Faculty from the College of Community Health Sciences will help teach a seminar-style course over the summer term that will allow University of Alabama students to explore the COVID-19 pandemic through lectures from guest speakers with diverse expertise.
The course will provide students online lectures on topics surrounding the pandemic that range from health care to the economy to the design of public spaces, and it will explore the lasting effects of COVID-19 beyond what is being experienced today.
CCHS and UA faculty, and other key experts, will share their thoughts and lead discussions about the long-term impacts and changes that the COVID-19 pandemic may have on local, regional, national and global societies.
Faculty from CCHS participating as guest speakers:
- Dr. Richard Friend, dean of the College and a family medicine physician – Healthcare Systems
- Dr. Robert McKinney, assistant professor and director of the Office of Case Management and Social Services for University Medical Center, which is operated by the College – Disparate Effects on the Poor
- Dr. John C. Higginbotham, professor of community medicine and population health and UA associate vice president for research – Epidemiological Modeling
Other faculty and lectures who have confirmed:
- Dr. Bharat Balasubramanian, College of Engineering – Automotive Design
- Dr. Steve Dittmore, University of Arkansas – College and Olympic Sports
- Dr. Lisa Pawloski, College of Arts and Sciences – Global Health and Nutrition
- Dr. Pamela Young, College of Arts and Sciences – Community Response to Crisis
- Dr. Tara Williams, dean, Honors College – Literature and the Arts
- Ahmad Ijaz, UA Center for Business and Economic Research – Economic Impact
- Donald Simpson, KPS Group – Design of Public Spaces
Other topics expected to be presented during the seminar course include: Social Media and Mental Well-Being; Impact on Restaurants and Food Service; Politics of the Pandemic; and Impact on K-12 Education.
In addition to the seminar course, two other courses are also being offered this summer that will focus on understanding and tackling challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic – one on the shortage of protective personal equipment, and the other on broader societal and organizational challenges.
The three courses are being organized and hosted by UA’s College of Engineering, Culverhouse College of Business and Honors College, and offered through partnerships with other colleges on campus, including CCHS, the College of Human and Environmental Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Work.
“The mutual goal of the courses is to help students better understand customers’ and society’s needs and impacts of what they do related to big, complex problems like pandemics,” said Dr. Robert Morgan, professor of marketing and director of the STEM Path to the MBA Program. “We’re hoping to provide them with a set of skills and tools, coupled with a deeper human understanding of problems, that will set them up to be leaders in problem-solving efforts in the future.”