Teaching Overview and Philosophy
I’ve taught in two top ten International Relations programs (George Washington University and American University). I’ve taught courses at both the undergraduate and master’s level. I’ve TA-ed four semesters and taught as an instructor of record for an additional four semesters. Over that time, I’ve taught eight discrete courses. In three of those courses, I designed my own syllabus. In addition, I taught one semester in DC’s Central Correctional Facility as a volunteer instructor through Georgetown University’s Prison Scholars Program.
The topics I’ve taught have ranged from introductory courses in International Relations and International Security to specialized courses on the far right in Europe and the United States. I am comfortable offering courses in International Relations, Comparative Politics, European Politics, as well as more specialized courses in social movements, the far right, democracy, and transnational activism.
In my teaching, I’ve pursued participatory strategies meant to incentivize student ownership over learning. I use student reading responses to generate discussion topics. I design assignments with practical application in line with a philosophy of “learning by doing.” Informed by my liberal arts background, all my courses (regardless of topic) focus on improving reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills
Teaching Experience 2017 - Present
Instructor of Record: Illiberalism Studies Program (2022-2023)
In fall 2022, I co-taught with Marlene Laruelle in the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington’s Elliott School. This spring, I am teaching a course of my own design, “Can it Happen Here? The American Far Right in Historical and International Perspective.”
Teaching Assistant and Lecturer: Security Policy Studies (2021-2022)
From Fall 2021 — Spring 2022, I was an instructor in the Security Policy Studies Masters program at George Washington’s Elliott School. Each semester, I served as TA for two sections of master’s level introductory international security courses (IAFF-6161 and IAFF-6162).
Instructor of Record: Global and Comparative Governance (2020-2021)
I taught two semesters of SIS’s global and comparative governance gateway (SISU:280 Ruling the World: Global and Comparative Governance). This undergraduate course is capped at 25 students, composed of primarily sophomores, and covers everything from state formation to international organizations. This was my first time teaching as an instructor of record, and I did so in a totally online modality during the 2020-2021 academic year, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teaching Assistant: Democratic Erosion (Spring 2019)
In the spring of 2019, I had a unique experience teaching with my advisor Cathy Schneider in Georgetown’s Prison Scholars program. We taught a modified version of her Democratic Decay and Authoritarianism course, which is part of the nationwide “Democratic Erosion” consortium.
Teaching Assistant: World Politics (Fall 2017)
My first teaching experience was In fall 2017. I was a Teaching Assistant for two sections of SIS’s introductory course SISU105: World Politics. My discussion sections were built around a participatory model where students helped design the structure of the class. Discussion topics were generated through sharing of students' weekly reading reactions.