Disease program to go residential

An infectious disease living-learning program will be offered next year. There's an added bonus for students looking to live in Spruce Street College House in the Quadrangle next year: infectious diseases in the residence. These won't hurt you, however. Microbiology Professor Helen Davies, senior faculty resident in the house, plans to implement an informal living and learning program on infectious diseases for the approximately 300 students living in the multi-year house next year. The program will explore the subject in terms of its history, its sociology and its anthropological aspects. There are even "areas of business" that may be explored, Davies said. An in-house course would be offered in the spring semester to about 18 students -- half of them Spruce residents and half Benjamin Franklin Scholars. The course would be much like Davies' popular fall semester General Honors class on the interactions between humans and infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. The course -- General Medicine 73 -- normally has a large waiting list for admission. Inspired by the implementation of the college house plan, which was announced in October, Davies wanted to bring a course she has taught to medical students and undergraduates into her dormitory. The college house plan will organize the University's residences into 12 multi-year houses with added programming by this fall. One of the benefits of the program, according to administrators, is that it will allow distinctive focuses and activities to develop in the residences. Davies said she was pleased with the plan because it encourages a system "where you're learning in the place where you're living," citing Oxford and Cambridge universities in England as prime examples. "Penn's entitled to a big, long experiment to see how it can be done here," she said. Davies added that there isn't a single person who "shouldn't know something about infectious diseases." Several of Davies' former students expressed enthusiasm about the proposed living-learning program, and praised the professor for her teaching of the class. "It's an incredible course," said College junior Amy Raphael, who took Davies' course last semester. "She's so excited about the topic, and [her excitement is] very contagious." Raphael -- who is also a resident adviser in Spruce and is helping to coordinate the living-learning program -- explained that one floor of Spruce will be designated this fall "for the study of infectious disease." "In general, when you refer to [the program floor] you have to preface it with 'study of' so you don't think you're living with diseased people," Raphael said, laughing. Raphael said she wants to see the program reach beyond Spruce to educate the student body about infectious diseases -- including sexually transmitted diseases -- and methods of prevention. "Once you start learning about this stuff, you're a sucker for life," Raphael said, adding that she now reads The New York Times' "Science Times" section every Tuesday to learn more about diseases she studied in Davies' class. A possible in-house program on women in science is also in the works for Spruce, to be introduced within the next couple of years.