How Markets Work: Real-World Applications of Supply and Demand (EC 102)
While driving to campus, I am reminded of how economic concepts are exemplified in the real world: a local coffee shop offers a free drink after purchasing twelve drinks in order to induce brand loyalty, a restaurant went out of business because it was located near a well-established rival, and a movie theater offers a student discount in order to attract more consumers and maximize profits. This class serves as an introduction to microeconomics, the study of the decision-making process of firms and households and their interaction in the marketplace. By using real-world examples and current events, students will develop their economic intuition so that they will be able to critically discuss and analyze economic issues.
Faculty Biography
Dr. Kerry Tan is a faculty member in the Economics department at Loyola University Maryland. He received his BA from the University of California, San Diego and his PhD from The Ohio State University. Professor Tan enjoys fueling his students' curiosity for economics by connecting the course material to their everyday lives and is a recent recipient of the Chair's Award for Distinguished Teaching in Economics. He is fascinated by anything dealing with airplanes and conducts research on pricing strategies in the U.S. airline industry.
Effective Writing (WR 100)
Introduces students to the discipline of writing in the university through the critical and creative study of the contemporary essay within a rhetorical framework. Students learn to conceive an original idea, develop implications of thought, use language effectively, and conduct inquiry (including basic library research). Students develop a full writing process—planning, drafting, revising based on critical feedback from peers and instructor, and editing. As a Messina section exploring The Good Life, we will develop writing strategies as we explore the “economic method” outlined by Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner in their book Think Like a Freak. That is we will begin with “bury[ing] the idea that there’s a right way and a wrong way, a smart way and a foolish way, a red way and a blue way. The modern world demands that we all think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally; that we think from a different angle, with a different set of muscles, with a different set of expectations; that we think with neither fear nor favor, with neither blind optimism nor sour skepticism. That we think like—ahem—a Freak.” The goal of this class is to help you discover the best practices for writing in college that serves the best practices for pursuing "the good life."
Faculty Biography
Professor Dominic Micer has been a faculty member in the Writing Department since 2012. He received his B.A. in English from Virginia Commonwealth University, his M.A. from the University of Vermont, and his Ph. D. from Miami University in Ohio. Professor Micer likes to explore how writing powerfully transforms experience through informing, persuading, and creating understanding. Because language has this power, Professor Micer studies the ways that language constrains and enables people in their everyday lives.
Mentor Biography
Kaileigh Jolliffe is an Assistant Director in the Office of International Programs. Her main role is to prepare students to study abroad in various locations all over the world. She also teaches Yoga and BodyPump classes at the Loyola FAC. She has been working at Loyola for about 6 years and has been a part of the Messina program for 3 years. She enjoys working with our first-year students to help then transition into the Loyola community.
Virtual Advisor
Both courses in this pairing satisfy core requirements for all students. Students considering a major in the Sellinger School of Business will take Microeconomic Principles as one of their two social science core requirements.