I currently teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in the following areas:
- Congress and Legislative Policymaking
- American Political Institutions & Policy Processes (graduate seminar)
- Political Organizations–Parties, Interest Groups, and Social Movements
- Political Persuasion & Advocacy Strategy
- Quantitative Research Methods
My primary goal as an instructor is to empower students to understand and influence political events using political science concepts and methods. I emphasize practical application, accessible quantitative analysis, and practitioner insights.
Teaching Policy Leadership, Political Institutions, and Research Methods. I have taught over 20 undergraduate courses on Congress, political organizations, quantitative research methods, and persuasion & advocacy strategy, as well as a graduate seminar on American political institutions. I am interested in developing a course on institutional reform and am prepared to teach broadly in American politics, political institutions, and research methods.
Application-Oriented Assessment & Mentoring. Connecting political science to political practice can be challenging. Thus, my assignments focus on applying course concepts to real-world tasks. For example, in my substantive courses, students create issue advocacy portfolios and persuasive presentations that simulate communications used by policy leaders and advocates. I grade students on the effectiveness of these communications and their ability to justify their approach using course material, such as connecting the design of an issue brief to lawmakers’ informational needs early in the legislative process. In my mentoring, I extend this approach by helping students identify their career goals, tailoring their professional development to achieve those goals, and guiding them around the pitfalls of the “hidden curriculum.”
Quantitative Analysis. Using quantitative data is critical for professionals in politics, government, and beyond. To prepare students, I incorporate level-appropriate quantitative analysis into all my courses. For instance, in my sophomore-level political organization course, I introduce statistical regression alongside scholarly findings on how parties and interest groups influence elections and policy. For this purpose, I balance sharing my own research with that of a diverse array of scholars, helping students see themselves as researchers in training.
This approach necessitates frequent feedback, especially from students who have faced barriers to success. Thus, I build feedback mechanisms—critically, for course credit—into every lecture and assignment, and adjust future content accordingly. This approach, supported by a teaching grant, identified structural barriers in quantitative methods courses that led to disparities in D/F/W rates and informed course policy changes that eliminated those disparities. I’ve since adopted these policies in all my courses, to foster inclusiveness across my teaching portfolio.
Practitioner Insights. To complement classroom learning, I invite political practitioners to my classes. These have included a member of Congress, the heads of both major state parties, and a prominent lobbyist. In addition to exposing students to many instructive anecdotes, these visits give students a chance to apply course concepts, like when a student in my Congress class helped our representative interpret his own DW-NOMINATE score. In addition, these visits help students make career contacts and demonstrate the value of political science to external stakeholders.
In sum, in my classroom, students learn by doing, guided by systematic analysis and lived experience. I design and adapt my teaching to meet students where they are, fostering both learning and professional growth.