B’More Intersession Program

The B’More Intersession Program is a one-week academic and co-curricular experience designed to introduce Johns Hopkins University students to Baltimore City’s civic and cultural landscapes while showing them how community engagement can enhance their JHU education.

The courses run during the last week of the January Intersession period. During this weeklong experience, students can elect to register for a one-credit course, free of cost, taught by either a JHU faculty or staff member, and/or a community partner in Baltimore City. Students are graded on a pass/fail basis.

B’More 2026: What is Health?

Courses

What Was Health? 

Instructor: Arthur Russell

Course Description: What Was Health? invites students into the archives for an interdisciplinary investigation of the material histories of health care. Working in special collections libraries and museums, alongside local archivists and artists, we will learn to decode the premodern artifacts and artworks that frame our present conceptions of human health. We will conduct our fieldwork on site at the Welch Medical Library, the Walters Art Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Writing About Health Sickness

Instructors: Jane Lewty

Course Description: In this course, students will explore historical events, fictional documents, and other multimedia that address health and sickness. We will reflect on medical ethics and the lived experience of clinical disease at the intersection of community health and racial/gender/economic differences. In response, students will produce original work in the genres of fiction, poetry, and essay.

Assessing the Health of Baltimore’s Literary Communities

Instructors: Nate Brown

Course Description: In this class, students will learn about and visit Baltimore’s literary institutions, from the historic Enoch Pratt Free Library to the Zora’s Den reading series and the Book Thing to Baltimore’s “Book Row” while asking the question: What makes a literary community healthy? Together, we’ll explore the past, present, and potential future of Baltimore’s literary scene(s) while gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to build literary community amid perennial structural, cultural, and economic challenges.

The Public Health Experience

Instructors: Shantell Roberts

Course Description: This one-week course explores public health in Baltimore City through the lens of social determinants, answering the question, “What is health?” Students will examine the impact of housing instability, food deserts, transportation systems, public education, and public safety on community well-being. Through case studies and fieldwork, students will understand how these factors shape human experiences and health outcomes.

For Students

As a result of participating in the B’More Intersession Program, students will be able to:

• Recognize actions they can take to be active citizens and critical thinkers in the JHU and Baltimore communities.
• Identify resources available to support their community and civic engagement at JHU and in Baltimore.
• Connect with other JHU students, staff and faculty, and Baltimore community partners.

Students can begin viewing Intersession courses on SIS in November; Students can register for a B’More course starting in December by logging into SIS!

For Faculty and Instructors

Each year, the B’More Intersession Program follows the theme of the Hopkins Common Question, which poses one big question to the Hopkins community, and inspires reflection, public discourse, and learning through immersion in relevant sources. Faculty and instructors are expected to embed this theme into their B’More courses. This year’s theme is What is health?

Instructor teams are paid $2,000 and are set up through the Summer & Intersession Programs (SIP) Office and the Center for Social Concern. B’More instructors must have a sponsoring department. Students receive one (1) credit for their participation in a B’More course and are graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

To express your interest and desire to teach a B’More course, please click on the link below. Fill out the application and attach your CV and Course Proposal Template by the deadline Friday, September, 26. All proposal templates will be reviewed by the B’More Committee. You will be notified if your course is approved to be a part of the B’More program.

A blank copy of the B’More Course Proposal Form can be found here.

Apply Now

Please direct any questions to [email protected]

B’More Through Words and Photos