Teaching

Overview

My teaching philosophy is motivated by four main goals: helping students think as social scientists, creating student-driven opportunities that build students’ analytical skills, preparing students for success beyond the classroom, and being a welcoming and respectful instructor.

I work towards these goals by emphasizing the importance of theory and evidence when comprehending, evaluating, and conducting political science research; designing assignments that allow students to scientifically analyze cases and engage in the political science literature; providing students with tools and skills that they can take with them to future courses, graduate school, and post-undergradute careers; and creating course schedules and reading lists that showcase topics and work from a variety of scholars.

A full statement on my teaching philosophy is available upon request.

Graduate Instructor

• POL 1400: International Relations, University of Missouri (Spring 2024)
• POL 2700: Comparative Political Systems, University of Missouri (Fall 2023)
• POL 4410: Politics and War, University of Missouri (Summer 2023)
• POL 4411: Genocide, Terrorism, and Civil War, University of Missouri (Fall 2022)

Department Methods Workshops

• Geospatial Modeling in R, Truman School of Government and Public Affairs, University of Missouri (Spring 2022)
  • Summary: “In this workshop, we learn about the different classes of data that we can map with using R, including spatial data frames, simple features, and spatial polygons. We also cover where to find mapping data from basic R packages, installed R packages, and shp files. We conclude by learning how to map with ggplot2, how to plot layers of data on maps, and how to customize maps in terms of their coordinates, colors, and other ggplot2 features.”

Teaching Assistant

• Categorical Data Analysis: Models for Categorical, Ordinal, and Count Outcomes (Summer 2023)
  • Dr. Olga Chyzh and Dr. Mark Nieman, ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods, University of Michigan
• POL 4540: U.S. Foreign Policy (Spring 2022)
  • Dr. Heather-Leigh K. Ba, University of Missouri
• POL 1400: International Relations (Fall 2021)
  • Dr. Bryce W. Reeder, University of Missouri
• POL 3000W: Introduction to Political Research (Fall 2020 and Spring 2021)
  • Dr. Laron K. Williams, University of Missouri
  • TA and Lab Instructor
• POL 4410: Politics and War (Spring 2020)
  • Dr. Stephen L. Quackenbush, University of Missouri
• POL 4420: Politics of International Economic Relations (Fall 2019)
  • Dr. Heather-Leigh K. Ba, University of Missouri