The Council of Academic Affairs unanimously approved a new Bachelor’s degree in health services at Eastern on Thursday.

The new degree will reside in the College of Health and Human Services and the department of public health and nutrition for students interested in pursuing a career in a health science related profession.

This interdisciplinary major prepares students for careers in health care, patient care and family support, client advocacy and assistance, health care-related sectors and for advanced studies in allied health, according to the proposal.

Julie Dietz, chair of the department of public health and nutrition, explained how the idea for a new degree began because faculty felt there was a gap in the college’s curricular options and health science degree program. It was also realized that because of the interest in the Bachelor’s in Science nursing program, the department would not be able to accommodate all interested students.

“The [Bachelor’s in Science] in health services is built on a foundation of existing academic resources, courses, faculty and departments,” Dietz said.

The council also unanimously approved two new anthropology courses.

The first course is ANT-3614, the Ethnographic Practice in Anthropology, which covers ethnography, anthropology’s signature method for encountering and understanding living cultures.
Don Holly, a professor of anthropology, said this course has been taught as a special topics course for a few years by Angela Glaros, a professor of anthropology.

This course will be offered in the spring semesters.

The other anthropology course is ANT-3616, Consuming Culture: The Anthropology of Food, which covers anthropological approaches to the understanding of food as culture and eating as a social act.

This course has also been taught as a special topics course by Glaros for a few years now, and now will be available in the spring 2023 semester.

The council unanimously approved a course revision to WGS-2903, Women and Gendered Violence.

The revisions included changing the class to be listed as a hybrid delivery course, specifically “47 percent online and 53 percent face-to-face,” according to the proposal.

The second revision was explained by Jeannie Ludlow, a professor of English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies.

“So the catalog description needs to be cleared because there has been some confusion,” Ludlow said.  

Ludlow also explained the reason for the course to switch to a hybrid mode of delivery.

“The hybrid delivery approval will open opportunities for our students in terms of relevant engaged learning activities, and for our community partners in terms of responding to and assessing student progress,” Ludlow said. “And for our students in terms of taking new skill sets into jobs if they leave this class and go into either internships or work experience in these areas.”

Madelyn Kidd can be reached at 581-2812 or at mekidd@eiu.edu.