Appendix B
Curriculum Infusion, Course/Degree Requirement
and Minor Program Examples
Supporting Students’ Mental Wellbeing: Course Design (University of Waterloo)
Using Mental Health and Wellness as a Framework for Course Design (University of Calgary)
Course Design (University of Toronto)
Syllabus Design & Course Information (University of Toronto)
Developing a Course Syllabus (University of Toronto)
Small Group Learning Structures (University of Toronto)
Case studies/examples of Curriculum Infusion programs
A number of North American universities have started considering how CI (in various forms) could be brought to the institutions.
They include:
- Georgetown University has had a formal CI program for many years: the Engelhard Project
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania has a formal CI program to help influence the campus culture around alcohol use
- The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network uses CI toward suicide prevention
- Georgia Tech has a mental health curriculum infusion program in their first-year seminars
- McGill’s Wellness Enhanced Lifelong Learning (WELL) Office delivers a wellness curriculum across all four years of medicine that includes formalized lectures with questions on exams, support groups and wellness days
- Although it was not part of a formal CI program, a class research project at Concordia effectively involved undergraduates in the research and scientific process, and allowed them to invest a semester engaging deeply in that topic (in this case, gut health)
- UBC runs CI events as a part of their well-being initiatives and also encourages institution-wide program design
Examples of health-and-wellness-focused electives at Concordia
- AHSC 460 Health Promotion
- AHSC 312 Sexuality in Human Relations
- BIOL 203 Fundamental Nutrition
- EXCI 233 Current Issues in Personal and Community Health
- XCI 251 Fundamentals of Health and Physical Activity
- PSYC 241 Stress, Health, and Coping
- RELI 310 Self and Other: Identity and Ethical Development
- RELI 371 Health, Healing and Religion
- SOCI 321 Sociology of Health, Illness and Medicine
- FINA 200 Personal Finance (“designed to help individuals better manage their current and future financial affairs.”)
- FFAR 291 HIV/AIDS: An Interdisciplinary Introduction to Scientific, Social and Cultural Aspects
- ANTH 474/SOCI 474 The Body Social (“Topics include body image and self‑esteem, the symbolism of beauty and ugliness, height, hair, dress, the face, body language, health and fitness, eating and drinking patterns.”)
- EXCI 453 Stress, Health and Disease (This is a core course in Health, Kinesiology, and Applied Physiology program; perhaps some core courses could be opened up to the broader student community, or reworked into electives for students who are not registered in that particular program.)
Examples of health credits as a degree requirement
- Rochester Institute of Technology: Two wellness courses are part of their graduation requirements
- Pennsylvania State University has three credits of health and wellness learning requirements in their baccalaureate degree general education programs
- All undergraduate students at Binghamton University must fulfill a two-credit physical activity/wellness requirement
- University of Richmond does not attach credit, but completing “a three-part series on wellness” is an undergraduate degree requirement
- Undergrads at Brandeis University fulfill the health, wellness and life skills degree requirement by completing three non-credit, six-week module courses. One module is standard for all students, while the other two modules are flexible, and students can select from a variety of topics, including fitness classes, mindfulness modules, resilience-building modules, etc.
Examples of for-credit electives offered by different universities
- University of Minnesota has many for-credit elective courses that focus on integrative healing and well-being, such as CSPH 320: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
- University of Illinois: OT360: Promoting Wellbeing
- University of Guelph: PSYC1300: Learning Disabilities: Experience to Understanding; PSYC1400: Mental Health: Experience to Understanding (these credit courses are open to students who are registered with student accessibility services)
- University of Michigan’s ALA 270: Being Well Now: Coping and Resilience Skills for College Students and ALA 240: Living Well in College and Beyond provide three credits when taken together
- Yale University’s The Science of Well-Being is a free course offered through coursera.org that can be taken for credits after completion of certain assignments or just for personal development
- Northwestern University: HDPS 341-0 Marriage 101: Building Loving and Lasting Relationships
- University of Alberta: HE ED 110: Introduction to Personal Health and Well-Being
- Ryerson University’s FIN 562 Personal Finance targets “students who may not have a strong math ability and/or interest so they will be better able to manage and plan their own finances”
- University of Rhode Island: EDC 278: Mental Health First Aid one-credit course; KIN 123: Foundations of Health three-credit course
- Penn State has many courses that help their undergrad students meet their three credits of health and wellness learning requirements, including:
- FDSC 105: Food Facts and Fads
- HDFS 108N: Art and Science of Human Flourishing
- KINES 83: Exercise for Stress Management
- NUTR 251: Introductory Principles of Nutrition
- Walking for Fitness, Introduction to Tai Chi Ch’uan, Yoga for a Lifetime, etc. whereby students fit in exercise a few times a week through the semester and earn credit towards their degree at the same time
- Binghamton University offers many courses that help their undergrad students meet their two credits of physical activity/wellness requirements, including:
- HWS 100: Healthy College Living
- HWS 210: Men’s Personal Wellness
- HWS 216: Women’s Wellness
- HWS 233: Stress Management
Examples of minors
