Teaching

I teach a variety of courses on American politics, political behavior, and research methods. I structure each of my classes so that students leave with not only a greater knowledge of the subject matter, but with skills and experiences that they can use in their professional lives and in their role as citizens in a democracy and global community. Thus, I combine teaching the fundamentals of political science and U.S. politics - core knowledge like theories and facts - with an approach that challenges and motivates students to actively apply course concepts to better understand the world. I accomplish this by bringing my role as a scholar into the classroom by mentoring students through community engagement and conducting original research. Students in my classes have participated in local government, fielded surveys, designed and analyzed original experiments, and executed an exit poll for the 2016 election. In my experience, the value of this approach is that these applications give students a working understanding of how to apply the abstract concepts we discuss in class to their everyday lives. This approach also gives students - who often have diverse backgrounds and learning styles - multiple points of entry into our subject matter.

Graduate Level

Undergraduate Level

Past Courses

    • Introduction to Research Methods, Political Psychology, Public Opinion & Polling Methods, Political Parties & Polarization, Income Inequality, Political Psychology of the 2016 Presidential Election, Introduction to American Government