Teaching

In 2020, I was honored to receive the Outstanding Teaching Award for part-time faculty from the Northeastern University College of Social Sciences and Humanities. I strive to encourage my students, as the award committee noted, to think critically about law and politics. I challenge my students to examine how law is shaped by values and how often fails to live up to the values society purports to hold.

I have used Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle for online course management. I received certification in online instruction through the Northeastern University College of Professional Studies and taught several hybrid online/in-person courses there.

For the Fall 2022 Semester, I will be teaching the following courses at Idaho State University:

    • American National Government
    • Constitutional Law
    • Courts & Judicial Process

The Spring 2023 schedule is not yet finalized, but I will likely be teaching:

    • American National Government (including an honors section)
    • Law & Society
    • Research Design

Select courses and descriptions from previous semesters are below. For a full list of teaching experience, please see my CV.

Law Courses

  • Law & Legal Reasoning
    • This was a series of courses required in the Doctor of Law & Policy Program at Northeastern. It focused on teaching students the basics of judicial process, case law, and legal analysis. Building on that we covered substantive legal areas, like Privacy Law. We also explored the links between law and public policy.
  • Constitutional Law
    • In Constitutional Law, I cover the basic powers of government, including the Commerce Clause, Spending Clause, Executive Power and the limits placed on government by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. I also covered theories of constitutional interpretation and the judicial process.
  • Civil Rights & Civil Liberties
    • This course was an upper level elective. We focused on 5 key rights and went in-depth on their evolution and legal justifications. This included: speech, religion, voting, privacy, and women’s rights in the workplace.
  • Advanced Debates in Law & Policy
    • This course used current Supreme Court cases to frame a discussion about specific laws and policies. Topics included DNA testing of arrestees, privacy, surveillance, voting rights, affirmative action, and others.
  • Law & Literature
    • This course, which I created and developed, uses literary texts (plays, novels, and short stories) to explore themes of law and justice. How do we resolve the tension between those concepts? What should a legal system look like?
  • Law & Society
    • This course looks at the intersection of law and society, with a particular focus on the role lawyers play in creating social change.
  • Courts & Judicial Process:
    • This courses examines the judicial systems (federal and state) as institutions of government. How do courts function? How do judges get selected? What role do juries and judges play in shaping the law?
  • Introduction to Law
    • This was one of the core courses in Northeastern’s undergraduate Law & Public Policy Minor. I taught students how to read and brief cases and we explored the evolution of specific legal doctrines.
  • Applied Legal Advocacy
    • This course was tied to participation in Moot Court. Focus was on appellate advocacy, crafting oral argument, and reading and synthesizing Supreme Court decisions.

Public Policy Courses

  • LGBT Issues in Public Policy
    • This course focuses on first the debate over what makes something an LGBTQ public policy issue. The courses questions the historically narrow focus on mainly equal protection claims and asks if we should more broadly define LGBTQ issues. It then examines certain topics (criminal justice, housing, healthcare) to assess the impact of those policies on the LGBTQ community and the broader society.
  • Strategizing Public Policy
  • Law & Policy Concepts
  • Evaluation Research
    • This course, also part of the Doctor of Law & Policy Program, was focused on the evaluation stage of the policy process. How do we know if a policy has been successful? What research techniques are useful in answering that question?
  • Public Policy Analysis
    • This undergraduate course used case studies and the policy process to explore real world impacts of public policy decisions.
  • Introduction to Law, Policy, and Society
    • This class, part of Northeastern’s Law & Public Policy Minor, focused on how public policy shapes society and how society shapes public policy, with a particular emphasis on the role of the courts in that process.

Other Courses:

  • Introduction to American Politics/American National Government
    • This is the foundational course in American politics. I teach using a mix of textbook readings, supplemental articles, and original sources. My aim is to provide students an understanding of the basic structures and institutions of American politics and enable to students critique those institutions.
  • Morality Policing (part of Occidental College’s Core program)
    • Using the regulation of sexuality, obscenity, indecency, drug use and other issues, I encourage to students to question the role of law in policing individual morals. This is a first year, fall semester seminar with a heavy focus on writing instruction. Students are required to produce 25 pages of polished writing over the course of the semester.
  • LGTBQ Politics
    • This course looks at the evolution of the legal and political fight for LGBT equality, paying particular attention to the difference between assimilationist and liberationist rhetoric. We also discussed current issues, like LGBT asylum petitions and the intersection of non-discrimination law with claims of religious freedom.
  • Gender & Politics
    • In this course, we examine the way that gender influences politics in the United States, across all branches and levels of government. The course also covers specific topics, including economic policy, reproductive rights, and gendered violence. Important questions include how to define women’s issues, the role of conservative politics and women’s issues, and the importance of intersectional analysis.

Select sample syllabi, course evaluations, and other information are all available on request. Please contact me directly for more information.