Learn about various aspects of the healthcare industry. Consider the major challenges and issues facing patients, providers, and communities while examining the roles and responsibilities of different healthcare professionals. Learn how to develop the skills and competencies required to be a successful member of a healthcare team. Visit local healthcare agencies and learn from healthcare professionals.
Healthcare Today
Meet the Faculty
Fall Course
Students will be enrolled in the following healthcare-focused first-year writing seminars (FYWs):
FYW 1195: Psychic Disorder and the Social Order
FYW 1195 explores how and why certain emotional states and patterns of thought become labeled pathological or disruptive. Consider what cultural values, both positive and negative, those psychic states have come to symbolize. Examine the tension between freedom and restraint that characterizes debates about psychic disorder through the reading of fiction in dialogue with both contemporary scientific accounts of mental function and its broader cultural context, and by connecting modern health debates to their historical origins. The class fulfills the first-year writing seminar graduation requirement.
Spring Course
FYW 1282: Drugs and the Brain
FYW 1282 introduces students to the neurobiology of addiction and the stigmatization of addiction. During the semester, learn basic neurobiology and the addictive properties of various drugs such as nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, and methamphetamine. Discuss whether food can be considered addictive and examine how addiction is portrayed in the media. The class fulfills the first-year writing seminar graduation requirement.
You do not enroll in a specific class for the spring semester but instead participate in coordinated field visits led by the Pre-Health advisors to local healthcare facilities to gain a greater insight into how the healthcare system works, learning firsthand from local and national healthcare experts. Organizations may include the Greenville Health System, The Hawkins Foundation, National Healthcare Corporation, and Greenwood Genetics.
All Year
Participate in coordinated field visits led by the Pre-Health advisors to local healthcare facilities to gain a greater insight into how the healthcare system works, learning firsthand from local and national healthcare experts. Organizations may include the Greenville Health System, The Hawkins Foundation, National Healthcare Corporation, and Greenwood Genetics.
Faculty Mentors
John Banisaukas
A 2014-2015 recipient of the Alester G. Furman Jr. and Janie Earle Furman Meritorious Advising Award, Dr. Banisaukas assists with the development of out-of-class experiences for Healthcare Today and provides valuable advising and mentoring helping students evaluate their potential health career paths. He also advises Alpha Epsilon Delta, the National Pre-Health Honor Society.
Gretchen Braun
Dr. Braun serves as faculty for Healthcare Today and teaches the FYW 1195: Psychic Disorder and the Social Order seminar during years where it is offered as a part of the Engaged Living program. She also teaches in Furman’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major. Her research focuses on Victorian literature, gender studies, the development of the novel, trauma studies, and nineteenth-century mental science.
Linnea Freeman
Dr. Freeman serves as faculty for Healthcare Today and teaches the FYW 1282: Drugs and the Brain seminar during years where it is offered as a part of the Engaged Living program. Her research focuses on the damaging effects of a high saturated fat diet on the brain, particularly looking at increased inflammation and changes to the blood-brain-barrier.
John Banisaukas
Director of Pre-Professional Advising, Chief Health Careers Advisor
Gretchen Braun
Professor, English and Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Linnea Freeman
Associate Professor, Biology
Staff Mentor
Ms. Lisa Nevalainen
The Assistant Health Careers Advisor is Lisa Nevalainen, who assists with the development of out-of-class experiences for Healthcare Today and provides valuable advising and mentoring helping students evaluate their potential health career paths.
Want to learn more?
Information sessions are great time to talk to faculty about the programs, courses, and out-of-class opportunities. You can also hear about the student experience and ask questions before applying!