HE 2000 - [Social Justice, Thriving, and the Human Experience]

(CA-HE, HD-HE) (CA-AG)

Fall. Not offered: 2024- 2025. Next offered: 2025-2026. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

L. Korfine.

The historic and current mission of the College of Human Ecology is to improve human life. This course will introduce students to the social, historical, economic, and political structures that create barriers to people being able to live good lives. In an effort to seek positive solutions, this course takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the impact of racism and other forms of injustice, and identifies factors that confer protection from the impact of these forces, as well as structures that facilitate justice and support human thriving. With a focus on health, nutrition, design, and human development, and within the framework of the social-ecological model, the course will explore how social systems influence how people interact with their environments in different contexts and across the lifespan.

Outcome 1: Critically evaluate and integrate scholarship from various Human Ecology disciplines that identify structural barriers to human thriving.

Outcome 2: Understand the evidence-based scholarship and peer-reviewed data that defines and examines racism and other interlocking systems that impact the human experience.

Outcome 3: Apply problem-solving frameworks to envision new approaches to mitigate social inequity and support pathways to human thriving for all people.

Outcome 4: Reflect on and integrate personal lived experiences with course material to inform and clarify one’s own perspectives.

Outcome 5: Develop skills to listen and respond in discussions where perspectives may not align.