06/19 - University of Scranton Professor Invited to be NEH Visiting Scholar

Mary F. Engel, Ph.D., director of medical school placement and the Office of Fellowship Programs at The University of Scranton, is one of only 25 scholars and teachers in the nation invited to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Institute, "Medicine, Literature and Culture." The Institute will be held at the Penn State College of Medicine campus in Hershey, Pa., from July 8 through August 2.

"Medical schools have indicated a growing interest in attracting broadly educated students, and they emphasize that admissions committees value strong preparation in humanities courses," said Dr. Engel, who is also an associate professor of English and has taught English courses at the university for 16 years. "When pre-med students ask why medical schools require at least two courses in English, I often share with them the advice a local oncologist gave our students a few years ago: 'You need to learn to listen to your patient's story. If you cannot understand her story, you may cure the symptoms but you will not heal the patient.'"

The Institute provides participating faculty with practical experience and theoretical instruction in the fields of literature and medicine. Participants are introduced to a range of literary, cultural and theoretical resources for understanding medicine.

To this end, Dr. Engel recently taught an Honors Program tutorial, entitled, "Women & Medicine: A Literary Retrospective." She is also currently teaching an independent study course in "Medicine and Culture."

Participants at the Institute will explore such issues as the culture of medicine and the ways in which medical and ethics cases shape both knowledge and practice. Clinical activities will be coupled with presentations and discussions of relevant literary works.

Students in the pre-medical program at The University of Scranton are continually accepted to medical schools at rates well beyond the national average. For seniors in the graduating class of 2002, the acceptance rate is an unprecedented 100 percent. The University of Scranton's overall acceptance rate for 2002 is already 95.3 percent for all applicants and climbing.

According to Dr. Engel, the reason that University of Scranton students achieve such a high rate of acceptance to doctoral-level health professions schools is "…because they eagerly seek to learn as much as possible about the complex field of medicine, to serve others on campus and in the community, and to share their understanding with their fellow students."

As an example, Dr. Engel notes that "many of the recent graduates remain actively involved in mentoring their colleagues in the graduating class of 2003. Recent graduates often stop by the office to ask how they might assist current applicants. They also participate in an online discussion board where the rising seniors ask questions about the process of application to medical school."