Social History of American Public Health · Public Health
20% discussion section/lecture attendance .... Yoka was my TA and she was so helpful when it came time to research/def recommend her 35% historiography midterm (1500 words) 45% research paper (3500 words)
Workload is same as before, except you should make sure you do at least one reading per week.
Colgrove is a king, periodt. 8:40 every t/th i was HYPE to learn from his expertise. Colgrove knows how to work a class/engage students. SO much to absorb by looking at public health through a historical lens (pre bacteriological revolution to present). I also loved that the papers were on topics of your choice so no one was pressed to write down everything he said. We could just lean into the class, critically listen, and really learn. I feel like I am so much more aware of my surroundings and everything public health does. He is so passionate. Literally, would give him my kidney. PLEASE TAKE THIS CLASS. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. Even if you are neither pre-health or history focused, so worth it.
While I definitely agree with what much of the previous post said, I think it gives the class a little too much credit. As a person, David Rosner is by far one of the most interesting people I have ever met. However, lecture can become redundant. If you're one of those students that feels compelled to always go to class and feels guilty about skipping, this class might be the bane of your existence. There are times though when they class is very enjoyable. If your TA is Kylin...switch.
Wouldn't be horrific if we were not in, like I said, a literal public health crisis. My mind is not in the right place to write 15 pages, and nor are the minds of countless students being assigned extra assignments from non-understanding profs.
Hefty reading. One Courseworks posting each week based on the reading or discussion, and section each week. Two short papers (one 4-6 page and one 8-10 page), plus a final that consists of several broad essays. Got by doing minimal reading but after each class regretted that I hadn't done more.
Yeesh, this has really been difficult. I loved the course a lot, until Covid hit. When Prof. Colgrove didn't adjust the length of the large research paper to fit the fact that we are in a literal public health crisis, I was rather discouraged. While many professors have been accommodating and understanding, he has not been, something I find rather ironic, given that he is an authority on the subject and should understand the amount of stress this imposes on people's psyches. :/
Rosner's class is definitely one of the most interesting that I've taken in my four years here. I bought all the books for the class (about 6) in the beginning of the semester and planned to re-sell them after the class ended, but I'm now going to keep them so that I can read them over break and use them as references for the future. I didn't take many notes during lecture, but all the discussions there and in section were really enlightening and I regret not having done more of the reading. It seemed like most people hadn't done the reading (at least very well), because Rosner had some trouble getting people to participate and answer questions about it, but he was pretty genial about it and assumed the best, which made me feel a little guilty after each class. In addition to going over the reading, we looked at political cartoons, movie animations, advertisements and youtube videos, and had at least two classes when Rosner posted lyrics on the computer screen and we all were instructed to sing along as part of the learning experience. Hands down awesome experience.
Not too much work, the readings are good but not required to do well in the class (maybe I just have a chill TA reading wise- but I think you can definitely come up with things to say in discussion without reading regardless). All grading is based on the two papers you write (research and historiography), which is great if you pick a topic you like!
Short historiography paper, longer research paper, easy final--1 document essay (on something we read in class) and 2 short answer questions on major themes, section with easy reading