Opportunities for the Minor in Medical Humanities
Academic Honors
The university recognizes academic excellence achieved over an undergraduate’s academic history at Rice. For information on university honors, please see Latin Honors (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude) and Distinction in Research and Creative Work. Some departments have department-specific Honors awards or designations.
Distinction in Research and Creative Work
Students completing the minor in Medical Humanities are eligible to apply for the university honor Distinction in Research and Creative Work. If awarded, Distinction will be noted on the student's transcript upon graduation and on commencement materials. All applications for Distinction will be judged by a committee of faculty affiliated with the program in Medical Humanities. Work deemed to be "above and beyond" expectation will be considered for Distinction.
- To apply for Distinction in Research and Creative Work in Medical Humanities, a student must complete the minor in Medical Humanities. Distinction in Medical Humanities recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in the project submitted for this award.
- Applications for Distinction, including the faculty evaluation form, must be submitted to the link below on or before the last day of classes in the spring semester by 5:00 pm. Due to the short turnaround time for this award, no exceptions are permitted.
- As part of the application for Distinction, students must submit a single-authored research or creative work, created for a class that counts toward the Medical Humanities minor, and represents the substantive output of a semester's work (length will vary by discipline). Portfolios of work assembling multiple assignments are not eligible.
- Generative AI may not have been used to produce any aspect (text, images, etc.) of the work submitted. Work that treats AI as an object of analysis is permitted and may include examples of AI-generated text or images as evidence (as one might use a quote from a text). In such cases, the AI-generated material must be put in quotation marks, with the prompt and source identified. If a student is unsure whether their work abides by this policy, they may contact the Program Director, Dr. Ostherr, at kostherr@rice.edu.
- An interpretive humanistic element must be central to the project. All students must submit a brief statement written in their own words (approximately 300 words) addressing how humanities methods, questions, and/or perspectives are central to the work.
- Only materials submitted through this application will be assessed for Distinction. Students are welcome to revise work that has already been completed for a class or submit work that they will further revise for a class. However, any work completed after the submission will not be considered.
- Applications are not complete without the evaluation form submitted by a Rice faculty member (former Rice faculty members are eligible) by the deadline. Faculty must email the form directly to the Program Administrator, Fatima Bazan Mota, at fb55@rice.edu. Late faculty evaluations will not be considered. Only one evaluation per submission is allowed. To ensure your application is complete and may be considered for Distinction, please request evaluation forms from faculty no later than one week before the deadline.
The Faculty Evaluation Form (linked here) requires:
- Two to three sentences explaining why the student should be considered for distinction.
- A brief explanation of the context in which the work was produced (e.g. was the work produced for a seminar, practicum, etc.). As an alternative, faculty may copy and paste the text of the assignment for which the work was produced.
Experimental Learning
Advanced students in the Medical Humanities minor have the opportunity to conduct experiential learning and research in our practica, enroll in internships at Houston-area hospitals, archives, and community partner institutions, and apply for research assistantships and other opportunities through the Medical Research Center.