North Spencer Residential College: Community Health, Medicine, and Wellness
This living-learning community is open to all majors but is primarily intended for Global Honors students in Lloyd International Honors College who would like to explore issues in medicine, nursing, public health, personal health, wellness, and social policy locally and in other areas of the world. The North Spencer community strives to help students make connections through co-curricular programming, reflection, and shared learning as they relate to broader social impact as part of students’ personal, academic, and professional journeys.
North Spencer Residence Hall is the original Honors residence hall established in 2010 and offers an extraordinary space for nearly 200 Honors students. North Spencer offers large rooms that are air-conditioned and typically have a sink. It also offers a classroom equipped with global teleconferencing technology, a large parlor for visiting with other students. With on-site Honors advisors, and hosting a range of events and activities, North Spencer is centrally located on campus, next to the dining hall.
Signature Events
Wellness Hub Take a moment for yourself at the Wellness Hub — a dedicated space designed to support student well-being, one small comfort at a time. Whether you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or just need a quick reset, the hub offers free wellness essentials like stress balls, hand sanitizer, face masks, menstrual products, journals, and more.
Drop by to recharge, reflect, and grab what you need to care for your mind and body. Because a little self-care can go a long way.
Aromatherapy & Relaxation Breathe in calm and breathe out stress at our Aromatherapy & Relaxation event. Explore the soothing power of scent as you create your own personalized aromatherapy blends using essential oils known for their calming, uplifting, or focusing effects.
Whether you’re looking to unwind, energize, or simply take a mindful moment for yourself, this event offers a peaceful space to relax, reset, and learn how scent can support your well-being. All materials provided — just bring yourself and a willingness to relax.
Halloween Coven: A Night of Mystical Self-Care A collaborative event with South Spencer Residential College. Step into the magic of the season at Halloween Coven — a witchy wellness event celebrating intuition, healing, and a little bit of mystery. Explore the mystical side of self-care with stations featuring crystals, tarot readings, and DIY cleansing baths kits designed to help you reset your energy and connect with your inner self.
Come enjoy a night of intention, reflection, and Halloween vibes. Costumes and open minds encouraged!
Student Committees
The North Spencer Ambassadors play a key role in welcoming the next generation of residents into our Residential College. Through campus tours, admissions events, and creative outreach, Ambassadors share their authentic experiences, answer questions, and help prospective students and their families envision what it’s like to live, learn, and thrive in North Spencer. As storytellers and official representatives, they build connections that reflect the spirit and values of our Residential College.
This committee is dedicated to helping students cultivate personal wellness in mind, body, and spirit. Through creative events, shared resources, and reflective conversation, this committee fosters a culture of care, balance, and resilience within the North Spencer community.
This committee builds strong connections within and beyond the walls of North Spencer. Focused on community care, inclusivity, and social well-being, this committee creates meaningful opportunities for students to grow together and give back—locally, relationally, and relationally.
This committee supports students who are curious about health-related fields and medical careers. From guest speakers to ethical discussions and exploration, this committee provides an open space to explore the practice, promise, and personal pathways of medicine in today’s world.
The Pulse is North Spencer Residential College’s student-run newsletter, created to capture the heartbeat of our living-learning community. Focused on issues in medicine, nursing, public health, wellness, and social policy both locally and globally, The Pulse shares news, student perspectives, event highlights, and thought-provoking articles that connect our hall’s activities to larger social and health-related conversations. Committee members collaborate on writing, editing, and design to produce a publication that not only informs and inspires but also reflects the dynamic energy of North Spencer’s academic, cultural, and community life.
Featured Courses
MAC Health and Wellness (MHW)
Instructor: Gia Born
This course critically explores the intersection of trans health disparities and feminist theory, with an emphasis on the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Students will engage with trans feminist frameworks to analyze how social, cultural, and institutional structures contribute to health inequities within the transgender community. Through a blend of theoretical readings, case studies, and personal narratives, the course investigates the unique challenges faced by trans people in accessing care, navigating medical systems, and confronting both systemic and interpersonal discrimination. Key topics include the medicalization of gender, the role of healthcare professionals in shaping trans health experiences, the intersections of race, class, and disability with trans health, and the impact of policies such as healthcare access, insurance, and mental health services. Students will also explore the ways in which trans feminist perspectives challenge dominant paradigms of health, emphasizing self-determination, bodily autonomy, and the importance of community-based care. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the tools to critically engage with and advocate for trans-inclusive health practices, grounded in principles of justice, and feminist ethics.
MAC Health and Wellness (MHW)
Instructor: Laura Wheat
Pop culture loves to use the five stages of grief as a template for how to get over someone who died. But is that really all there is to it? Does everyone’s experience boil down to a sequential order, nice and simple? For that matter, what is grief really – do we grieve experiences other than death? Is it really just a matter of getting over it? How do we actually help people we know who are grieving? How do we help ourselves? This course will help answer these questions as we begin to explore the nature of loss, the socially and culturally constructed practices of mourning, barriers to mourning, and how to be helpful to those who are grieving, beyond greeting cards and awkward silence. We will also experiment with creative methods for expressing grief, including ritual design. This course is for the brave and open-hearted, those of any major willing to engage with a topic others may seek to avoid at all costs.
MAC Health and Wellness (MHW)
Instructor: Angela Bolte
Issues within Biomedical Ethics are some of the most hotly debated topics within American society today: the nature of the Doctor-Patient Relationship, arguments for Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide, Reproductive Issues (including abortion, contraception, and artificial reproductive technologies), principles of Patient Decision-Making (including informed consent), and Research Ethics. The aim of this course is to carefully explore a variety of issues within Biomedical Ethics, working through the ethical dilemmas that are inherent within health care. While this course will be valuable for those considering a career in the health professions who will be regularly confronted with these dilemmas, it should also be valuable for those who are not, because it will foster a critical awareness with respect to health, sickness, and death, events that impact everyone.