Human Health, Evolution and Development

Humans are spectacularly complex and their healthy development is a remarkable, mysterious, complex and sometimes elusive achievement. An adult body contains roughly 10 trillion cells, each cell intricate and sensitive enough to its environment to be an organism unto itself. The human nervous system alone contains hundreds of billions of cells, forming trillions of electrical connections and serving as the foundation for an immensely complex consciousness capable of thousands of thoughts and feelings per day. This biological and psychological complexity is only the beginning. For example, we also develop highly intricate social units — families, tribes, political, ethnic and religious communities, etc. — each with its own history and structure. In this interdisciplinary program, we will study the multi-dimensional topic of human development in an evolutionary context.

This program will build a background in developmental psychology, evolution, and human biology affording students the knowledge to help make informed analytical choices in their own lives. We will look at human development over the entire life span, from prenatal to mortality, including human evolutionary development from biological, psychological and cross-cultural perspectives. Attaining good health is a multifaceted process; therefore, our exploration of healthy lifestyles will include an exploration of biological and psychological health.

The program format will include workshops, lectures, films, seminars, guest presentations individual/group projects. We will focus on clarity in oral and written communication, quantitative skills and the ability to work across significant differences.