Fall 2026 ABCS Courses

Undergraduate Courses

AFRC 1780/HIST 0811/URBS 1780: FACULTY-STUDENT COLLABORATIVE ACTION SEMINAR IN UNIVERSITY-COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Instructor: Ira Harkavy, Theresa Simmonds
Fulfills: Ben Franklin Seminars (UNBF), College FND Cultural Diversity in US (AUCD), NU Sector History&Traditions (NUHT), NU Sector ReaSys&Relationship (NURS), NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), SEAS Humanities (EUHS), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), University Scholar Social Issues (UNCS), WH UG CCP US (WUCU), WH UG SS: Social Science (WUSS)

This seminar helps students develop their capacity to solve strategic, real-world problems by working collaboratively in the classroom, on campus, and in the West Philadelphia community. Students develop proposals that demonstrate how a Penn undergraduate education might better empower students to produce, not simply "consume," societally-useful knowledge, as well as to function as caring, contributing citizens of a democratic society. Their proposals help contribute to the improvement of education on campus and in the community, as well as to the improvement of university-community relations. Additionally, students provide college access support at Paul Robeson High School for one hour each week.

AFRC 2325: August Wilson and Beyond

Instructors: Herman Beavers, Suzana Berger

Fulfills: AFRC African American Studies (AAFA), AFRC Humanities (AAFH), AFRC Minor African American (AAFN), Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), Ben Franklin Seminars (UNBF), ENGL 20th 21st Century Literature (AE21), ENGL 20th Century Literature (AE20), ENGL Africana Literatures and Cultures (AEAC), ENGL Difference and Diaspora (AEDD), ENGL Drama (AEDR), NU Sector Arts & Letters (NUAL), SEAS Humanities (EUHS), THAR Advanced Topics (ATAT), THAR Minor Academic Course (ATNA), WH UG CCP US (WUCU), WH UG Humanities (WUHM)

"The people need to know the story. See how they fit into it. See what part they play.” - August Wilson, King Hedley II If you want to get to know community members from West Philadelphia, collaborate deeply with classmates, gain deeper and more nuanced understandings of African American history and culture, engage in a wide range of learning methods, and explore some of the most treasured plays in the American theatre, then this is the course for you. No previous experience required, just curiosity and willingness to engage. In this intergenerational seminar, Penn students together with older community members read groundbreaking playwright August Wilson's American Century Cycle: ten plays that form an iconic picture of African American traditions, traumas, and triumphs through the decades, nearly all told through the lens of Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood. (Two of Wilson’s plays are receiving fresh attention with recent acclaimed film versions: Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis; Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom with Davis and Chadwick Boseman.) Class participants develop relationships with one other while exploring the history and culture that shaped these powerful plays. As an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course, the class plans and hosts events for a multigenerational, West Philadelphia-focused audience with community partners West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance / Paul Robeson House & Museum, and Theatre in the X. Class members come to a deeper understanding of Black life in Philadelphia through stories community members share in oral history interviews. These stories form the basis for an original performance the class creates, presented at an end-of-semester gathering. Wilson's plays provide the bridge between class members from various generations and backgrounds. The group embodies collaborative service through the art and connection-building conversations it offers to the community.

ANTH 3307/CLST 3307/MELC 3950/AAMW 5620/ ANTH 5220/ CLST 5620: Intro to Digital Archaeology
Instructor: Jason Herrmann
Fulfills: ANCH Greco-Roman World (AANG), ANTH Archaeology (AAAR), ANTH Ctr Analysis Archeology Material Minor (AAAM), Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), CLST Clscal Stds Med Arch Track: Arch Sci Course (ACLA), CLST Clscal Stds Med Arch Track: Intro Med Arch (ACLI), CLST Theory Course in Archaeology (ACLT), DHUM Digital Humanities Minor- Skills (ADHC), MELC Ancient Near East Concentration Course (ANNE), SEAS Humanities (EUHS)

Students in this course will be exposed to the broad spectrum of digital approaches in archaeology with an emphasis on fieldwork, through a survey of current literature and applied learning opportunities that focus on African American mortuary landscapes of greater Philadelphia. As an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course, we will work with stakeholders from cemetery companies, historic preservation advocacy groups, and members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to collect data from three field sites. We will then use these data to reconstruct the original plans, untangle site taphonomy, and assess our results for each site. Our results will be examined within the broader constellation of threatened and lost African American burial grounds and our interpretations will be shared with community stakeholders using digital storytelling techniques. This course can count toward the minor in Digital Humanities, minor in Archaeological Science and the Graduate Certificate in Archaeological Science.

ASAM 1020: The Asian American Entrepreneur (SNF Paideia Program Course)

Instructor: Rupa Pillai

Fulfills: ASAM Minor Related Courses (AASR), Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), Designated SNF Paideia Program Course (UNPP), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), SOCI Culture and Diversity (ASCD), URBS History of Cities (ARHC), WH UG CCP US (WUCU), WH UG SS: Social Science (WUSS)

From shopkeepers to motel owners, the Asian American entrepreneur is frequently celebrated and offered as proof that the American Dream is achievable and that the United States is a meritocracy. This seminar challenges this view. Through interdisciplinary texts, qualitative research assignments, and speakers, we will explore the transnational forces and structural limitations within the United States that produce Asian ethnic niches and the bamboo ceiling which limits the success of Asian Americans.

ASLD 1033: ASL/Deaf Studies - ABCS
Instructor: Jami Fisher

This Academically Based Community Service course is intended to be the final course in the ASL/Deaf Studies course sequence. Students will work with a Deaf community partner to learn about the organization and work on a mutually agreed on research project. Students will also have course meetings on a weekly basis with discussions and activities centering on reflection of community experiences through linguistic as well as cultural lenses. Ongoing reflections and discussions—formal and informal—on Deaf cultural/theoretical topics drawing from readings as well as community experiences will be integral to the course experience.

EAS 2020: Rivers in a Changing World

Instructor: Douglas Jerolmack

Fulfills: Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), SEAS Tech,Business,Society (EUTB)

Like many cities, Philadelphia was built and developed around rivers. These rivers historically provided drinking water, food, power, trade routes, and recreation. Human development, however, has led to flooding, erosion and pollution; these factors degrade the ability of rivers to provide ecological habitat, and ultimately may turn rivers from a resource into a hazard. Unfortunately, lower income neighborhoods often bear the brunt of these negative impacts. In the face of climate change, extreme floods and erosion are only getting worse. The news, however, is not all bad. With improving understanding of environmental science and engineering, techniques that counteract flooding and clean up waterways are being developed and deployed. Armed with knowledge of science, citizens can become agents of change in their communities. It is in this context that we propose a partnership among Sayre High School, Penn’s Netter Center, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, to develop an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course on “Rivers in a changing world”. We seek to take advantage of the newly refurbished Cobbs Creek Environmental Center, which will host a brand new environmental laboratory space. A Project for Progress award from Penn has provided additional funding for state of the art equipment, including a “stream table”; this is a laboratory river that allows interactive and discovery-driven learning. The unique setting of an environmental river laboratory that is just steps from a natural river (Cobbs Creek), and close to Sayre High School, presents a special opportunity for meaningful hands-on learning of Sayre students in collaboration with Penn undergraduates. Course material will be co-developed between Sayre and Penn participants, so that learning modules in the laboratory and natural river are connected to curriculum objectives. Sayre is a Netter Center university-assisted community school and Mr. Smith has worked with Penn students in his classrooms for many years. He has a desire to bring students to the Cobbs Creek Environmental Education Center for hands-on real world environmental education and problem solving. Therefore, this is an ideal partnership for this ABCS course. Also, there is also a need for more climate-related classes at Penn and this course addresses that need.

EAS 3990: Pre-College Robotics Education
Instructor: Daniel Feshbach, Cynthia Sung

This Academically-Based Community Service (ABCS) course combines community engagement with education research to prepare Penn students to conduct impactful engineering teaching and outreach. Students will learn robotics basics (multi-body kinematics, rapid prototyping, and arduino programming) and then help mentor classroom robotics projects in a Philadelphia public school. They will learn to develop, execute, and evaluate lesson plans and curricular materials. They will also read, discuss, and write about relevant STEM education research including project-based and problem-based learning and how students across identities form personal identification (or not) with STEM. Prerequisite: familiarity with programming in any language (e.g. CIS 1100, ENGR 1050, or equivalent). 3D mechanical design experience (e.g. MEAM 1010) would be helpful but not required.

EDUC 2002: Urban Education
Instructor: Tawanna Jones, Christopher Pupik Dean

Fulfills: College 16 CU Requirement (AU16), NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), URBS Minor Urban Context (ARUC), URBS Minor Urban Ed ABCS (ARED)

This seminar focuses on two main questions: 1) How have US schools and urban ones in particular continued to reproduce inequalities rather than ameliorating them? 2) In the informational age, how do the systems affecting education need to change to create more successful and equitable outcomes? The course is designed to bridge the divide between theory and practice. Each class session looks at issues of equity in relation to an area of practice (e.g. lesson design, curriculum planning, fostering positive student identities, classroom management, school funding, policy planning...), while bringing theoretical frames to bear from the fields of education, sociology, anthropology and psychology. This is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course.

EDUC 2140: Education in American Culture

Instructor: Charles Adams

Fulfills: NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), PSCI American Politics (APSA), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), WH UG CCP US (WUCU), Wharton UG Core Flex GenEd (WUFG)

This course explores the relationships between forms of cultural production and transmission (schooling, family and community socialization, peer group subcultures and media representations) and relations of inequality in American society. Working with a broad definition of "education" as varied forms of social learning, we will concentrate particularly on the cultural processes that produce as well as potentially transform class, race, ethnic and gender differences and identities. From this vantage point, we will then consider the role that schools can and/or should play in challenging inequalities in America.

ENVS 1618: Urban Environments: Speaking About Lead in West Philadelphia

Instructor: Maria-Antonia Andrews
Fulfills: Ben Franklin Seminars (UNBF), College-Sector - Natural Science Across the Disciplines (AUNM), ENVS Environmental Policy Concentrations List (AEPC), HSOC Disease and Culture (AHSD), HSOC Health Policy and Law Concentration (AHSE), HSOC Public Health Elective (AHPE), HSOC Technologies, Practices and Practitioners (AHST), NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), URBS Public Policy & Governance (ARPP), URBS The Built Environment (ARBE), WH UG NSME: Natural Science, Math, Engineering (WUNM)

Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, impaired hearing, behavioral problems, and at very high levels, seizures, coma and even death. Children up to the age of six are especially at risk because of their developing systems; they often ingest lead chips and dust while playing in their home and yards. In ENVS 1615, Penn undergraduates learn about the epidemiology of lead poisoning, the pathways of exposure, and methods for community outreach and education. Penn students collaborate with middle school and high school teachers in West Philadelphia to engage middle school children in exercises that apply environmental research relating to lead poisoning to their homes and neighborhoods.

HIST 3714: Doing History: Research, Writing, and Mentorship
Instructor: Ann Farnsworth-Alvear
Fulfills: HIST Concentration in American History (AHCA), HIST United States and Canada (AHUC)

Focused on mentorship, both on campus and off, this course allows Penn Students to design and develop a research project while engaging with high schoolers from the School District of Philadelphia who will be pursuing their own historical work. Their teacher, Joshua Block, is a Penn graduate with twenty-five years of experience in the Philadelphia School District--his support will allow seminar participants to learn about teaching as a profession. During the first half of the semester, we will discuss Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and develop research plans that reflect students' own intellectual goals as historians. Research projects may focus on Philadelphia or anywhere in the Americas (please note that research projects beyond the Americas will require the student to seek an additional mentor beyond Professor Farnsworth-Alvear). We'll visit archives and other repositories in the city; examine digitized manuscript documents in Spanish and English and present our sources in Mr. Block’s classroom; and begin writing a 15-20 page research paper based on primary sources. During the second half of the semester, we will concentrate on supporting and mentoring high schoolers’ work as they pursue their own investigation of Democracy in America, with each seminar participant being paired with a group of high school researchers to mentor their research process. This is an Academically-Based, Community Service (ABCS) course.

LALS 3020/PSCI 2420: Diplomacy in the Americas - The Penn Model OAS Program (SNF Paideia Program Course)
Instructor: Catherine Bartch
Fulfills: College FND Cross Cultural Analysis (AUCC), Designated SNF Paideia Program Course (UNPP), Hunstman International Studies (UNIS), INTR International Relations Elective (AIRE), INTR Non-Western Elective (AIRN), LALX Related Elective (ALMR), LALX Social Science (ALSS), NU Sector Global&Cultural Studies (NUGC), PSCI International Relations (APSI), SEAS Humanities (EUHS), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), WH UG CCP Non-US (WUCN), WH UG SS: Social Science (WUSS)

How do we educate youth for global and political engagement? In Diplomacy in the Americas, students explore these questions through dialogue on readings, designing and teaching curriculum, and learning with undergraduate and public school students on Latin American politics, with a particular focus on democracy, human rights, security, and development, the four pillars of the Organization of American States (OAS). Analyzing and strategizing like a diplomat and guided by theories of democracy and of related themes, students collectively examine and propose solutions to the most pressing issues in the Americas. This course is an Academically Based Community Service Course, and supported by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, and it is also part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program, which serves as a hub for dialogue in undergraduate education at Penn. This course is and has also been supported by Fox Leadership International, Perry World House, Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy, and the School of Arts and Sciences.

MGMT 3530: WHARTON FIELD CHALLENGE: FINANCIAL LITERACY COMMUNITY PROJECT (A)
Instructor: Keith Weigelt

Do you want to make a real difference in the lives of a student? Do you want to set kids on a path to becoming financially literate? Do you want to learn leadership skills in the classroom? Here at the Financial Literacy Community Project (FLCP) we are able to create an experience that achieves all three. We partner with various public schools around the West Philadelphia area and teach concepts integral to financial literacy. We teach a wide range of grades from middle school to high school, and work with students to help them learn how to be financially responsible. In addition to teaching in neighboring high schools, we also have group class meetings run by Professor Keith Weigelt on Mondays from 7:00 PM-8:30 PM. We learn about the disparity of wealth and how to best address it while also learning teaching techniques, classroom strategies, and overall basic financial literacy. A basic understanding of personal financial literacy is required.

NRSC 4660: Everyday Neuroendocrinology

Instructor: Loretta Flanagan-Cato
Fulfills: NRSC Major Elective (ABBM), NRSC Minor Course Elective (ABBN), NRSC Neuroscience Elective (ABBE), NRSCHealthcare Management Elective Minor (ABBH)

This ABCS course blends academically based community service with a senior seminar focused on neuroendocrinology. Students in the course will design and teach lessons for high school students that focus on hormones and behavior. In parallel, college students will participate in journal club-style discussions focused on basic and clinical science discoveries pertinent to these topics. This combination of content learning and community engagement supports Penn's mission to relentlessly create and apply knowledge for the good of society. This is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course.

NURS 3750: Nutrition Throughout The Life Cycle

Instructor: Monique Dowd

Fulfills: NU Nutrition Major Elective (NUNE), NU Nutrition Minor Elective (NUNM), WH UG NSME: Natural Science, Math, Engineering (WUNM)

Understanding and meeting nutritional needs from conception through adulthood will be addressed. Nutrition-related concerns at each stage of the lifecycle, including impact of lifestyle, education, economics and food behavior will be explored.

PHIL 2563: Community Engaged Philosophy (SNF Paideia Program Course)

Instructor: Karen Detlefsen

Fulfills: Designated SNF Paideia Program Course (UNPP), PHIL Value Theory (APLV)

Topic will vary by semester. This course includes an on-campus seminar and weekly engagement with a community partner in Philadelphia. This is an ABCS course.

PSYC 4460: Everyday Psychology

Instructor: Loretta Flanagan-Cato

Fulfils: SEAS Social Science (EUSS)

PSYC 4460 is an activity-based course with three major goals. First, the course is an opportunity for psychology and cognitive science undergrad majors to develop their professional and science communication skills and share their enthusiasm for these topics with high school students at a nearby public high school in West Philadelphia. In this regard, Penn students will prepare demonstrations and hands-on activities to engage local high school students, increase their knowledge in functions of the mind and brain, providing insights that may promote well being for the high school students and their community. This will be accomplished as students design and execute hands-on/minds-on activities on a range of psychology topics. There will be 10 sessions across the semester for these lessons, allowing the college and high school students to develop a consistent teacher-learner relationship. Second, students will explore the literature that discusses the need for better bridges between scientific research and the broader community. Discussions will incorporate the students' experiences, including challenges and rewards, as they bring psychology lessons to local youth. This academic portion of the course will include guest lectures from the Penn community who actively engaged in community partnerships. Third, students will be challenged to consider solutions for any problems that they encounter using a Theory of Change framework. This aspect of the course will result in a final project in which students much create logical, realistic, evidence-based links between interventions, indicators of change, and ultimate impacts to mitigate the problems.

SOCI 1150/URBS 1155: Fair Housing, Segregation, and the Law

Instructor: Lance Freeman

Fulfills: ARCH UG Culture, Society, and the City (AARC), Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), SOCI Cities, Markets and Global Economy (ASCM), SOCI Law and Society (ASLS), SOCI M Law Society (ASOL), URBS Minor Related Elective (ARMR), URBS Public Policy & Governance (ARPP)

This course introduces students to the way sociological theory intersects with and is used to enforce Fair Housing Law. At the end of the semester students will be familiar with various sociological theories that explain patterns of residential segregation in America. Students will learn about various planning and policies that have both reinforced and deepened patterns of segregation as well as various fair housing laws. Students will collaborate with the Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic and a community based fair housing group to address a fair housing issue. Students will collect data, gather information, and perform analyses to further a fair housing advocacy effort.

URBS 1400: Inequity and Empowerment: Urban Financial Literacy (SNF Paideia Program course)

Instructor: Brian Peterson

Fulfills: Designated SNF Paideia Program Course (UNPP), NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), PSCI Minor International Development Minor (APID), PSCI Political Economy (APSE), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), URBS Urban Economics/Finance (AREF), WH UG CCP US (WUCU), WH UG SS: Social Science (WUSS)

This course provides students with a rich look at the historical and contemporary factors that have shaped America's wealth gaps. By studying the economic impacts of systemic forces such as discriminatory housing, predatory lending, and unbanking, students will develop a deep financial understanding of today's urban communities. Students will also explore their own financial awareness and exposure, creating personalized financial histories and empowerment plans. By breaking the silence on topics such as credit scores, auto purchases, renting vs. owning a home, insurance, retirement plans, debt management, and investing, Urban Financial Literacy will prepare students for a financially healthy life at Penn and beyond. The course will also explore larger financial examples and case studies, including endowment funds and major foundations, the promises and perils of sports and entertainment, start-ups and the gig economy, and more. In contrasting the opportunity and excess that is possible, with the debilitating realities of intergenerational poverty in America, the idea is that students will end the course with a robust appreciation for financial literacy, a portfolio of practical strategies, and a commitment to create new possibilities for financial wellness.

Undergraduate/Graduate Courses

 

ANTH 5830/EDUC 5466: Ethnographic Filmmaking

Instructor: Alissa Jordan, Paula Rogers

Fulfills: ANTH Cultural and Linguistics (AACL), GSE Division- Literacy, Culture, and IntNULLl Educ (GVLC), GSE EDD Advanced Qualitative/Quantitative (GDAQ), GSE EDD Higher Education Methods (GDEM), GSE EDD Qualitative (GDQL), GSE PHD Ed Culture Advanced Qualitative Methods (GDEQ), GSE PHD Education Culture Qualitative Methods (GDEL), GSE PHD Education Policy Qualitative (GDPL), GSE PHD Educational Linguistics Adv Qual/Quant (GDLA), GSE PHD Higher Education Methods (GDHM), GSE-ADMIN-Litrcy,Cltr,&Intl Ed (GMLC)

This ethnographic methodology course considers filmmaking/videography as a tool in conducting ethnographic research as well as a medium for presenting academic research to scholarly and non-scholarly audiences. The course engages the methodological and theoretical implications of capturing data and crafting social scientific accounts/narratives in images and sounds. Students are required to put theory into practice by conducting ethnographic research and producing an ethnographic film as their final project. In service to that goal, students will read about ethnography (as a social scientific method and representational genre), learn and utilize ethnographic methods in fieldwork, watch non-fiction films (to be analyzed for formal properties and implicit assumptions about culture/sociality), and acquire rigorous training in the skills and craft of digital video production. This is an ABCS course, and students will produce short ethnographic films with students in Philadelphia high schools as part of a partnership project with the School District of Philadelphia. Due to the time needed for ethnographic film production, this is a year-long course, which will meet periodically in both the fall and spring semesters.

IPD 5280/ARCH 7280: Design of Contemporary Products: Design for Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility
Instructor: Sarah Rottenberg.
Fulfills: MIPD Design Elective (EMID), MSE IPD Design Elective (EMIS), SEAS Humanities (EUHS), SEAS No Engineering Req (EUNE), Weitzman - Cert Integrated Professional Design Elective (FCID), Weitzman - Masters ARCH Elective (FMAR)

The power of design to shape the world we live in is increasingly obvious, as is the responsibility of designers to challenge our assumptions about who designs, who is included or marginalized by our designs, and how we can make sure that all design is inclusive design. This course will address issues around designing for equity, inclusion and accessibility and co-design. We will ask, What is inclusive design? Who does it serve? What should it look like? To answer these questions, we will engage with the current discourse around designing for equity, inclusion and accessibility, with a particular focus on accessibility. We will engage with disability justice frameworks and critical disability studies to challenge our assumptions about disability and engagement. And we will connect with members of the disability community and co-design along with them. This course is intended for anyone who considers themselves a designer: of physical or digital products, places, or services who wants to prioritize inclusion in their practice

NPLD 5980: Building Inclusive, Poverty-Informed Communities
Instructor: Sue Perls

Fulfills: SWSP Nonprofit Elective (SMNE)

Poverty is fundamentally about scarcity—a lack of life’s basic human needs, which is not limited to what we may think such as food, water, and shelter. We often reduce poverty to simplistic terms: however, its profound impact affects people’s overall well-being and opportunities. This leaves impacted individuals, families, and communities experiencing a persistent threat to safety security, a lack of belonging, and learned helplessness. This course addresses both the immediate needs of individuals experiencing poverty and alternatives to creating sustainable, systemic changes to promote equity, inclusion, and belonging. This community-engaged/service-learning course examines Philadelphia place-based poverty, with variations in intensity and manifestation. Students will embrace a participatory and culturally humble approach to understanding root causes of poverty through a combination of lectures, immersive classroom experiences, site visits to local nonprofits, and service-learning placement assignments. Several classes will be held off-campus at various nonprofit sites in Philadelphia. Students will gain a deep understanding of the complex and multifaceted realities of poverty, underscoring the laws and policies that create and maintain widespread in the US. This course counts towards the Certificate in Global Human Rights as it places US Human Rights issues in the context of global human rights principles and treaties. This transformative and impactful service-learning course is designed for students who are passionate about inclusivity and reducing barriers. It aims to explore how nonprofits empower economically vulnerable individuals, families, and communities to achieve an improved quality of life. The Netter Center for Community Partnerships has designated this course as an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course because it integrates practical engagement with the community alongside traditional teaching methods.

NURS 3130/5130: OBESITY AND SOCIETY
Instructor: Colleen Tewksbury
Fulfills: GSE MSED Ed, Culture, Soc- Community Service (GMCS), NU Nutrition Major Elective (NUNE), NU Nutrition Minor Elective (NUNM), NU Sector Society&Soc Struct (NUSS), SEAS Social Science (EUSS), SOCI Medical Sociology (ASMD), SOCI Sociology Major Related Elective (ASOM), SOCI Sociology Minor Medical Sociology (ASMS), WH UG SS: Social Science (WUSS)

This course will examine obesity from scientific, cultural, psychological, and economic perspectives. The complex matrix of factors that contribute to obesity and established treatment options will be explored. This is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course.

NURS 3570/NURS 5730: CASE STUDY: INNOVATION IN HEALTH: FOUNDATIONS OF DESIGN THINKING
Instructor: Julia Votto
Fulfills: Academically Based Community Service Courses (UNAS), ENG Engineering Entrepreneurship (EUNP), NU Nursing and Health Services Mgmt Minor NU Elec (NUNH), NURS MSN Leadership Elective (NMLE)

Innovation, defined as a hypothesis-driven, testable, and disciplined strategy, is important to improve health & healthcare. Employing new ways of thinking, such as with design thinking, will help open up possibilities of ways to improve health & the process of healthcare. Incorporating current & emerging social & digital technologies such as mobile apps, wearables, remote sensing, and 3D printing, affords new opportunities for innovation. This course provides foundational content & a disciplined approach to innovation as it applies to health & healthcare. A flipped classroom approach with the in-class component focusing on group learning through design thinking activities. The course is open to undergraduate nursing students as a case study & upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from across the Penn campus. The course provides a theoretical foundation in design thinking and equity-centered design along with a focus on using a Design Justice lens and the importance of storytelling. To enhance the didactic component, students will actively participate in a design case study. Students will be matched by interest and skill level with teams & will work with community-based organizations, healthcare providers and/or innovation partners. Student teams will meet their partners to identify & refine a health, healthcare, public health or health equity problem to tackle. Students will work throughout the semester to create an innovative solution that will be pitched to their community-based organization, healthcare provider, and/or innovation partner at the end of the semester. Prerequiste: Completion of freshman & sophomore level courses. This is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course.

STAT 4929/STAT 5920: Community Data Science
Instructor: Dylan Small

This course provides students with the opportunity to hone their data science skills and gain practical experience by working with a community organization on a data science problem of interest to the organization. Students will gain skills in problem formulation, collaboration with community organizations and communication of data science results. Students will work in groups of 3-5 on a data science problem of interest to a community organization. Problems that may be considered include working with the Netter Center on • Nonpartisan voter engagement on the Penn campus and in the surrounding community • The relationship between the educational requirements of jobs that are available in the West Philadelphia community and education in the community • Heat islands in West Philadelphia • Improving patient care at Hospital University of Pennsylvania Cedar Avenue This is an Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course. Prerequisites: The course presumes that students have taken a sequence of introductory statistics courses such as STAT 1010/1020, or 4300/4310 and that they have taken a course that has exposed them to more advanced techniques such as STAT 4220, 4230, 4420, 4710 or 4730. It will be assumed that students have knowledge of a statistical programming language such as R or Python. Classes such as STAT 4050, 4700, 4770 or 4800 would meet this requirement.

 

Graduate Courses

CPLN 6270: Community Engagement for Planners, Policy Makers, and Designers

Instructor: Lisa Servon

Fulfills: Weitzman - Masters CPLN Elective (FMCP)

Section Details: [Fieldwork location: William L. Sayre High School] Masters students interested in enrolling must email the faculty member directly to request registration permission. If permission is granted, and there are open seats available after advanced registration, permits will be issued beginning Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Planners, policy makers and designers are often instructed to “engage the community” as a part of our work, yet few of us are equipped to do so in a way that is responsible and is robust enough to meaningfully inform our work. This course will provide students with an opportunity to meaningfully engage with community partners and practitioners working in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, and to grapple with the complex issues necessary for understanding community perspective, thereby influencing the approach when planning and designing as professionals. The course will prepare students to productively and sensitively work with communities of all types, on projects of all scales, to work towards common goals and high aspirations. The course will critically examine the argument that engaging with the community leads to better outcomes. We will study theories about why community engagement is so important to creating plans, policies and designs that work for the people they will affect. Students will also learn a range of methods for how to engage diverse communities in ways that are ethical, non-extractive, and generative. The course will be taught as an Academically-Based Community Service (ABCS) course affiliated with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Classroom sessions will be heavy on reading and discussion, relying both on theory and on examples of a range of engagement approaches and results. Guest speakers will join us to talk about their experiences, both as professionals and as members of communities. Assignments will include reflection pieces, presentations, and case studies. Students will also work on group projects through partnerships with one or more community-based organizations in Philadelphia to build their skills and contribute a piece of meaningful work to an organization. Students will work together, with the partner, and with community members to complete a project (could be built, a printed deliverable, evaluation, or other).

EDUC 5459: Activism Beyond the Classroom

Instructor: Laura Lefty, Paula Rogers

Fulfills: GSE-ADMIN-Litrcy,Cltr,&Intl Ed (GMLC)

ACTIVISM BEYOND THE CLASSROOM (ABC) invites you to engage in participatory inquiry and public scholarship related to grassroots activism around education and social justice, in collaboration with Philadelphia community activists and one another. Together, we will explore how to form the coalition(s), theory, and praxes necessary to transform social conditions. In the first part of the course, we critically examine theories of power, resistance, and liberatory transformation to share knowledges and a build a critical vocabulary with which we will investigate the contested rhetorical and political terrain of our present moment. The notion of praxis, a guiding principle of the course, signals the processes through which "theory" is both embodied and realized. As such, in the second part of the course, we will experiment with how theory can be brought to bear on contemporary struggles around education--and, conversely, how the practices of activism can inform our learning, scholarship, and pedagogies. ABC is an Academically Based Community Service course supported by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Our work will crosscut three areas: (1) inquiry-based working groups, (2) community engagements, and (3) public forms of scholarship, including a class podcast, opinion essays, and a course website located at: www.activismbeyondtheclassroom.com.

EDUC 8215: TESOL Practice Teaching
Instructor: TEAM

Fulfills: GSE MSED Educational Linguistics Distribution (GMLN), GSE MSED Intercultural Communication ELX Elective (GMIE)

Fieldwork course for TESOL students. This course focuses on reflective teaching practice, providing a space for students to combine theory and practice as they apply the theoretical constructs of TESOL coursework to their own language teaching. Students will become accurate and systematic observers of and thinkers about their own teaching methodology, in order to continue to develop into increasingly effective language teachers. The theme of a student-centered language classroom will be explored through scholarly literature, pedagogical techniques, and students' own classroom teaching. To participate in this course, a student must be teaching a language class for the majority of the semester. Prerequisite: Permission needed from the department.

NPLD 7880: Social Impact Entrepreneurship Meets Mass Incarceration

Instructor: Thomas Duffin

Fulfills: SWSP Nonprofit Elective (SMNE)

This course is an integral part of the Penn Restorative Entrepreneurship Program (PREP )https://www.sp2.upenn.edu/research/special-projects/prep/ and will offer a group of previously incarcerated people intensive training on developing a new business. Students from SP2, Wharton, and Penn Law, and others will work with returning citizens on teams throughout the semester which will learn to craft a viable business plan while also engaging in critical analysis of the limits of social impact entrepreneurship in addressing longstanding social problems such as mass incarceration. In the final meeting, the teams will make pitches to a panel of angel investors who are recruited to provide additional supports to the most promising proposals. This ABCS (Academically-Based Community Service) course aims to not only play an important role in reducing recidivism but to also enable Penn students the opportunity to connect with members of our broader community and engage in meaningful social change in a cross-disciplinary setting where the expectation is that all of us has something to learn from and to teach to everyone else.

NURS 7210: Advanced Physical Assessment Across the Life Span and Clincial Decision Making: Nursing of Children
Instructor: Sura Lee, Cynthia Schmus, Jenna Jacobson, Angela Dunn, Christina Reustle, Mari Welch
Fulfills: WH UG NSME: Natural Science, Math, Engineering (WUNM)

This clinical course is designed to help prospective advanced practice nurses develop advanced skills in physical and developmental assessment both across the lifespan and with a specific focus on children in a variety of settings. Data collection, data interpretation, and hypothesis formulations are emphasized for the purpose of clinical decision making. The role of the advanced practice nurse in assessment of child health care issues and health promotion is incorporated throughout the course. Community collaboration and evaluation of social determinants of health, as integral aspects of assessment, will be an ongoing focus