Cluster Courses for 2025–2026 Fall

Back to the Future: U.S. disease history and the impact on contemporary public health practices.

In this cluster, students will examine the history and practice of public and community health through the lens of infectious disease in the United States. The focuses of the cluster will be on how social and governmental reactions to disease and the responses and developments in community nursing toward disease prevention and mitigation have changed over time. As a collective, we will look at the past, present, and future of America’s ongoing struggles with and social responses to disease, an intellectual effort that will culminate in a joint class assignment comparing and contrasting government and community responses to the Spanish Flu and Covid-19. Only nursing students enrolled in both HIS 228 and NUR 401 are eligible for cluster course credit.

 

 

Buzzfeed

This course cross-pollinates environmental science understanding with the skills and experiences of becoming a beginning citizen journalists. Digital Media Essentials (BC 150) & Concepts of Environmental Science (ES 160) promote active citizen science and citizen journalism to foster skills and experiences for environmental science literacy, including the introduction to apiaries and other backyard wildlife habitats. Students will also document through multimedia storytelling and social media their journey as citizen scientists engaged in understanding the natural world and the ecosystems in local communities.

 

 

Linking Learning to Living: A Study in the Diversity of Human Learning

This cluster discusses the analysis, comparison, and integration of learning theory applied to teaching and learning practices. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of human learning and includes studies of the various disabilities. Recent research on human learning fields including psychology and the neurosciences is presented. Observed performance of principles learned within the cluster is required through a practicum conducted in diverse settings and other disciplines outside of class hours. The course is required for students majoring in Early Childhood and Special Education, Child and Family Studies, Music Education and Secondary Education minors. Strategies presented can be used in other professions of society; non-majors are welcome.

 

 

Stars and Sculpture (VP)

Stars and Sculpture combines two disciplines that emphasize and employ the skills of observation. Artists have been inspired by the night sky and astronomical phenomena for centuries. Students in this cluster will continue in this spirit as they transform the information gained from their study of astronomy into physical objects and visual experiences created as part of their sculpture course. Research into historical examples of the overlapping interests of art and astronomy will enrich the study of both disciplines.