Click here to read the winning essay in the fall 2011 Humanities and Social Sciences Essay Contest by Mary Elizabeth Pemberton!

The Humanities and Social Sciences department provides core curriculum courses for the professional programs at Jefferson College of Health Sciences.  The mission of the College states, "JCHS prepares, within a scholarly environment, ethical, knowledgeable, competent, and caring healthcare professionals."

Holism and proportion: That's what Leonardo-da Vinci's "Virtuvian Man" (right) represents. In keeping with the Mission and Values of Jefferson, the Humanities & Social Sciences Department recognizes the need for a holistic approach to the health science programs.

We also appreciate that the specificity of the healthcare programs must be tempered with a proportionate influence of the Humanities in order to provide compassionate care for the whole person.

Humanities and social sciences provides courses that help students learn to think clearly, communicate effectively, seek information, and adapt to change.  These courses help facilitate ethical, knowledgeable, competent, and caring behaviors in our students. 

Courses in disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, English, and interdisciplinary studies provide the critical thinking, communication, and technology skills that individuals need to be successful in their healthcare field, and in many other areas of their lives.  An integrated study of the humanities enables individuals to interact effectively in their environments. 

The humanities teach cultural differences, an appreciation of the world around us, and a greater understanding of problems and issues that inform the human condition. 

In humanities and social sciences courses at Jefferson College of Health Sciences, we place a strong emphasis on reading, writing, critical thinking, and speaking, in order to provide students with the skills necessary for problem-solving, communicating effectively in the workplace, and interacting with individuals from all walks of life.  Humanities and social sciences classes provide the general foundation of knowledge upon which solid healthcare skills are built.  

We are committed to facilitating the learning of our students in helping them become ethical, knowledgeable, competent, caring healthcare professionals.

The mission of Humanities and Social Sciences is to support the development of our healthcare community through the provision of learning opportunities to think critically and creatively, to communicate effectively, to seek meaningful information, to adapt to change, and to respect diversity.

The faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences department are composed of both full-time and adjunct professors from a variety of disciplines. Please visit our biographies by clicking on our names on the left side of this page.