Teaching
Teaching and mentoring have been the most rewarding aspects of my graduate career. Each interaction with students is an opportunity to inspire learning and empower them to be agents of change in their personal and professional communities. To prepare for classroom instruction, I intentionally sought pedagogical training through Duke University’s Certificate in College Teaching program. I also served as the Instructor of Record for the undergraduate Introduction to Public Policy Analysis course at Duke Kunshan University. Further, I also served as the lead teaching assistant for the Introduction to Public Policy Analysis courses at Duke University, Additionally, I served as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate courses Politics and Policy Analysis and The Invention and Consequences of Race and a masters courses in Social policy. In April 2023, the Department of Sociology recognized my contributions to post-secondary education with the Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Teaching Philosophy
My approach to teaching is grounded in the belief that learning is contextual and knowledge is personal. I recognize each student brings their lived experience to the classroom and strive to facilitate learning by encouraging students to draw connections between new information and the topics with which they are already familiar. This makes learning both personal and exciting for students. As an educator and sociologist, my pedagogy is motivated by a desire to bring the power of diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary research to bear on the most pressing inequalities observed in the social world. To accomplish my goal, I equip students from diverse backgrounds with the skills to think critically about social problems, apply knowledge to real-world challenges, and transform knowledge into action. Below, I describe how I employ these strategies in the classroom.
Mentoring
In addition to classroom instruction, I co-lead a Bass Connections research team. Bass Connections is a Duke program for interdisciplinary teams of graduate and undergraduate students to collaborate with faculty in conducting cutting edge research. As a member of the Justice Reform leadership team, I co-lead weekly learning sessions and mentor students through the development and implementation of original research projects. The Bass Connections program has recognized my and my students’ contributions to the research team. In 2022, I was recognized as a finalist for the Bass Connections Graduate Student Mentoring Award. In the following year, 2023, Bass Connections awarded my small group first place in the poster competition at the end of year showcase.