When the pandemic rocked the world and changed the way we approach life, work and education, Merrimack professors April Bowling and Simona Sharoni saw an educational opportunity. The course that they developed, Global Pandemics: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of COVID-19, examines biology and epidemiology and explores planning and response frameworks. Mirroring Merrimack’s mission of exercising social justice principles, the curriculum will also focus on how pandemics can worsen existing inequities. The course includes lectures as well as weekly roundtables involving faculty from all five schools to create an interdisciplinary approach meant to “stretch students’ understanding across and beyond traditional academic disciplines,” Sharoni said.

Creating a curriculum that addresses present-day challenges—another way that Merrimack College helps set students up for success in the real world.