The Asano Humanities & Health Certificate is a co-curricular program that rewards sustained engagement in arts and humanities activities throughout the academic year. All Jefferson students are invited to complete the certificate by attending eight (8) Jefferson Humanities & Health events and completing a reflection portfolio of four (4) reflection prompts.
Busy at Home Split by Michael O'Connor, SKMC '23
Registration open for the 2021-2022 Asano Humanities & Health Certificate
Register herefor the 2021-2022 Asano Humanities & Health Certificate! Start attending events listed on our web calendar to earn credit for the certificate. Read on below for more information about the requirements, FAQs, and more.
The deadline to attend events and submit portfolio requirements is Monday, March 28, 2022, 11:59 p.m.
For those completing the Asano Certificate for JMD252, the deadline to submit materials is Monday, December 20, 2021, 11:59 p.m.
This year, we are introducing a new element to the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate: the Anti-Racism in Health Focus. To earn this "Focus," four (4) out of your eight (8) Asano event credits must come from a specific list of Anti-Racism in Health discussion-based events, exploring race and medicine, environmental racism, health inequity, and more.
When you register for the Asano Certificate, check the box that marks your interest in the Focus (this is not binding). Read on about this new Focus, and the discussion-based event offerings, here.
How do I earn the Humanities & Health Certificate?
+ Register
Register for the 2021-2022 Asano Humanities & Health Certificate program here.
Though registration is not binding, it sets an intention of completion for yourself and it puts you on our radar so we can better track your attendance and be in touch. Registration remains open year-round.
+ Attend eight events
This is the fun part! You get to attend our rich array of programming and partner events that explore music, multi-media art, medical ethics, narrative medicine, and more. You have until the deadline to attend eight (8) events from the Jefferson Humanities & Health event calendar at Jefferson.edu/Humanities. Eligible events are marked with an asterisk (*).
Note: Four (4) of your eight (8) events can also come from participation with certain student organizations and university programs. See below to learn more about participating orgs.
If you are seeking the Anti-Racism in Health Focus, four (4) out of your eight (8) Asano event credits must come from a specific list of Anti-Racism in Health discussion-based events. Learn more and review the event offerings here.
+ Complete Part 1 and Part 2 of the portfolio process
Part 1 of the portfolio process is entering the eight events you attended (with a three sentence description) on Submittable.
Part 2 of the portfolio process is completing four (4) reflections in response to four (4) different events that you attended throughout the year and uploading your completed reflections to Submittable. Explore the portfolio guidelines here and see example reflections.
Students earning the Asano Certificate as credit for JMD 152/252 will also need to complete, in addition to the portfolio of four reflections, a reflection assignment required for all humanities selectives. This assignment will be administered using ExamSoft. Further instructions will be emailed to all Asano registrants; visit the Asano module of the JMD 152/252 Canvas course page for more information about this requirement.
+ Submit by the deadline
Submit your completed portfolio (Part 1: Event Attendance and Part 2: Reflections) for review through Submittable by Monday, March 28, 2022, 11:59 p.m.
For those completing the Asano Certificate for JMD252, the deadline to submit materials is Monday, December 20, 2021, 11:59 p.m.
+ Celebrate
Celebrate with friends and classmates during a special certificate awards event in late April!
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 152/252).
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.
Q: What is the time commitment?
A: You have the entire academic year (until the end of March) to attend eight programs and complete your reflections. Programs and events are usually one or 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 reflection prompts (all of which can be spread out over the academic year).
Second-year SKMC students seeking credit have an earlier submission deadline of December 20, 2021.
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 at jefferson.edu/Humanities. The calendar is updated regularly (typically at least once per week) as programs are added. Any cancellations or postponements will also be noted as soon as possible.
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 Humanities Program Coordinator, Matilda.Ostow@jefferson.edu, to see if it can count. Glad that you know that student organization participation can count for four out of eight of your events!
Q: How do I keep track of events that I have attended?
A: The Program Coordinator will track your attendance using sign-in sheets from events (which you are responsible for filling out) and from emails that you send after attending any event that doesn’t have a sign-in sheet. We also recommend that you keep a list of the events you have attended for your own reference. When you list your eight events on Submittable at the end of the year, you will be asked to provide a three-sentence description of the event. All past events are listed on our Website to jog your memory.
Q: Can I get this certificate more than once?
A: You can complete the Asano program as many times as you would like. However, SKMC students can only earn Humanities Selective credit for Asano once.
Q: Do I need to choose four different reflection prompts for each of my four reflections?
A: Nope! You can respond to whichever prompts you wish, as many times as you wish. I.e. you can respond to one prompt four times.
Q: I really loved a specific event. Can I reflect on it in four different ways for my four reflections?
A: We are so glad you loved an event this much! Unfortunately, we are looking for your four reflections to be in response to four unique events.
Q: Can the creative piece be something I already made or photographed?
A: We love that you want to share something you created previously, but the reflections should be inspired by or made in response to an Asano program you attend, and so your submission should be a new piece.
Four (4) of your eight (8) events can come from participation in certain student organizations and university programs (below). You can mark your attendance for student group participation here.
Reach out to Matilda Ostow, Humanities Program Coordinator, if you have questions about an organization that is not listed.
Note: Student organization meetings and events must be registered through OSLE in order to count toward the certificate.
Attendance
To receive credit for attending an Asano-eligible event, you will be asked to fill out the attendance form for the event you attended.
The attendance forms will be included in the event’s listing on our web calendar (either in upcoming events on the homepage or listed on the Past Events page) or on our Canvas page (you should have been added to it but you can also self-enroll here). For larger events, the form may be shared in the Zoom chat or displayed as a QR code.
We suggest that you keep a list of the events you have attended for your own reference. When you list your eight events on Submittable, you will be asked to provide a three-sentence description of each event you attended for credit. All past events are listed on our website to jog your memory.
Please note: Registering for Asano is regarded as implicit agreement with an honor code system. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure that they only request credit for events that they have indeed attended.
Featured image: Busy at Home by Michael O'Connor, SKMC '23
Celebrating the 2020-2021 Asano Humanities & Health Certificate Recipients
We congratulate the 84 Jefferson students—studying within the College of Nursing, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, College of Life Sciences, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Population Health, and the Institute of Emerging Health Professions—who earned the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate this academic year 2020-2021. We are inspired by how these students adapted to the virtual format of the Asano Certificate program and stayed committed to the humanities and a co-curricular academic experience.
Here are the Asano reflections that were chosen by our review committee for special recognition. Congratulations!
To earn the Asano Certificate, you must complete Part 1 (Event Attendance) and Part 2 (Reflection Portfolio) of the Asano Humanities & Health Certificate form on Submittable.
For Part 2, you are asked to prepare and submit a reflection portfolio of four (4) reflections in response to four (4) different Jefferson Humanities & Health events that you attended. For each reflection, you will have a choice of five possible prompts.
Students earning the Asano Certificate as credit for JMD 152/252 will also need to complete, in addition to the portfolio of four reflections, a reflection assignment required for all humanities selectives. This assignment will be administered using ExamSoft. Further instructions will be emailed to all Asano registrants; visit the Asano module of the JMD 152/252 Canvas course page for more information about this requirement.
Explore the guidelines for completing the reflection portfolio to learn more about the prompt options, the word limit requirement, the format, and more. Also, see below for exemplary reflection responses.
Reflection Examples
Explore exemplary reflections written by past Asano certificate recipients, organized by the five prompt options.
+ Make a Creative Piece
Featuring writing and creative works by Ayano Endo, Victoria Coaxum, Iman Soliman, Lauren Thaete, and Stanley Szeto.
+ Who Decides What's Best?
Featuring reflections by David Bales, Reilly Scott, Dunia Tonob, and Madeleine Kilimnik.
+ Three Words
Featuring reflections by Brigitte Anderson, Brianna Kunes, Andrew Jordan, and Emily Huang.
+ Agree or Disagree
Featuring reflections by Kelly Garrigan, Lyena Birkenstock, and Nellie Shields.
+ What?/So What?/Now What? Featuring reflections by Beverly Anaele, Sai Mupparaju, Amy Baumgart, and two anonymous reflectors.
