PPCS 200 Community Organizing
Overview of the tools and techniques available to citizens wishing to engage in the democratic process. The values, goals, processes, and strategies of different models of community organizing. Brief histories of citizen movements and profiles of individual activists. Participation in a community organizing project.

PPCS 250 Politics and Public Policy
Study of the ways that public policy is formulated and implemented in the United States; the role of elected officials, bureaucrats, interest groups, and social movements in setting policy priorities and writing law; and the differences between the policy process at the national, state, and local levels of government. Case study of policy-making in one selected area used to consider the policy process as a whole. Participation in a community service project.

PPCS 300 Race, Class Gender, and Sexuality
How socially-constructed race, class, gender, and sexuality roles influence the lives of women and men in the United States. Similarities and differences between and among forms of oppression and ways in which issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality intersect. Public policies related to these issues. Strategies for coalition-building and redefining differences. Participation in a service project. Prerequisite: sophomore status.

PPCS 345 Sustainable Community Development
Examination of sustainable community development theory and a variety of practical initiatives in the Central Appalachian region and elsewhere. Students encouraged in class and through a service-learning project to consider how their behavior as consumers, workers, and citizens affects the ecological and human communities in which they live.

PPCS 400 Practicum
Applied, supervised experience in the field related to the student’s focus area; required attendance at a seminar held in conjunction with the practicum. Taken preferably in first semester of the senior year. Prerequisites: senior status and permission of instructor. Nine semester hours.

PPCS 450 Senior Seminar
Capstone course drawing on personal experiences from the classroom and the practicum; advanced readings in relevant issues. Completion of a senior project. Prerequisites: senior status and permission of instructor.

PPCS 460 Independent Study
Advanced independent research in a specific area related to the major, under the supervision of a faculty member. Prerequisites: junior status and permission of program director. One to four semester hours.