The University of Southern Indiana College of Liberal Arts English Department is adding two new minors, business humanities and medical humanities, to its program offerings. These two new interdisciplinary minors have been created to give students a well-rounded and comprehensive education focused on developing important social skills in the realms of business and medicine. Studying the humanities helps students develop skills that are uniquely human; skills artificial intelligence and computers cannot recreate.
The business humanities minor is a complementary addition to a degree in accounting, business administration, economics, finance, management or marketing. Studying business humanities, which intersect areas like culture, ethics, global studies and psychology, helps students develop important skills like research, analysis, critical thinking, cross-cultural competence, empathy and imagination. Through learning and practicing these important skills, students will become more thoughtful, creative and human-centered citizens and future employees.
The medical humanities minor is a strong pairing to a degree in health services, nursing, or radiologic/imaging sciences or pre-professional programs like pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, pre-pharmacy or pre-physical therapy. Studying the medical humanities, an interdisciplinary field that intersects areas like literature, ethics and culture, helps future healthcare providers become effective listeners, observers and interpreters. Research also shows that professional school programs (like those in medicine and dentistry) seek well-rounded applicants who have empathy and strong communication skills, and the medical humanities help students develop and practice these important skills.
“In developing the new minors, we also created new courses in these areas, and the minors and individual courses are open to all USI students.†said Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Assistant Professor of English. “Business and medicine are fields that rely on successful human interactions and collaborations along with empathy and creative-critical thinking, so we are looking forward to being able to help students gain these valuable skills and apply them to their lives, relationships and future careers.”
These minors will be available beginning in the 2024 Fall Semester.
