91福利

Courses you Teach

Courses on drug policy, Maine state government, democratic theory, and an innovative year-long seminar where students collaborate with community partners to conduct applied policy research. 

Tell us a bit about you

What鈥檚 a surprising fact most people don鈥檛 know about you? 
I struggled academically upon first arriving at college and was on academic and disciplinary probation simultaneously (basically inches away from getting drummed out of school). It wasn鈥檛 until I found subject matter about which I was passionate and professors that inspired me that I became a 鈥済ood student.鈥� This is information I share with students when they鈥檙e stressing about the first B- in their academic careers. It鈥檚 a helpful reminder not to sweat the small stuff. 

What鈥檚 something you have always wanted to learn, but haven鈥檛 yet?
Portuguese. I speak a bit鈥adly (we run a study abroad program every summer in Lisbon). But I鈥檇 really love to be able to speak at a more advanced level (and it doesn鈥檛 help that so many people in Portugal speak English fluently and kindly shift to it when they see you struggling. But I鈥檓 working on it). 

What鈥檚 something you鈥檇 walk across campus in a snowstorm for? 
Honestly (and this is going to sound corny), but teaching a class. No matter what is going on in your personal life, the weather, the world around us, teaching requires a focus that makes that fade into the background.

Tell us a bit about your approach to teaching

If your teaching (or research) had a theme song, what would it be? 
There鈥檚 a song called by the UK band Elbow. It is almost like two entirely different songs meshed together鈥搊ne really beautiful and one frenetic and chaotic. In my discipline, the best teaching (and the best research) finds the through line in what seems like chaos and renders it legible and comprehensible. The song is a good representation of that.  

What鈥檚 the most surprising thing a student has ever taught you? 
How to compost organic waste. I advised a student鈥檚 thesis that was about state and community-level strategies to reduce food waste as a means of climate change mitigation. I think of that student literally every time I walk our food scraps out to our (very impressive) composting set-up in the backyard. 

What鈥檚 something you would secretly love to teach, even if it has nothing to do with your field? 
At the end of high school, I was either going to study political science (with the intent of going to law school鈥搘hich later morphed into getting a PhD and becoming a professor) OR I was going to music school for composition. Realistically, I likely would have ended up doing something with music production or engineering. Though that鈥檚 not the path I took, I鈥檇 love to teach a course where we listen to and unpack the way contemporary music is made/recorded at a really granular level. 

What historical figure would you most like to co-teach a course with? 
George Orwell. I鈥檝e taught an upper-level seminar numerous times where we read basically all of his major works. People know 1984 and Animal Farm but there鈥檚 so much more than that鈥搇ots of really astute observations on class, war, social relations, political rhetoric, and even just the craft of writing. And he鈥檚 FUNNY鈥搃n a subtle, very dry and British sort of way which is not what most people think of with Orwell. We鈥檇 teach the heck out of a class together. 

How would you describe what you feel to be meaningful changes to your course design or approaches to teaching that have emerged as you have grown as an instructor?  
My earliest courses were structured and choreographed in a way that didn鈥檛 give students autonomy to drive the direction of the class (even if students didn鈥檛 fully realize it鈥搃t might have seemed natural and organic, but it was deliberately set up to seem that way). Part of my evolution as an instructor has been relinquishing control and letting students have more flexibility in what they choose to study and what any individual class or experience is going to look like. 

How would you describe the impact of these changes on the students in your classes?  
At its best, this strategy ignites a spark in students that I feel is far more effective than regimented 鈥渋nstruction.鈥� I鈥檝e seen students pursue the projects about which they are passionate into advanced study, their professional careers, advocating for meaningful change in their communities, taking on positions of leadership and power. 

As a result of this work, what has changed for you as an instructor and/or colleague in terms of your own teaching. 
So much. I鈥檇 say the key thing is having the courage to deploy new things in the classroom that are challenging or unconventional. I鈥檇 also say it鈥檚 important to recognize that we can never fully control what resonates with a student or is the catalyst for some other thing they鈥檙e going to do in their life. So that requires mindfulness and intentionality in really every interaction we have with our students (and is part of why being a professor is so exhausting, but also incredibly rewarding). 

What would be a piece of advice you might give a new instructor at 91福利? 
Don鈥檛 be too hard on yourself. Allow yourself the grace and flexibility to grow and evolve as an instructor. You鈥檒l try things that will fail or not work out as you鈥檇 hoped, but the very fact that this is happening shows you鈥檙e disrupting what is 鈥渃omfortable.鈥� And be transparent with the students about that鈥搕hey鈥檒l respect and appreciate that honesty (and they鈥檙e really good at sniffing out inauthenticity).