Overview of the School of Health & Environment Scholars Program

Health care professionals engage in a wide range of activities whose efforts serve both individual and population needs. These efforts concentrate on helping individuals  recover from illness, as well as adopt and maintain a healthful lifestyle (a downstream focus). Other initiatives focus on public and community health, which require addressing and/or adjusting health needs at the population level (an upstream focus).  

The School of Health and Environment Scholars Program allows you to strive for a balanced upstream and downstream understanding of health and health systems by participating with students in other disciplines in a three-year exploration of “real world” health problems in the Greater Lowell community. The result of this participation will increase your capacity to incorporate a social justice perspective, civic commitment, sustainability, and community health into your own chosen profession.

Goals of the SHE Scholars Program

• Enhance the knowledge of your chosen profession
• Gain the skills necessary for you to function effectively in the current interdisciplinary environment of public health and healthcare
• Allow you to address real-world community health problems
• Solve problems as part of an interdisciplinary team
• Develop advanced communication skills with individuals as well as with populations.

SHE Scholars Curriculum*

Students interested in the SHE Scholars Program will enroll in the honors section of Community Health and Environment (31-201) during the spring semester of freshman year. In addition, students and Scholars faculty will participate in three seminars and discussions related to the SHE mission.

As a SHE Scholar candidate, your remaining three years are summarized as follows:

• ALL THREE YEARS:  You will participate in a SHE Scholar Monthly Seminar which promotes Scholars’ work with an interdisciplinary team. 
• SOPHOMORE AND JUNIOR YEAR:  Enroll in the honors section of a Discipline-Specific Course in your major.  The goal is to highlight the integration of the Scholar mission with the perspective of that course.
• SENIOR YEAR:  Complete the SHE Scholar Capstone Project.

* The SHE Scholars Program is organized to allow parallel completion of the Commonwealth Honors Program for eligible students.

Freshman Year - Exploring the Possibility
• Attend the three spring semester SHE Scholars seminars; then share your reaction to these in a one-hour discussion following the seminar. The atmosphere of these discussions is informal and casual, facilitated by a SHE Scholars faculty member.
• Enroll in the Community Health and Environment honors section to experience a team-oriented, broad-based educational experience that supplements the course content.

Sophomore Year
• SHE Scholar Seminar:  This seminar series is designed to familiarize you with the City of Lowell and its diverse communities. You will assess the health needs of the Lowell communities (neighborhoods), as well as its strengths and other assets. You will have opportunities to participate in walking tours, meet and network with key members of the Lowell community, and host a health promotion event for the general community. 
• Discipline-specific Honors Course:  You will enroll in the honors section of the introductory course in your major.

Junior Year
• SHE Scholar Seminar:  This seminar will focus on examining the role that the City of Lowell has in improving the health of residents. The city’s Master Plan for development currently considers areas such as employment, transportation, housing, neighborhood quality of life, culture, and economic growth. You will analyze how these targets can also be used to promote the health of individuals, families, institutions, and communities.
• Discipline-specific Honors Course:  You will enroll in the honors section of an advanced course in your major.

Senior Year
• SHE Scholar Capstone Project:  As a SHE Scholar, you will have taken four semesters of the Scholars Seminar; the honors sections of Community and Environmental Health; and the honors sections of two discipline-specific courses.  You will have worked as a team in the community with your peers in other majors.  Further, you will have:
(1) Identified and described a priority health issue for a specific Lowell          community.
(2) Proposed approaches for addressing this issue.
(3) Developed protocols to implement those proposals.
(4) Worked with your peers to write a formal report and prepare an oral presentation to be delivered at the annual SHE Scholars Symposium.

Download the brochure on the SHE Scholars Program (pdf).

School of Health and Environment 3 Solomont Way, Suite 1 Lowell, MA 01854-5121, Tel: 978-934-4510 Fax: 978-934-3006 Contact Us