Teaching Approach
My teaching philosophy embraces three core tenets: 1) empowering students to feel confident in their ability to take ownership of their learning process, 2) making linkages between the classroom and real world issues through applied learning, and 3) developing critical analytical skills – particularly through writing and communication – that can be applied broadly to enact positive change.
University of Illinois
NRES 589: Nature, Culture, and Society (Every other year, Spring semester)
This course surveys key themes in the field of political ecology. We will take a deep-dive into theories of political ecology – the critical study of nature-society relationships – by exploring scholarship across geography, anthropology, sociology, and political science. Many of the texts included here are foundational readings in studies of nature, culture, and society. The course does not attempt to present a comprehensive review of the political ecology literature. Rather, it is a critical exploration of theories and themes related to nature, political/economy, and culture. This effort will involve reading theorists like Michel Foucault, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Neil Smith, Gilles Deleuze, Donna Haraway, and Timothy Ingold, among others, and putting them in conversation with empirical casework in political ecology/human geography. As such, this course examines concepts of power, value, gender, assemblages, networks and meshworks, apparatuses and government, and more-than-humans to theorize about and better understand society-environment linkages and the political/economic/cultural drivers and consequences of global environmental change.
NRES 424: US Environment, Justice, and Policy (Every other year, Spring Semester)
In this course, we will examine US (and global) environmental policy from a justice perspective. Course material will revolve around two primary questions: 1) why do contemporary environmental justice advocates view mainstream environmental policy as “unjust”? 2) How have they worked to integrate justice into US environmental policy, and to what effect? We will broadly survey US environmental policy; evaluate how those policies differentially impact social groups; and theorize how and to what extent EJ can transform US environmental policy. Students should expect to examine connections between environmental and social justice issues in some depth in order to enhance their capacity to think about and offer solutions to the inequities inherent within US environmental policy processes.
NRES 224: Environment and Social Justice (Annually, Fall Semester)
This course examines environmental issues through the lens of social justice and human inequality. We explore how EJ makes connections between environmental (pollution, biodiversity, food, climate) and social justice issues (race, ethnicity, gender, poverty, power, and access) in order to inform public policy and mitigate environmental problems.
Other Teaching
Purdue University
POL223: Introduction to Environmental Policy
This course is a study in decision making as modern societies attempt to cope with environmental and natural resources problems. The course focuses on the American political system, with some attention to international issues. Current policies and issues will be examined. 3 credit hours.
POL130: Introduction to International Relations
This course provides an analysis of the fundamentals of international law, organization, and politics particularly as relevant to contemporary international relations. 3 credit hours.
Duke University
ENVIRON 348: Global Environmental Politics
Teaching Assistant. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Undergraduate level course. Fall 2016
ENVIRON 577: Environmental Politics & Policy
Teaching Assistant. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Graduate level course. Spring 2014
ENVIRON216S/PUBPOL 279S/POLSCI 367S: Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Teaching Assistant. Duke University, Undergraduate level course. Fall 2013
Supervising Instructor. South Sudan in Motion. BorderWork(s) Lab Independent Study. Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, Undergraduate level 1-credit research course. Fall 2012
Guest Instructor. Society, Economy, & Nature: Global Perspectives on Sustainable Development (GEOG 345). Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Richmond, Undergraduate level course. Applied wild species listing project between Wildlife Conservation Society – Afghanistan and the University of Richmond. Spring and Fall 2009