Geography 360 Rod C. McKenzie
Environmental Disasters CAS 105, 213-740-7770 or -00057 (RCM’s office)
Spring, 2017 ,
Fax 213-740-8566; 626-345-1425
Office Hours: MW 10-11:30 and by apt.
.
Environmental disasters and/or hazards are courses designed to inquire into the nature and effects of a variety of environmental risks. How societies prepare for and cope with such events is within the scope of such courses. However, unlike the department’s Natural Hazards course which was designed to focus on geologic and atmospheric hazards, this course takes a different view and focuses on the issues of communicable and infectious diseases. The history of diseases, their geographic distributions, impacts on people and societies are all a part of the “geography” of specific maladies. The textbooks for the course include:
*Kent, CONTROLLING INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Lester, WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS
Meade, MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY (3rd ed)
**Olshansky, INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Quamman, SPILLOVER
*Rocket, POPULATION AND HEALTH
Rosenberg, THE CHOLERA YEARS
Shah, PANDEMIC
Watts, EPIDEMICS AND HISTORY
*World Population Data Sheet, Population Reference Bureau
*available online at www.prb.org
**available online via the database Proquest Research Library
In addition to the textbooks, you are expected to keep abreast of current issues that appear/develop during the term – the easiest method of staying on top of these issues is through a daily newspaper.
Pertinent articles from various periodicals will be identified and discussed throughout the semester; and you are encouraged to be on the lookout for materials that you might share with the class. You should examine in detail the CDC web site and place your name on the mailing lists for “Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal” (EID) and “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” (MMWR) – both are free and contain useful information. The International Society for Infectious Diseases distributes a number of newsletters as “Pro-Med” on both human as well as plant/animal outbreaks. Membership is free as are the publications.
Several writing assignments count 50%. Two exercises will be “annotated bibliographies” (15% each), one of which will focus on a communicable or vector-driven human disease and the other on an agricultural (plant or animal) disease. Each should include no
fewer than 25 references. The first bibliography is due Friday, February 24 and the second on Friday, March 31. An 8-10 page
paper (20%) focusing on a single issue (quarantine in the age of ACLU, climate warming and habitat change, vaccination as civic responsibility, etc.) or on one of the two annotated bibliographies is due Friday April 28. Most students will select one or the other
of their bibliographies as the topic for their paper.
The remaining 50% of your grade will be derived from two subjective examinations (essay questions) – the midterm is scheduled
For Wednesday, February 22, and the final exam is scheduled for Friday, May 5 from 8-10 am in our classroom.
Statement for Students with Disabilities Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register
with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained
from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open
8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for
the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor,
and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s
own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student
Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and
Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.
Information Sheet
Geography 360, Spring, 2017
NAME ______
(Last) (First) (MI) (AKA)
CAMPUS ADDRESS ______
(# and Street) (City) (Zip)
PERMANENT ADDRESS ______
(# and Street) (City) (State & Zip)
TELEPHONE ______
(Campus – AC + #) (Permanent – AC + #)
STUDENT ID NUMBER ______ACADEMIC MAJOR ______
STANDING ______E MAIL ADDRESS ______
(Fr/So/Jr/Sr)