Teaching

For me, teaching is all about working closely with students to develop their critical thinking by helping them connect the course material to their lived experiences. And in my experience, these things build on each other. Students who think critically about the course material tend to draw more connections between their own lives and the ideas they've learned throughout the semester. In turn, students who connect deeply with the course material tend to think critically about complex academic ideas. Supporting student learning and growth in this way is one of the most rewarding parts of the academic profession. If you'd like to learn more, check out the course descriptions and syllabi from my teaching record below.

Graduate

POLS 60810: Regression I (Teaching Assistant)
This is the second course of a three-part sequence in quantitative methods. In this semester, we will focus on the linear regression model, also known as ordinary least squares (OLS). OLS is the dominant method in quantitative political methodology. OLS is a useful statistical method for prediction and description, but also a powerful tool for causal inference when paired with experimental and quasi-experimental research designs. [Syllabus]

Excellence in Teaching Award (Spring 2022)

Undergraduate

POLS 30321: Global Environmental Politics (Instructor of Record)

Global environmental politics is a field of political science that examines how political processes shape environmental outcomes and vice versa. On the one hand, it is concerned with issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and natural resource use. On the other hand, it studies things like political institutions, social movements, party systems, and state-business relations. All the while, it places these ideas in a cross-national, global perspective. Throughout this course, students will grapple with both foundational and emerging questions in the study of global environmental politics. Why do some governments have stronger environmental policies than others? When do interest groups support or oppose different forms of environmental regulation? What role do social movements play in supporting diverse coalitions of environmental interests? How do voters form and express preferences for or against environmental action? [Syllabus]

POLS 20400: World Politics: Introduction to Comparative Politics (Teaching Assistant)
Comparative politics is the study of world politics. More technically, it is the subfield of political science that uses the comparative method to study the politics within nations. The focus on politics within nations distinguishes comparative politics from international relations, another subfield of political science concerned with studying politics across nations – e.g. diplomacy, war, trade, international organizations. [Syllabus]

POLS 20400: World Politics: Introduction to Comparative Politics (Teaching Assistant)
The study of world politics is dauntingly huge. To make our task more manageable, I shall introduce you to a single theme that illuminates many of the features of our current condition. This theme is the ongoing, and necessarily conflictual, evolution and revolution of a novel form of political organization known as the Modern Nation-State. By Modern, I mean the consequences of a revolution in epistemology, human identity, organization, and political reality that has come to fruition over (roughly) the past four centuries. By Nation-State, I mean a “symbolic community to which people voluntarily devote their primary political loyalties despite the many particularistic loyalties–religious, cultural, ethnic, political, social, economic, gender, and athletic–that otherwise divide them.” Modernity and the Nation-State are abstract terms. Still, they are useful tools. Like the best tools, they can help us make sense of our particular juncture in the long history of humanity. They alert us to the fragility of our world and the possibility that we may be the cause of its ruin. They can also give us hope. [Syllabus]

SUS 20010: Sustainability: Principles and Practices (Teaching Assistant)

This interdisciplinary course explores the challenges of environmental sustainability through social, economic, scientific, and ethical lenses. Taught jointly by professors from the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, the course aims to instill broad, integrative and critical thinking about global environmental problems whose solutions will depend on multidisciplinary approaches. This gateway course to the Minor in Sustainability is open to all students interested in a deep exploration of these critical issues. Students considering the Minor in Sustainability are encouraged to take this course during their sophomore year. [Syllabus]

I recognize my presence on the traditional land of Native peoples, including the Pokagon Potawatomi (Pokégnek Bodéwadmik) and other first nations. These lands were the traditional territory of these peoples and continues to carry the stories of their struggles for survival and identity. I honor with gratitude the land itself and those who have stewarded it throughout the generations and continue to do so.