This is an archived copy of the 2022-23 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.utexas.edu/.

Humanities, Health, and Medicine

Master of Arts

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Campus address: Humanities Institute, William C. Powers Student Activity Center (WCP) 4.138, phone (512) 471-9056

Mailing address: The University of Texas at Austin, Humanities Institute, HHM Graduate Program, Mail Stop F1900, P.O. Drawer 7219. Austin, TX 78713-7219

E-mail:  HHM@austin.utexas.edu

URL: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/humanitiesinstitute/health-and-humanities/ma-in-humanities,-health-medicine/index.php

Facilities for Graduate Work

The field of Humanities, Health, and Medicine (HHM) explores and promotes relationships among the humanities on the one hand and health and health care on the other. The methods and substance of humanistic disciplines have the power to transform health care for all by enhancing human connections, deepening the capacity for empathy, and improving our understanding of the cultural and social contexts in which health, illness, and care occur. At the same time, focusing on health and health care reinvigorates and reveals new relevance for humanistic scholarship and teaching in a society increasingly dominated by STEM fields. The transdisciplinary nature of Humanities, Health, and Medicine and the flexible design of the Master of Arts program allow students to take courses and study with faculty across campus, including in the College of Liberal Arts, the Moody College of Communications, the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, the College of Education, the School of Nursing, and the School of Information, among other campus units. Faculty from the Dell Medical School are also available to help advise student research. The Humanities, Health, and Medicine program is housed in the University of Texas Humanities Institute, which sponsors monthly Health Humanities Research Seminars and other health humanities initiatives. Other facilities for graduate work include the University’s excellent library system, which is equipped with reference librarians who have subject expertise in all relevant fields, and the Harry Ransom Center, a world-renowned center for humanities research. 

Areas of Study

Both the conceptual capaciousness of the field and the significant inventory of relevant graduate and upper-division undergraduate courses that the University offers gives students the ability to design, in collaboration with the graduate advisor, a coherent program of study that matches their interests, desires, and post-degree goals. A combination of structure and flexibility allows for the creation of individualized study plans with different emphases, some of which might include, for example, Health and Culture; History of Medicine; Health, Ethics, and Social Justice; Narrative Health and Medicine; and Critical Disability Studies. Students also have the option of complementing their MA degrees with Graduate Portfolios in, for example, Disability Studies and Health Communications.

Graduate Studies Committee

The following faculty members served on the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) in the spring 2022 semester.

Phillip J Barrish
Erin Eileen Donovan
Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez
Scott Graham
Tracie C Harrison
Alison Kafer
Philippa Judith Levine
Michael S Mackert
Julie A Minich
Chelsi West Ohueri
Abena Dove agyepoma Osseo-asare
James W Pennebaker
Sharmila Rudrappa
Margo L Sawyer
Martha A Selby
Pauline T Strong
Kevin J Thomas

What Starts Here Changes the World