Summer Session Class: Death and Dying

Death and Dying Summer Session Class    HSP 497 – CRN 31332

June 20, 2017-August 18, 2017  9 week session

Instructor – Bonnie Blachly.

“It is necessary to meditate early, and often, on the art of dying to succeed later in doing it properly just once.”  (Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before)

 Course Description:  Death is an inevitable experience for all living things.  Yet, the thought of our own mortality is often met with feelings of avoidance or denial.  It is not until we experience a significant loss through the death of a family member, friend, or pet that we come face to face with our own actual demise. 

This course is an exploration of Death and Dying and the varied responses (physical, emotional, spiritual) from different perspectives as presented through literature, art, music, film, medicine, psychology, religion, culture, and philosophy. Through these various mediums, we will explore how people cope with the idea of impending death, the dying process, and the follow up care of bereavement as well as the legal, ethical and policy issues around this subject.  9 week session -  

This course will be a hybrid mix of in-person and on-line sessions.  The three in-person sessions will be held on Tuesdays from 6:00-9:00 pm in MH 156.

• Tuesday, June 20th        6:00-9:00 pm
• Tuesday, July 25th         6:00-9:00 pm
• Tuesday, August 15th  6:00-9:00 pm

If you are a current WWU student, please register through Classfinder Summer session offerings. 

If you are not a current WWU student and wish to take this class for credit, please register following the Visiting Students instructions at the REGISTER button below.

If you are a community member and wish to audit the class, please contact Bonnie Blachly at Bonnie.Blachly@wwu.edu for more details. (This opportunity means that there will be no credit assigned and no official university record. It is offered on a space-available basis.)