UConn undergraduate students will have the opportunity to enroll in a new interdisciplinary minor in Culture, Health, and Human Development (CHHD), beginning in Fall 2023. The new minor includes 54 designated classes offered by 17 departments in three of UConn’s schools and colleges, and is open to students majoring in any program. The CHHD minor will require completion of five classes distributed among the three clusters of Culture, Health, and Human Development. Students are encouraged to consult about their choice of courses with their home department academic advisors. The intent of the new CHHD minor is to foster an integrative cultural perspective on human development and health, including issues related to diversity both within and across populations.

According to the UConn Undergraduate Catalogue, the CHHD minor “can address gaps between the traditional disciplines … by providing students an opportunity to explore systematic relationships among culture, health, and human development.” Derek Houston, Department Head of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, points to the importance of culture in human communication, and says the CHHD minor “will set aspiring speech-language pathologists and audiologists on a path toward embracing cultural diversity in their future practices.”

The new minor is the product of collaboration between the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development, and faculty, department heads, and deans from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, and the College of Nursing. Professor Charles Super, co-director of the CHHD, led the effort to create this educational opportunity for undergraduates. The CHHD has offered an interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate since its establishment in 1998.

You can learn more about the minor and its requirements here: chhd.uconn.edu/chhd-minor/ .

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