TEACHING

Teaching Highlights

5th year teaching at UKY
Taught 5 different courses as a primary instructor
Uses innovative teaching techniques and active learning in the classroom
Assigns interesting and engaging course material to appeal to students' interests
Travelled with students to a research conference where they presented work written in Stephen's class
Teaching evaluations are consistently above college and department averages

Courses taught as primary instructor:

PS 101 American Government, Fall 2016 – An introduction to the institutions, elite and mass political behavior, nongovernmental groups, and foreign policy that constitutes the government of the United States. The class focused on showing how political science concepts and historical decisions explain and affect current events. The class included numerous in-class activities to demonstrate political science concepts in action, as well as a research paper on American elections that coincided with the 2016 Presidential election.

PS 210 Introduction to Comparative Politics, Fall 2015 and Spring 2018 – An introduction to the institutions and electoral systems in use around the world, as well as the politics of economics and domestic political violence. This course focused on demonstrating how structures and institutions affect modern political outcomes, including the creation/survivability of democracy and the use of terrorism and civil war. This class included numerous in-class activities such as constitution writing simulations, as well as case study assignments to familiarize students with countries other than the United States.

PS 230 Introduction to International Relations, Spring 2017 – An introduction to the politics between countries, including interstate conflict and bargaining, domestic conflict including terrorism and civil war, international institutions and alliances, development, and economics. This class included numerous in-class activities including a week long Model United Nations session where students were tasked with handling an international refugee crisis while acting on behalf of the members of the United Nations Security Council.

PS 372 Introduction to Political Analysis, Fall 2017 – An introduction to the qualitative and quantitative research methods commonly used in political science, including correlation, regression, and process tracing. As part of this course, students produced a full length research paper including a literature review and a research design section around their own original research ideas. Several student papers were accepted to present at an academic conference, to which I travelled with them in early 2018.

PCE 410 Peace Studies Capstone Seminar, Spring 2019 - A seminar designed to train students to be producers of scientific research in the area of Peace Studies. As part of the course, students are trained in current research and in modern research strategies. At the end of the course, students will produce a full length research paper on a Peace Studies topic, and will present their research in conference style presentations.

Courses taught as a section leader:

PS 230 Introduction to International Relations, Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 and Spring 2016 – As a section leader, I led up to three sections per week (~30 students per section) in reviewing the week’s lecture material and applying the course content to current events.

PS 101 American Government, Fall 2018 - As a section leader, I led three sections per week (~30 students per section) in applying course content to current events and learning additional material not in the weekly lectures.