Teaching

I teach undergraduate courses in political theory, race and politics, American political science, and research methods.

Race and the Right to Vote in the U.S.

Instructor (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022)

This course, which I have taught with and without a service-learning component, focuses on race and politics in the U.S., American electoral institutions, and voting rights and behavior. Students volunteer with local nonprofit organizations related to racial justice and/or voting rights in their communities. The course emphasizes critical reflection on volunteer work and tie in-class discussions of institutions and the history of race to students’ service experiences. Students also create a final project on a topic of their choice; examples include interactive maps of voting districts, archival research in library Special Collections, oral history podcasts about the intergenerational transfer of political attitudes among Black North Carolinians, and legal briefs about voter ID laws.

Modern Political Thought

Instructor (Summer 2019 online), Teaching Assistant (Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018)

This “Hobbes to Marx” course is sometimes the only political theory class that students take, and I enjoy working with students grappling with abstract concepts, often for the first time. I focus on connecting centuries-old arguments to current events and contemporary debates. For example, we might discuss how Locke’s conception of property informed the development of policing as the protection of property and the enforcement of the racial caste system in the U.S.

Feminist Political Thought

Instructor (Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2022)

This course focuses on contemporary feminist theory. My course goals include helping students define their own feminisms and connecting theory to the “real world” through assignments like “pop feminism papers.” Students design their own final paper topics and work with the instructor on this iterative assignment to create a sophisticated final product on a topic they are passionate about. Past students have written about intersex Olympic athletes, the politics of female pleasure, and gender equity in journalism.

Introduction to Government in the United States

Instructor (Fall 2018, Fall 2021, Fall 2022)

This course is a broad overview of U.S. political institutions and behavior. I focus on using active learning techniques, like the simulations I developed for the class, to keep students engaged and to help them connect course material to current events. For example, we might discuss public opinion polling biases through a class activity in which students make their own Instagram polls, or analyze federalism through a discussion of Medicaid expansion.

Research Methods in Political Science

Instructor (Spring 2022)

This undergraduate research methods course brings students through the skills to select a research question, create a literature review, generate hypotheses, find data, select qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis, and begin coding using R. Students work on a semester-long research design project on a topic of their choice, preparing them for original research projects such as senior capstones.

The Politics of Memorials: Making and Shaping History

This seminar focuses on the big questions of “memory studies”: why do humans assign significance to certain objects connected to the dead? What major aesthetic forms have memorials and monuments taken in the 20th and 21st centuries? How do memories of colonialism appear in the politics of memorials? And how has historical preservation grappled with questions of race, power, and inequality? Students delve into these questions through case studies of memorials, from German Holocaust memorials to the #RhodesMustFall movement and Confederate statues.

History of the Future

Instructor (Duke Talent Identification Program, Summer 2018)

Duke TIP is an academic program that offers challenging, college-level enrichment classes for middle- and high school students. I developed and taught this class, which focuses on utopian thinking and futurism. Subjects ranged from Existentialism to urban planning theory, racial politics, totalitarianism, and biopolitics. Teaching six hours a day, five and a half days a week and helping students develop high-level thinking skills to was an exciting challenge.

I am currently a faculty fellow with Gettysburg College’s Center for Public Service through their Community-Based Learning Fellowship, which deepens faculty engagement with service-learning and community-based research.

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