University Center for International Studies Global Studies Center
University Center for International Studies Global Studies Center

Global Health and Climate Change Mini Course

Friday, November 6, 2020 - 5:00pm to Sunday, November 8, 2020 - 1:00pm
Synchronous Zoom Sessions

This course uses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to highlight the multi-faceted field of global health. The SDGs address everything from gender equality to clean water and sanitation to affordable, clean energy. In examining how health intersects with these goals, this course draws on the expertise of Pitt and CMU as well as health and sustainability practitioners. Students who complete the course will understand how climate and sustainability contribute to good health and well-being from an truly interdisciplinary perspective.

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 climate change and SDGs #13 and 15.

1 Credit for PITT students and 3 Units for CMU students is provided for the completion of each iteration of the mini-course.

 

*To receive credit, students should register using the student registration link until November 4th*

Noah
Thierault Ph.D
Department of History, Carnegie Mellon
Dr. Thierault is a sociocultural anthropologist, and studies the different ways in which human societies meet their needs, settle their disputes, and make meaning of the world. As a political ecologist, he works to understand the ‘more-than-human’ nature of societies as well as the sociopolitical nature of ecosystems. Dr. Thierault's research on environmental politics is not just about struggles over resources, but also about encounters among different knowledge systems, cosmologies, and ways of being in the world.
Caryl
Waggett sc.D
Department of Global Health Studies and Environmental Sciences, Allegheny College
Dr. Waggett's current current research focuses around children's health and indoor environments, building upon her research findings of elevated lead levels in children and high percentage of homes and yards in rural northwest Pennsylvania failing federal EPA safety thresholds. In addition, she also serves as a co-chair for the Environment and Human Health committee of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD), and has actively collaborated with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide faculty development opportunities in the environmental health field to ensure more broadly educated future businesses and professional/political leaders.
Yonten
Nyima
New York University
Dr. Nyima is a professor in the Department of Human Geography, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at the New York University.
Marcelo
Korc
Pan American Health Organization
Dr. Korc is the Unit Chief for Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health at the Pan American Health Organization.
Michael
Murphy Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Michael Warren Murphy is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Africana Studies, at the University of Pittsburgh. His main line of research focuses on the socioecological significance of racial-colonial violence. At Pitt, he teaches courses on Society and Environment, Social Theory, Environmental Sociology, and the Sociology of Air Pollution in Pittsburgh.

Friday, November 6
Pre-Class Brainstorm: Prior to class, students should brainstorm various issues surrounding global health and climate change. Students should do a small amount of research on the communities affected by at least one of the issues they’ve brainstormed.

Pre-Reads: Prior to class, students should review the entire syllabus and its policies, the policy memo assignment and rubric, and all of the posted student policy memo examples.

Session 1 – 5:00PM-6:30 PM: Course and Policy Memo Assignment Overview

Session 2 – 6:45PM-8:00 PM: Marcelo Korc, Unit Chief, Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health, Pan American Health Organization.

Saturday, November 7

Session 3 – 8:30 AM-9:45 AM: Group Activity on Health Issue and Policy Advocacy
Note: Students arriving more than 5 minutes late will not be assigned to a breakout group nor be able to complete the assignment sheet associated with this activity. Please arrive on time to be assigned a group and case study.

Session 4 – 10:00 AM-11:15 AM: Yonten Nyima, Department of Human Geography, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University

Session 5 – 11:30 AM-12:45 PM: Noah Thierault, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University 

LUNCH 1:00 PM-2:15 PM

Session 6 – 2:15 PM-3:30 PM: Caryl Waggett, Department of Global Health Studies and Environmental Sciences/Studies, Allegheny College

Session 7 – 3:45 PM-5:00 PM: "A Climate of Racial-Colonial Violence" by Michael Murphy, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh

Session 8 – 5:15 PM-6:30 PM: Group Activity: Comparing Analyses from Session 3

Note: Students arriving more than 5 minutes late will not be assigned to a breakout group nor be able to complete the assignment sheet associated with this activity. Please arrive on time to be assigned a group and case study

Sunday, November 8
Pre-Class Work: Prior to the Sunday session, students should decide upon an issue related to global health and climate change and select a community to focus on. This will be necessary for work related to Session 9 and 11. This will also optimize your time in relation to the policy memo as these two worksheets scaffold with that assignment.

Session 9 – 8:30 AM-9:30 AM: Comparing Disciplines and Perspectives

Session 10 – 9:45 AM-11:45 AM: Practicing Community Discussions to a Global Health Problem: A Case Study Activity
Note: Students arriving more than 5 minutes late will not be assigned to a breakout group nor be able to complete the assignment sheet associated with this activity. Please arrive on time to be assigned a group and case study.

Session 11 – 12:00 PM-1:00 PM: Workshopping Your Policy Memo

Sponsored by: University of Pittsburgh's Global Studies Center

Resources: Dr. Michael Murphy

1.  David Naguib Pellow’s book What is Critical Environmental Justice?

2. Denise Ferreira da Silva’s micro essay “On Heat”

3. New York Times interactive story titled “The Marshall Island Are Disappearing”