Courses Taught

Christopher Newport University
POLS 329: International Human Rights (Fall 2021)
POLS 322: Conflict and Peace Studies (in development)
POLS 410: Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism (in development)

University of California, Los Angeles
PS 123A: Politics of International Law (Summer 2017, 2018): Syllabus

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on three principles: be accessible, be relevant, and be challenging. These principles guide the way I structure my course, the assignments I create, and the resources I provide to students to help them succeed. For example, I choose not to place lecture slides online until the week before an exam. This is because I want students to attend lecture and pay attention, but also because I recognize that students may want to look back at material before the final, particularly if they were unable to attend class that day. In lieu of providing the slides upfront, to help students focus during lecture, I provide them with an outline of the main ideas for the day. I then supplement these outlines with additional handouts that translate the text of primary documents like court judgments into more manageable pieces of information focused around the text's argument. Whenever possible, I try to provide students with alternative ways of organizing information, especially before exams. By showing students a range of techniques they can use to organize information and learn the material, I hope that at least one method proves useful.