Teaching

“Masters are not masters because they take a subject to its conceptual end. They are masters because they realize there isn’t one.” – Sarah Lewis, PhD, “The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery.

This excerpt illustrates the foundation of my approach to teaching. In my classroom, I emphasize the power of risk taking, learning from failure, and the mindset that learning is a continuous process for which there is no conceptual end. Cultivating an environment where students feel comfortable taking risks in learning necessitates the creation of spaces for that type of learning to occur. This foundation is a necessary first step in encouraging deeper student engagement with course material.

Broadly, my central aim as a teacher of political science is to help students understand what it means to shift from being told what to think about politics (by the media, friends, family), to learning how to think about politics from the perspective of a social scientist and consider the historical development of politics. These objectives, while an integral component to the study of politics, also involve no small amount of risk taking and courage on the part of students in that they are asked to analyze the world in ways that can stand in contrast to prior experience. In all of my teaching, I stress engagement with material in service of critical thinking, encouraging students to not only learn about the components of political systems, but to think more broadly about how they fit together with one another and have developed over time.

Courses Taught

Introduction to American Politics

Campaigns, Parties, and Elections

The Politics of Voting Reforms

Urban Politics

U.S. Presidential Primaries and Nominations (Seminar)

Congress and the Legislative Process

The American Presidency

American Political Development (Seminar)