Health & Science Communication

Health & Science Communication

Health and Science Communication

Welcome to Health and Science Communication at Rowan University!

Feed your curiosity. Engage the public. Advocate for change.

The Health and Science Communication (HSC) program is a unique, interdisciplinary program made up of students and faculty who are curious about health and science, who facilitate public engagement with complex information, and who advocate for life-saving and sustaining change.  

HSC houses two undergraduate programs:

Our undergraduate programs will provide you with the skills to meet the demands of the moment--whether that means communicating the risks of COVID-19 or helping enact sound climate policy. Rigorous theoretical and practical curriculum combined with robust interdisciplinary training make the Rowan HSC programs unique in the nation. 

Our undergraduate programs are designed to serve students who are interested in multiple facets of communication--from those who want to work on PR campaigns to those who want to work with patients. In addition to serving communication students, our BA program was specifically designed to accommodate double-majors in STEM and liberal arts. 

HSC also houses a research consortium dedicated to analyzing and solving problems related to health and science communication. Faculty across four disciplines work to analyze communication practices, rhetoric, and language to better understand 

  • scientific controversies
  • clinical problems, and 
  • public health strategies. 

We investigate how language shapes decision-making in science, medicine, and public health in order to make recommendations for evidence-based, ethical action.

We are experienced collaborators who have partnered with researchers at academic medical centers and in STEM disciplines to secure funding, conduct quantitative, qualitative, and rhetorical research, and analyze and publish results. 

Spring 2025 Courses

Courses offered in Spring 2025 are now highlighted in the curriculum summary here.

More Information

Press
  • Dr. Ted Howell was interviewed for an article in Smithsonian Magazine. In the interview, he discusses how creative works, like novels, complement and complicate our understanding of scientific issues, like climate. Howell references Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, a book that his own students studied in his Environmental Writing and Rhetoric class this past semester.