With each global health crisis, the interconnectedness of populations around the globe becomes more pronounced. Diseases not only affect the health of communities, but they have a profound impact on political, economic, and social stability within countries and regions. This course engages the interdisciplinary nature of global health by approaching the issue through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) developed by the United Nations. The SDGs range in focus from good health and well-being to gender equality to clean water and sanitation to affordable, clean energy. By engaging the ways that health has a stake in these goals, the course will bring the expertise of faculty from the University of Pittsburgh and CMU as well as practitioners to understand and address the issue surrounding global health from a myriad of perspectives and avenues. With an applied focus, the course will assist students in engaging and advocating for a community on a global health issue through a policy memo. This iteration of the course will examine gender equality and SDG #5.

Due to economic development and globalization, cities continue to grow with predictions that 70 of the
world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2050. This course, then, will view cities as hubs
where patterns, connections, discussions, and the processes shape such issues as social justice, economic
development, technology, migration, the environment among others. By examining cities as a lens, this
sequence of weekend courses encourages students to examine cities as a system for discussing social
processes being built and rebuilt. With an interdisciplinary focus, the course invites experts from the
University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, and relevant fields more broadly.
This iteration of the course will explore such topics as: the influence of multinational corporations on
cities; the rise of privacy issues in relation to adoption of technology within cities and homes; the
replacement of human labor and access to employment; the role of technology on urban planning,
among others.
One-credit for PITT students / 3 units

This event has been canceled

This language table has been moved online. Please contact Katya via Skype @katya.kovaleva1 during the usual meeting time of Monday's from 12:45PM-2:45PM OR email Katya directly (katya.kovaleva@gmail.com)

Improve and practice your Russian language skills with instructor Katya Kovaleva.

In her presentation, Dr. Williams will explore the advent of faith-based maternity homes in Nigeria since the early 1930s and how they adapted to socio-political and biomedical trends in their search for legitimacy. Various scholars have examined relationships between ethnomedical practitioners, biomedicine, and the state; even fewer have extended this conversation to practices of divine healing in Africa. Notwithstanding, there has been little exploration of religious birthing institutions that increasingly play vital roles as primary maternal healthcare providers. By examining Faith Homes and their socio-political search for legitimacy in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria, Williams reflects on the enduring connections between religion and medicine in Africa.

Ogechukwu Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Department of Medical Humanities at Creighton University, Omaha NE. Her book project examines the intersections between biomedical maternities, traditional midwifery, and faith-based birthing institutions in Nigeria. She is co-author of Writing the Nigeria Biafra War.

Part of FRIT's Week of Francophonie. A talk on French Rom-Coms by Dr. Mary Harrod.