TEACHING
Courses at UAH:
SOC 103: Introduction to Criminology
SOC 320: Sociology of Religion (Fall 2020)
SOC 340: Special Topics - Crime and Religion
SOC 340: Special Topics - White Collar Crime
Teaching Philosophy and Experience:
Education is a public good. The inherent potential to bring awareness of social structures and discover the institutions that shape our attitudes about them is what attracts me to sociology. Justice and diversity are the central values that guide my approach to the classroom, because I believe the college classroom can promote both personal and collective thriving. My mission is therefore to facilitate thriving.
For the student, the internalization of course content prepares students for future courses, standardized exams, career advancement, and conversation at the Thanksgiving dinner table. And deep, authentic learning - that is, more than the mere accumulation of knowledge - also entails the development of critical thinking skills. But education facilitated responsibly also makes us more sensitive to the experience of others. I therefore see the development of empathy as paramount in higher education.
At Baylor University, I served as Teacher of Record for eight courses, including six sections of Introduction to Sociology and two sections of Criminology. At Rice University, I taught sections of a course in Religion and Public Life, which includes graduate students and advanced undergraduate students. My classes have been as small as 17 students and as large as 124. I also served as a teaching assistant for four sections of Research Methods and two sections of Juvenile Delinquency.
My teaching evaluations are consistently above the average of comparison groups from the fields of Anthropology, Psychology, Political Science, and Sociology (see below), and complete evaluations are available upon request. But I am most proud about the testimonials of how my courses have changed the way students think about our social world.
Regarding in-class structured debates, one student reported to me that she “used to be considerably close-minded to ideas other than (her) own” but that “this class has shown (her) that there can be very good arguments to any side of an issue.”
Reference in-class discussion, another reported, “I (felt) comfortable… to speak my mind without the fear of getting torn down.”
After watching and discussing a documentary on income inequality, a student reflected, “I knew other countries really struggled, but to know there are people who starve in America is mind blowing to me.”
On issues of gender equality, a male student offered, "Before this class, I did not really understand it and thought it was a bad thing. Now I would say I’m a feminist. The inequality between males and females in this world is shocking and inexcusable and this class opened my eyes to that."
And another student realized that “discrimination doesn’t have to be legal to be felt. Our social interactions and norms can make a group feel discriminated against, even if there is no legal basis for it. How do we as a society counteract and change that?”
On the fluidity between self and others, one student with aspirations to become an optometrist wrote that she “need(s) to see (her) patients as more than just a patient or a way of income” and that she “should take the time to care for each person and really invest in the relationship.”
A future doctor with dreams to “help the Hispanic community” expressed that she realized “that someone’s health is a reflection of their social well-being,” a realization that changed the way she thought about the institution of medicine. By cultivating the virtue of mindfulness, she hopes to “make links (between) their personal problems (and) public issues.”
Another student noted that “the study of sociology can teach lawyers to look for environmental factors that might have caused someone to commit a crime, have tact and empathy while working with clients, and to stress the benefit of rehabilitation programs and less alienating jail experiences when applicable.”
By keeping students engaged in the class, my hope is that they then engage the world around them through the lens of sociology. My intention is that students encounter an environment that changes the way they think about their community, their fellow classmates, and themselves in ways that will persist beyond their college experience. Ultimately, I hope to inspire them to not be bystanders to injustice, but to live lives of compassion, authenticity, and integrity.
