I care deeply about teaching and love working with students. In my classes at Davidson, I make sure to provide my students with ample opportunity to learn how to write for policymakers and to work with people in a position to make a difference in the policy world. For example, students in my Politics of Education Policy seminar work with a North Carolina State Senator to determine the best way for the state to uphold its constitutional mandate to make a college education “as free as practicable” for Tar Heel citizens. The students work with the Senator to craft legislation with the goal of introducing their joint legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly next year. Students in my Introduction to Education Policy course tackle simulated policy problems in a white-paper format ranging from how to ensure educational opportunity for English language learners in El Paso, Texas to how to increase the number of STEM majors among underrepresented minority populations at Davidson.

I also believe that advisees who are interested in research and graduate school be given the opportunity to do that research. I have 3 research assistants, one of which is planning to go to graduate school in education policy next year. I have tried to give him every opportunity to publish research with me this year; we are currently preparing a manuscript for submission to a major education policy journal. While visiting faculty are not supposed to take on advisees, Davidson made an exception for me. I have two advisees who are Education Politics and Policy majors through the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Davidson. For both, I have tried to guide them through the research process and look forward to advising them on their final theses.

I was very lucky in graduate school as, relative to other graduate students, I gained extensive teaching experience in both the undergraduate and graduate settings. In Fall 2017, I was the instructor of record for a 20 person introductory undergraduate class in public policy at Vanderbilt. The course gave students real-life experience working for clients in the public and non-profit sectors as well as covers the theory and practice of policymaking. The clients included two Nashville City Councilmen, the Nashville Electric Service, Sister Cities of Nashville, and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. Students produced white papers that answered a major policy policy problem identified by the clients.

In Spring 2016 and Spring 2017, I taught a course in strategic enrollment management to graduate students in Vanderbilt’s higher education administration, international education and policy management, and master of public policy programs. Vanderbilt has hired me as an adjunct professor to teach the course in a weekend format in Spring 2018.

While a graduate student, I also served as a teaching assistant for 5 professors across 6 classes at 2 major research universities (Duke and Vanderbilt) and gave invited guest lectures at 5 universities across 2 continents.

Lastly, after two years of instruction in best practices for teaching and learning, I received a Graduate Certificate in College Teaching from Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching and Learning in December 2016.

For more information on my teaching experience, see my CV above.