Exploring Environment and Health Connections

Autumn Quarter 2011

Final Examination
DATE: Friday, December 9th
TIME: 1:30-2:20
LOCATION: Thomson 101
Bring Scantron form and #2 pencil

Tuesday & Thursday 1:30 - 2:20 in T747 Health Sciences Building

Friday small group sessions 1:30 - 2:20 in T531 (AA/AC) and T473 (AB/AD) Health Sciences Bldg

This course serves as a portal through which students can learn about the complex and multi-disciplinary field of Environmental Health Sciences. The natural environment presents a rich variety of hazards to human health: chemical, physical and biological. To these our species has added its own assortment of hazards; for example, synthetic pesticides, nuclear technology and genetically modified organisms. Environmental Health Sciences is the study of the health consequences of human-environment interaction. It is also an applied science, with an emphasis on prevention or intervention to eliminate or reduce human health risks. Each week the course will focus on a major environmental health hazard or controversy such as climate change, food, chemical and workplace safety, cell phones and nuclear energy, raising issues of science, policy and ethics through lecture and discussion.

This course is structured in seven weekly modules with each module devoted to a particular environmental or occupational health issue. Tuesday and Thursday class sessions will be lecture format and Friday class sessions will be group discussion format. Additional topics will be covered in lectures during weeks with holidays or exams.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this course, students will be able to

  1. Identify key factors that determine the presence or absence of an actual threat to human health from environmental hazards.
  2. Synthesize technical and lay information to address specific occupational or environmental health issues.
  3. Explain the scientific principles associated with several major environmental issues.
  4. Describe investigative and management approaches that are currently used to protect environmental public health.
  5. Articulate the implications of human-environment interactions for social decision making, environmental regulation, and allocation of public health resources
  6. Describe the major agencies, programs, and organizations involved in environmental and occupational health protection.
  7. List the variety of environmental and occupational health professions and their roles.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Disability Notice

If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Resources for Students Office: 448 Schmitz, 543-8294 (voice) or 543-8295 (TTY). If you have a letter from Disability Resources for Students Office indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for class.