, poetry, music, film, and other forms of popular culture. Along the way, we’ll learn how gender, race, migration, the law, and the environment are implicated in the stories and technologies that shape human reproduction