Cross-curricular programming offers unique opportunities to connect non-majors with science. In this article, the author describes personal experiences related to a novel initiative uniting science, civics, and citizenship that may serve as a model for course and program development at other colleges. In this model, students from multiple majors explored several historical and contemporary disease events. The primary pedagogical goals were to examine how both social and scientific forces shaped those events and how they have shaped society today; and to reflect on how those experiences can inform future scientific and social decisions.