Teaching Philosophy

I believe that students bring valuable perspectives and interests to political science that they can use to engage with research and to further develop interests and skills that will be broadly applicable. My chief goal in the classroom is to help students find how they can contribute to political science research in ways that are relevant to real world problems and important to their own values and career goals. Click here to download my teaching philosophy statement.

My research investigates core aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As such, I strive to create a collective engaged citizen identity among students in my courses, empowering students to relate political science to their own lives and to issues they care about, and setting up appropriate support structures for each student. Click here to download my diversity, equity, and inclusion statement.

Teaching Experience

I have a broad range of teaching experience across American and comparative politics, international relations, and research design and methods. Click here to download my teaching portfolio.

  • Politics of Developing Nations: Download syllabus. Research lab course to prepare students for the writing and analysis they will use in their future careers while also introducing development concepts from comparative politics and international relations. Collaborative research article writing for potential publication in a scholarly journal.
  • Representation, Identity, and Community: Download syllabus. Senior-level community engagement seminar in American and comparative politics. Students work as a project team to develop a proposal to increase civic and community engagement on campus.
  • Scope and Methods in the Social Sciences: Download syllabus. Major capstone course that teaches quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques within the context of writing a research article. Introduces foundational statistical and computer programming concepts. Students analyze data and write individual research articles in a collaborative environment.
  • National Government in the U.S.: Download syllabus. Introductory course (40-160 student enrollment) for primarily non-majors focused on democratic citizenship, building civic knowledge skills, and possible avenues for involvement in local government.
  • Comparative Foreign Governments: Download syllabus. Major required course introducing analysis of scholarly literature and theoretical development in a scaffolded writing assignment. Key comparative politics and internantional relations concepts within a Model UN simulation environment.
  • Representation, Identity, and Dissent: Download syllabus. Junior-level interdisciplinary seminar tying together different types of identity (ethnicity, gender, regional/national, religious) and different forms of action (political representation, protest, separatism, war). Comparative politics course with emphasis on applicability to American politics and public policy. Community engagement component. Students write a research article and conduct public policy-related activities.
  • Introduction to Comparative Politics: Download syllabus. Intro-level seminar designed around student involvement in the research process. Incorporated research methods, reflective and formative journal writing, and policy application components into the syllabus. Students engage with published research and focus on writing their own research article through collaborative methods workshops.
  • Immigration, Identity, and the Internet (Co-Instructor): Download syllabus. Senior-level writing intensive seminar. Draws on American and comparative politics literature, contemporary pieces, and cross-disciplinary sociology and anthropology work.

Selected Professional Development in Teaching

  • Teaching Citation, 2019: Documented and reflected on three substantial teaching experiences.
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Scholar Scholar Certification, 2020: Implemented a SoTL project, documented and reflected on the experience, and presented the project at the APSA Teaching and Learning conference.
  • Selected Courses Completed: Learning Mindsets; Instructional Design; Course Design Institute; Assessment for Learning; Leading for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Higher Education.
  • Selected Workshops Completed: Developing Critical Reading Skills, Facilitating Engaging Discussions, Motivating Student Learniners, Increasing Media Literacy

Selected Service, Curriculum, and Program Development

  • Honors Thesis Advising, 2021–present: Collaborated with individual students to design a individual thesis experiences. Supervised theses to help students produce products of interest to them and useful for their future careers.
  • Civic Engagement Initiative, 2022–present: Lead initiative to assess civic knowledge and engagement on campus and to develop civic engagement action plan aimed at improving university-wide civic and voter engagement.
  • Professional Development Initiative, 2022–present: Assisted pre-law society in re-starting the club as a starting point for developing a formal professional development program in the major.
  • Analysis and Investigation of Cyber Scenarios, 2021–present: Transdisciplinary program on cyber security funded by the Department of Defense. Create hands-on simulations about national security crises for use with students.
  • APSA Outstanding Civic Engagement Project Awards Committee, 2022: Evaluated nominations for civic engagement projects.
  • Fellow, Center for Teaching and Learning, 2021: Collected data from peer institutions on graduate student teaching training programs. Analyzed qualitative and quantitative data on faculty teaching experiences during the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Teaching Center Graduate Student Advisory Council, 2017-2020: Provided feedback on graduate student teaching programming; hosted events discussing pedagogy.
  • Teaching Political Science Workshop Series, 2019-2021 (founder): Created and delivered workshops designed to improve pedagogy skills among graduate students.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

My goal as a teacher is to help students see how political science can help them solve problems in their community — what I call “engaged citizens.”” As such, my scholarship of teaching and learning research focuses on how students work through the political science research process and engage with the community. I view these two topics as the most important skills that political science teaches. The research process helps students to learn reading, writing, and critical thinking skills that are especially important for careers in law, government, and at non- profit organizations. Students then apply these skills through community engagement in order to demonstrate their power and relevance. I also work on developing, implementing, and assessing pedagogy professional development opportunities. This work has led to peer-reviewed publications in outlets like Journal of Political Science Education and PS: Political Science and Politics.

I describe my ongoing scholarship of teaching and learning research in my teaching portfolio. Click here to download my teaching portfolio.