Teaching
“I love teaching statistics” is a rarely uttered phrase, even amongst academic circles. But I mean it. I love showing students both the power and perils of numbers, especially when used to measure human behavior and society. To put it simply, teaching is a priority for me. Similar to all of my courses, I use humor, real-world examples, and new technologies to teach sometimes dry or highly technical concepts and methods. These methods earned me an Outstanding Teaching Award while I was still a graduate student.
I've been teaching at the university level for over seven years - with courses including Quantitative Techniques (Statistics), International Relations, US Foreign Policy, Globalization and Global Governance, International Security, Comparative Politics, and First-Year Seminars in International Politics. I’ve taught at multiple institutions, such as Northeastern University, Tufts University, and currently at Bridgewater State University.
I have also served as an Honors Thesis Advisor for several students at Bridgewater State University.
Please read my teaching philosophy for details. A sample of recent class syllabi and a summary of teaching evaluations are available below.
POLI 473: Globalization & Global Governance (Download Syllabus)
How can our 21st-century global society best regulate the global commons and promote peace and security? This course provides a thorough understanding of the nature of globalization, the new and varied forms of social, economic and political interactions it has produced in the world, and the challenge of governing the resulting complex interdependence among subnational, national, regional, international and non-governmental actors. First, the class begins with a historical and theoretical overview of globalization and calls for global governance, most strongly reflected in post-World World II institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the economic institutions arising from the Bretton Woods conference, dubbed “the Washington Consensus”. Next, it will move to explore the “building blocks” of international governance, including international organizations (IGOs) as well as non-state actors (including non-governmental organizations). The remainder of the course will cover the most pivotal issues surrounding globalization and the challenges facing global governance, such as issues in international security, human rights, the economic order, and the environment, amongst many others.
In this course, students will have the chance to investigate the forces of globalization from the perspective of different states, international leaders, economic classes, and a range of organizations. They will also be asked to participate in a Model UN simulation to further experience the challenges to global governance and bolster the applied perspective to the course. A wide array of case studies will be relied upon to offer students a diverse sample of regional political issues, important actors, and ideological assumptions so that they are well-equipped to assess and decide upon their own worldviews and what solutions might be required to aid in peace and security in an era of increasing global interdependencies.
POLI 384: US Foreign Policy (Download Syllabus)
How should the United States of America decide upon and pursue its national interests on the world stage? How should it interact with other countries and institutions? In this course, we will first embark upon a fast-paced journey through the historical origins of America’s foreign policy to understand the ideas and events that have shaped US interactions with the world. Thus, the course introduces students to pivotal US foreign policy eras, defined by different national objectives and a unique set of tools of statecraft (War, Trade, and Diplomacy). As we progress through the history of US foreign policy, we will learn how to apply main theories of international relations and concepts of grand strategy to US political decisions and policy outcomes – from the perspective of individual leaders, states, interest groups, the public, and more. We will also emphasize the values and ethics by which we judge foreign policy, and the institutions, tools, and tactics that go into forming foreign policy.
The course concludes by focusing on several contemporary issues and regions where the US faces ongoing foreign policy challenges – including foreign policy in response to global economic crises, climate and security policy, how terrorism and democracy promotion shape US foreign policy, and the US relationship with growing great powers and new rivals. Of course, we will reserve time to discuss the very recent COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on US foreign policy into the future.
POLS 2400: Quantitative Techniques (Download Syllabus)
This course presents a basic development of social science statistical techniques and methods, emphasizing applications of value to policymakers and researchers in the fields of political science, international affairs, and public policy. The main topics and methods covered include descriptive statistics, basic probability, binomial and normal probability distributions, hypothesis testing, differences-between-groups tests, correlation, linear regression, and multiple regressions. We also examine how to generate and interpret statistical analyses through STATA and SPSS software. Ultimately, students learn how to explain statistical results in a way that is understandable to an intelligent but statistically untrained reader. By the end of the semester, students should have the tools not only to develop and test their own research hypotheses but to critique the work of other authors in books and scholarly journals, with an eye towards finding areas of the discipline that are in need of future research.
POLI 260: Introduction to International Relations (Download Syllabus)
The study of international relations (IR) is an attempt to understand the circumstances under which conflict and cooperation occur in the world. If we can determine the causes of these events, we might learn to control them. This course offers a broad introduction to International Relations. It is structured to provide a balance between empirical applications on the one hand, and theoretical underpinnings on the other. It covers several widely used theories that help to explain recurring patterns in international relations, including realism, liberalism, Marxism, constructivism, and feminism. In tandem to these theories, the class explores basic concepts used by IR scholars, such as the “state,” the “nation,” “anarchy,” and “power.” Then it moves on to studying the different ways we can analyze the basic problems of international relations— conflict or cooperation—whether by studying the “big picture,” or the international system, the inner workings of the state, or the inner workings of the human mind. Throughout the class, students are given the opportunity to apply seemingly esoteric scholarship to the “real world.” The course introduces institutions that have been pillars of world order since World War II, such as the United Nations, the Bretton Woods monetary system, and the world trading system. The final section of the course considers a variety of contemporary challenges for international governance, including humanitarian intervention in the post-Cold War era, trade liberalization, terrorism, and environmental degradation.
ESADE Summer Program: International Security and Peace Operations (Fletcher School, Tufts University)
This course introduces students to the main theories and critical issues in international security. First, we will cover the basic frameworks and theoretical scaffolding that have guided the study of international security, including the theories of realism, liberalism, and constructivism. We will ask: What is security? How has the state system and the role of force evolved over time to envision security? We will then explore a range of key issues in international security, especially in the context of armed conflict, peace operations, and post-conflict rebuilding. These issues include but are not limited to: the causes of conventional and unconventional wars; the usage and effectiveness of force abroad, including the threat of nuclear weapons; civil wars and crimes against humanity; peacekeeping operations and humanitarian interventions; climate security; U.S. grand strategy; and the prospects of international security and peace in the 21st century.
The main objective of the course is to provide students with (1) an understanding of how the international system of states manages insecurity; by (2) identifying the most important features and dynamics in world politics; as well as (3) the key challenges to international security into the future.