Teaching

Selected Syllabi

MILLSAPS COLLEGE (2023-present)
Introduction to American Government (GOVT 1000)
The American Presidency (GOVT 2520)
Political Theory (GOVT 2650)
Campaigns and Elections (GOVT 3000)
Free Speech: Wisdom or Weapon? (GOVT 3770)
Applied Research in Politics (GOVT 4000; required course for GOVT majors preparing to compose and defend their senior theses in the spring)

CONCORDIA COLLEGE AT MOORHEAD (2021-2023)
Renewing American Democracy (PSC 380a)
The First Amendment (PSC 380b)
Political Parties & Interest Groups (PSC 381)

Teaching Philosophy

Political scientists sometimes overstate the distinction between good teaching and good research. In truth, compelling research requires the qualities that good teachers have in common: empathy, open-mindedness, intellectual curiosity, and flexibility. As a scholar of long-term partisan change in the United States, my work explores the distinct (and contradictory) ways that Americans think about parties, party coalitions, and elections. However, I do not conduct this research in a vacuum. As a teacher, I am a participant in the same democratic project whose peaks and valleys my research explores. I trust my students with big questions about democratic citizenship and representation — for the same reason that I trust myself with these questions. My seminars emphasize critical engagement with foundational texts, anchored by organizing questions that motivate discussion. Thus, when I teach Jacob Mchamgama’s Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media or assign full Supreme Court decisions (including dissents!), I train students to be critical, creative democratic participants.

In the end, I respect and appreciate students. While their contributions too often go unrecognized, all students enrich the university’s creative life. I believe that when students are disengaged, this is often the fault of instructors rather than students. I maintain that challenging students is one of the primary ways to show them respect. I have seen first-hand that undergraduates are capable of high-impact research.

Simply put, I never, ever, ever give up on my students — and I believe that with the right resources and preparation, even the least confident student is capable of extraordinary things.