English, Humanities, and Social Sciences
At Thaddeus Stevens College, humanities courses are woven into every program because the workforce demands more than technical skill. Job-ready graduates need to be critical thinkers and communicate with diverse teams. English, humanities, and social sciences courses help to prepare our students to be collaborative teammates. Our students graduate ready to excel in their trade and contribute meaningfully to their workplace and community.
Business and Applied Arts Courses
BUSN 106 Small Business Management (3 credits)
This course focuses on the world of small businesses, including how to become an entrepreneur, select business opportunities, and keep the business afloat.
ART 106 Intro to Digital Photography (3 credits)
An introduction to digital photography using digital single lens reflex cameras and basic image editing software. This course includes print production for making black-and-white and color photographs and studio techniques that include portrait lighting and still life photography. No prior photography experience is required. Students use digital photography for the production of a photographic portfolio.
FIN 102 Personal Finance (3 credits)
The course is primarily concerned with the management of money from the viewpoint of the individual. Topics to be covered include consumer’s credit, borrowing, saving and investments, purchase of insurance, real-estate and other major items, the problem of taxation and wills, and controlling expenditures through the use of a budget.
English and Humanities Courses
ENG 106 English Composition I (3 credits)
Develops fluency in writing. Creates interest in and respect for proper usage, sentence structure, and precise expression.
ENG 116 Short Story and Poetry (3 credits)
Analysis of a variety of short stories and poems with an emphasis on developing interpretive skills. Special attention is given to individual presentations and class discussions. technique, symbolism, irony, style, and social significance.
ENG 206 – Reading and Writing Creative Nonfiction (3 credits)
This course is an introduction to the genre of Creative Nonfiction and includes a variety of approaches to the genre, both in content and form. Specific content approaches include food writing, travel writing, sports writing, music writing, environmental/place writing, pop culture writing, and immersive journalism. Specific form approaches include vignette, freeform, podcast, blog form, among other non-traditional forms. Students are introduced to these approaches through various shared texts, and students practice these approaches through different writing activities and assignments.
ENG 216 Technical Report Writing (3 credits)
Presents technical subject matter with emphasis on intensive practice in the various methods of expository writing. Attention is given to various technical forms, including instruction, proposal, progress, and feasibility reports. Prerequisite: ENG 106 or instructor permission
ENG 222 African American Literature (3 credits)
Course includes a survey of African American literature from slave narratives to the pan-African experience of the 21st Century.
ENG 221 Public Speaking (3 credits)
The course includes modes of speech communication, such as demonstration, information, persuasion, and interview.
ENG 238 Film Appreciation (3 credits)
This course introduces students to the art and craft of film. Students will learn about important film genres and become fluent in basic elements of cinema such as narrative style, character development, cinematography, setting, editing, and sound. In addition to studying the technical language of film, students will learn to appreciate film as an art form that expresses a society’s values and conflicts. The course is designed to give students who enjoy film the tools to make substantive arguments about the movies they watch.
History Courses
HIST 106 American History I (3 credits)
This course surveys American history from the colonial period to the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War. Students gain an understanding of the major events that have shaped American history, learn how American cultural values and character have developed as a result of these events, understand how myths and stereotypes about American history affect our perception of the past and present, and analyze and understand how economics, politics, society, religion, and geography are interrelated and impact history.
HIST 111 American History II (3 credits)
This course surveys American history from the Reconstruction period following the American Civil War to the Vietnam War. Students gain an understanding of the major events that have shaped American history, learn how American cultural values and character have developed as a result of these events, understand how myths and stereotypes about American history affect our perception of the past and present; and analyze and understand how economics, politics, society, religion, and geography are interrelated and impact on history.
Social Sciences Courses
ECON 240 Principles of Macroeconomics (3 credits)
This course covers ideas, models, and concepts to give students a better understanding of our nation’s and global economies. We will use references from real-world corporations, government policies, and current events, and explore how events and policies change the market equilibrium. Students will analyze macroeconomic data using equations and conceptual graphs.
ECON 230 Principles of Microeconomics (3 credits)
This course introduces students to foundational principles of microeconomic theory, with an emphasis on economic decisions made at the individual or firm level. It describes and analyzes the interaction of supply and demand and the behavior of the prices of goods and services. It explains the determinations of costs, output, strategic pricing, and purchasing decisions under various market structures in a global economy. In addition, it describes the supply and demand for factors of production with an emphasis on graphical formatting.
PSY 116 Introduction to Psychology (3 credits)
Students learn the major specialties of the field and the assumptions upon which they are based. Techniques used by psychologists are discussed.
SOC 106 Principles of Sociology (3 credits)
This course provides a systematic interpretation of major elements of sociology, including social dynamics, deviant behavior, social and cultural change, and developing major social trends.
SOC 121 Critical Thinking (3 credits)
This course provides an introduction to critical reading, writing, and thinking. Encourages students to pose questions at appropriate times and to have a generally critical attitude toward advertising and other aspects of popular culture.
SOC 206 Sociology of Deviant Behavior (3 credits)
Deviant social behavior is discussed. Topics include the development of deviant personalities, deviant careers, and conflicts between the deviant and the normative social world. Social techniques and patterns used to resolve such conflicts are also covered.
SOC 216 Multiculturalism (3 credits)
An introduction to general issues regarding cultural diversity. A focus on complex and diverse group activities in the contemporary workplace, with an emphasis on coping skills with people from different ethnic, gender, religious, and professional backgrounds, and perspectives.
SOC 221 Marriage and the Family (3 credits)
Contemporary American marriage and family patterns are discussed. Topics include historical and cross-cultural perspectives, current trends toward urbanization and changing value systems, and cultural, psychological, and social factors involved in the changing American family