Electives
Electives offer you another unique way to diversify your course of study and, like city seminars, often take advantage of Philadelphia by using it as a classroom. Our adjunct faculty members, many of whom are practicing professionals, bring their real-world perspectives into the weekly class sessions.
Elective Courses
TPC’s four-credit / one unit electives often fulfill specific requirements on your home campus. TPC offers multiple electives in the fall and spring, including:
Abnormal Psychology
The Abnormal Psychology course will establish a foundation for the identification and treatment of the major psychological disorders. The course will also provide a forum for students to critically examine the construct of abnormality and to deepen their compassion and empathy for those experiencing mental illness.
Students will learn about the etiology, treatment, and current research on these disorders through a combination of lecture, cases, multimedia, class discussion, and experiential exercises. Additionally, we will examine the various disorders from biological, social, behavioral, cognitive, psychological, and humanistic perspectives. Students will have opportunities to apply class material to contemporary issues in mental health, as well as to their internship experiences. Throughout the course, students will be exposed to the complexities of human behavior and psychological struggles, as well as cultural, economic, and ethical issues that arise in diagnosing and treating mental illness.
Economic Perspectives on Modern Urban Issues
This course examines and applies economic theory to urban and metropolitan issues, focusing primarily on our own laboratory: Philadelphia. Theory and Issues in Urban Economics deals with the intersection of economics and geography; it adds a spatial component to standard microeconomic theory. The goals of the course are to help the student understand: the fundamental workings of an urban economy, economic incentives and public policies influencing the growth or decline of urban economies, and the basis for intelligent discussion of interesting urban and regional economic and social issues. It begins with a classic microeconomic framework showing the location decisions of utility-maximizing households and profit-maximizing firms, and shows how these decisions cause the formation of cities of different size and shape, and what kinds of patterns, benefits, and problems emerge.
Additional electives may be offered pending enrollment. Email admin@tpc.edu for more information or with questions.