Teaching

My current teaching repertoire at Franklin & Marshall College includes introductory and senior-level undergraduate courses in Environmental Studies. Courses include “Political Ecology of Food and Agriculture,” “Global Environmental Politics,” “Senior Seminar in Environmental Studies,” and “Environment and Human Values.”

Formerly, I taught graduate and undergraduate courses in International Development and higher-level courses in Environment and Development and Urban Development.  I have also developed an online IMG_20140603_142854course called “Politics of Global Development”, and a graduate level course in Brazil entitled “Rural Livelihoods and Food Systems.” At the School of International Service, I coordinated the undergraduate thematic area of Global Inequality and Development, involving curricular planning and coordination for nearly 200 undergraduate students who choose to specialize in the area as part of their major requirements. In this role, I coached other faculty in designing new courses, and have helped shape some of the curricular offerings for undergraduate students.

In addition to my teaching graduate and undergraduate students at American University, I have also served as a traveling faculty member in Brazil, South Africa, and New Zealand, and Ecuador with student groups, while teaching on the International Honors Program. I also served as a faculty adviser for three years on an Alternative Break trip to Kenya. These trips focus on community engagement and service, sometimes for academic credit but not necessarily, while on shorter trips abroad. Several of my courses currently involve community-engaged learning (CEL) projects, as well.  I choose to incorporate CEL in my classes not only because I believe that universities have an important role to play in supporting and improving communities, but also because it often provides rich learning experiences for students, whose intellectual curiosities are often ignited through tackling issues in an applied fashion, beyond theoretical debates.