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Health Sciences LEAPBegun In 2001, Health Sciences LEAP is a four-year-long pipeline program designed to assist students interested in careers in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, or other health careers who come from populations traditionally underrepresented in the health professions. This population includes students from minority backgrounds, but also those who meet US government definitions of educational, social, or economic disadvantage. Among our 2001 class members, 64% have now graduated with bachelor’s degrees and 25% are in graduate education of one type or another. In the first year of Health Sciences LEAP, students take two humanities seminars of three credit hours each, thereby fulfilling their general education humanities requirement. In the first semester (LEAP 1100), they study the biographies and autobiographies of diverse individuals encountering the American health care delivery system; the course also fulfills the University’s diversity requirement. This course is paired with an optional Writing 2010 course reserved just for Health Sciences LEAP students. In the second-semester seminar (LEAP 2004), students read ethical philosophy and apply it to current issues in health care delivery. Health Sciences LEAP students are also eligible in their first year for three one-credit-hour add-ons: a library research skills class (Writing 1060), a service learning class (LEAP 1300), and a course on major selection (LEAP 1050). The second year of Health Sciences LEAP begins with a two-credit-hour fall semester course in “Health Professions Explorations,” called UUHSC 2500. Students shadow professions in their future fields for two hours per week, and then write about and discuss their experiences in light of reading they’ve done and lectures they’ve heard on cultural competency in medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, professionalism, collegiality, collaboration, patient-provider relationships, and medical ethics. Wherever possible, arrangements are made for students to shadow minority providers, who add a mentoring aspect to the course. Guest lecturers for the seminar are also drawn from a group of minority and/or women experts. In their second semester, students take a two-credit-hour course in “Basic Lab Techniques” (Biology 2115) taught by a biology professor, which prepares them to work in research laboratories during their third year. Third year Health Sciences LEAP consists of two semesters (a one-credit-hour course each semester), which together make UUHSC 3000 and 3001: “Research Seminar for Advanced LEAP Students.” Students are placed in labs as research assistants for eight months, working five or ten hours per week in a paid position. Whenever possible, they are placed with Principal Investigators from underrepresented backgrounds. Students reflect on this work in the two seminars, which require them to give oral presentations on their research, first to classmates, then to other Health Sciences LEAP students, and finally to the University as a whole in the context of the Undergraduate Research Symposium. They also visit each other’s research labs and learn to write up their research in a form appropriate to a medical or scientific journal. Completion of these two courses earns the “Research Scholar” designation on the student’s official University transcript. The final Health Sciences LEAP year asks students to research, design, implement, and evaluate an extended service project in cooperation with the University of Utah’s Bennion Center, the University Neighborhood Partners, or another student-identified community organization. The course sequence (UUHSC 4000 and 4001: “Service Learning Through Community Partnerships”) is two semesters long and carries one credit hour each semester. Students are required to meet regularly as a class and with their service partners. Working alone or in pairs, they contribute at least 100 hours to their community partnerships, 80 of which are in direct service. The course emphasis is on higher education’s responsibility to community, and establishing viable partnerships with symbiotic rewards. Participation in fourth-year Health Sciences LEAP qualifies students for an international service experience through YouthLINC, which is partially funded by the HS-LEAP program. Over the course of the program, students are supported by personal advising, peer mentors, library skills and study skills courses, and yearly celebrations of their accomplishments. The 2007-2008 Health Science LEAP class has already been selected. Applications for the 2008-2009 incoming class will be ready early in 2008 and will be available in PDF on this website, or by contacting: Zeta Tsagaris |
LEAP Options: Thematic LEAP Thematic LEAP Service Emphasis Residence Halls LEAP Pre-professional LEAP Architecture Business College of Health Engineering Fine Arts Multi-year LEAP |
