My Teaching

I have taught courses focusing on sexuality, gender, the family, social “deviance,” and popular culture, as well as general-interest sociology classes (introduction, research methods, and theory).  I have had experience working with an array of students, including undergraduates at Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-New Brunswick, undergraduates at Columbia University, professionals enrolled in continuing education courses at Columbia, and both undergraduate and graduate students at Lehigh.  In 2008, I was a recipient of Columbia University’s Summer Teaching Award.  In 2019, I received a Graduate Mentorship Appreciation Award at Lehigh University.  

My teaching philosophy is rooted in the idea of the learner-centered classroom.  I place a premium on in-class participation and, in seminar, require students to present and lead discussions about each day’s material.  This helps them to understand what it means to ask a sociological question and to be able to interrogate the methodological and theoretical soundness of particular texts on their own.  I am  particularly passionate about teaching students to express themselves clearly and effectively on the page.

Examples of My Syllabi:

Sociology of The Office (freshman seminar, ONLINE)

Advanced Qualitative Methods (graduate seminar)

Proseminar in Sociology (graduate seminar)

Sociology of Reality TV (freshman seminar)

Sociology of Reality TV (100-level course)

Development of Social Theory (undergraduate course)

Classical Social Theory (graduate seminar)

Introduction to Sociology

Sociology of the Family (Writing Intensive [“W.I.”] class)

“Bad Girls”: Gender, Sexuality, Deviance

Social Deviance and Social Control

Human Sexuality

Research Methods

Introduction to the Sociology of Sexuality

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