Faculty Provide Cross-Discipline Perspective on HIV/AIDS

During the past month Davidson has hosted a variety of programming centered on the topic of HIV/AIDS, including an art exhibition, student performance, two film screenings and complimentary HIV testing. The programming developed from a course team-taught by Professor of Biology Dave Wessner and Professor of English Ann Fox called "Representations of HIV/AIDS." Through the course, students learn about HIV/AIDS through scientific and cultural analysis, and discuss the implications of both scientific and cultural representations of the virus and disease.

On Oct. 5 the course launched on the edX platform as a massive open online course (MOOC). There are currently more than 5,000 students enrolled, and 75 percent are from outside of the United States, with 153 countries represented.

Fox said, "The range of experiences we have seen already has been amazing. We have people represented from all over the world: people who are living with HIV/AIDS and have done so since the early days of the pandemic; health care workers in settings ranging from India to Africa to Asia to rural areas in the United States; students who were among the earliest AIDS activists. Many have expressed a particular interest in thinking about HIV from the intersection of science and the arts."