Q: What is this and why should I do this?
A: The Asano Humanities & Health Certificate is a co-curricular program that rewards your engagement in the arts and humanities and complements your formal course of study. Completion of the program signifies your effort toward becoming a healthcare professional who considers how the arts and humanities can cultivate close observation, communication, empathy, and reflection on the social contexts of wellbeing. Though all Jefferson Humanities & Health programs and events are free and open to the Jefferson community, registering for Asano means that you are committed to attending eight events and completing four reflections (and that you will have an opportunity to celebrate your achievement with us at the end of the academic year!).
Participating in the Asano certificate program is a great way to motivate yourself to attend some incredible programs on campus, connect with a community of students similarly committed to the humanities, find personal enrichment, and expose yourself to content that you might not find elsewhere at Jefferson.
SKMC students: You also might want to do Asano because it can count as one of your two Humanities Selective Credits (JMD 153/252).
Q: Does it matter what college I am in?
A: NO! The Asano Humanities & Health Certificate is open to all students in all colleges and programs, on all Jefferson campuses. Past Asano Certificate recipients have included students from:
College of Architecture & the Built Environment
College of Health Professions
College of Humanities & Sciences
College of Life Sciences
College of Nursing
College of Pharmacy
College of Population Health
College of Rehabilitation Sciences
Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce
Institute of Emerging Health Professions
Sidney Kimmel Medical College
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: You have the entire academic year (until March 30, 2026) to attend eight events and complete your reflections and event descriptions. Programs and events are usually one to two hours long, so you’re looking at 12-ish hours of programming plus the amount of time it will take you to thoughtfully respond to the event descriptions and reflection prompts (all of which can be spread out over the academic year).
JMD 252 students have until December 5, 2025, to attend eight events and complete your reflections and event descriptions.
JMD 153/252 students, please be aware that you will also have an earlier midterm deadline at which two of your reflections and two event descriptions are due. Please confirm your deadlines and requirements in the JMD 153/252 Credit Overview page in the JMD 153: Asano Certificate and JMD 252: Asano Certificate Canvas courses and plan your reflection-process accordingly.
Q: If I start attending Asano events do I have to complete the Certificate?
A: Registration for and participation in Asano are not binding, i.e., you can stop at any point. If you are an SKMC student participating in Asano for Humanities Selective credit then please check with Marcie Mamura, Humanities Education Coordinator, before making the decision to drop Asano.
Q: Where can I find upcoming events? How often is the calendar updated?
A: All upcoming events can be found on the Humanities & Health website. The calendar is updated regularly (typically at least once per week) as programs are added. Events that count towards Asano credit are marked with an asterisk (*). Events that count towards the Anti-Racism in Health Focus are marked with an asterisk (*) and a caret (^). Any cancellations or postponements will also be noted as soon as possible. Please note that sometimes we list events hosted by other departments and organizations on our events calendar for Asano credit; when such events are canceled or postponed, we do our best to share that information as quickly as we can.
Q: The student organization I am a part of is not listed under eligible organizations even though its content is related to arts and the humanities. Can my participation still count towards the Asano certificate?
A: Maybe! Reach out to Kirsten Bowen, Humanities Program Coordinator to see if it is a good fit for our list of eligible organizations. We are glad you know that student organization participation can count for four out of eight of your events!
Q: Can I get this certificate more than once?
A: You can complete the Asano program as many times as you would like. Because programs vary each year and participants curate their own experience, the Asano program is different each time. However, SKMC students can only earn Humanities Selective credit one time by completing Asano.
Q: Do events I attended in year's past roll over?
A: All Asano events that you attend for credit must be within the same academic year in which you are participating in the Asano Certificate program. Events you attended in past years do not count.
Q: What happens to the feedback you have received over the years? Do you integrate it?
A: Great question! We so appreciate the feedback that we have received in the year-end feedback form and from our cohort of Asano Student Advisory Committee members.
For AY25-26, here are some programmatic elements we will be implementing in response to your feedback:
More streamlined process for participants to mark their attendance at events and track their progress.
All attendance will be noted and tracked by entering your three-sentence event description in the Assignments module on the Jefferson Humanities & Health, JMD 153 Asano Certificate, and JMD 252 Asano Certificate Canvases.
We previously asked participants to fill out attendance forms in the Assignments module to track their attendance but have received feedback that this was confusing and became difficult to find Assignments for credit. We hope that eliminating this step will provide for a smoother experience and assist participants in completing Asano. We do recommend that you fill out your event attendance descriptions as soon as possible so that they remain fresh in your mind and you do not forget what you have attended.