Teaching

See here for a two-page summary of all of my teaching evaluations over the last four years. Individual course evaluations are available upon request.

Instructor of Record: Lecture / Seminar Courses

Diplomacy and Statecraft (IPS 362/662), Carnegie Mellon University (four semesters)

Diplomacy and statecraft are the driving forces behind foreign policy and international politics. The course introduces students to the concepts, theories, and history of diplomacy. The class also surveys a variety of contemporary diplomatic challenges related to international security (e.g. the North Korean nuclear crisis), major power relations with Russia and China, human rights and democracy promotion, and non-traditional transnational threats (e.g. human trafficking, global climate change). Both in the classroom and in writing, students are encouraged to think, act, and write like diplomats and to appreciate diplomacy as a vocation. Throughout the course, students build skills in foreign policy memo writing, participate in diplomatic role-playing simulations, and connect diplomatic trend lines with today’s international headlines.

Syllabi: Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Fall 2019 (Course Observation)

Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution (IPS 322/622), Carnegie Mellon University (four semesters)

Conflict and revolution are usually associated with armed struggle and violence. But over the course of the last century, nonviolent conflict has become an increasingly prominent source of institutional change and political revolution around the world, from Gandhi’s salt march to Filipino “people power” to the post-Soviet “color revolutions” to the Arab Spring. What are the causes, strategies, tactics, dynamics, and consequences of nonviolent conflict, and how do these differ from violent or armed conflict? When and how do unarmed “people power” campaigns topple repressive authoritarian regimes? This course addresses these questions and in the process engages contending theories of power, revolution, and insurgency. The course introduces students to key concepts, theories, strategies, and historical patterns of nonviolent conflict. The class probes the success and failure of nonviolence by analyzing landmark unarmed revolutions.

Syllabi: Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020 (Course Observation)

The Future of Democracy (IPS 324/624), Carnegie Mellon University (two semesters)

After the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama famously argued that humanity had reached the “end of history” insofar as liberal democracy had become the last viable form of government. Yet today, illiberal democracies and dictatorships persist and the world has witnessed the return of authoritarian great powers led by China and Russia. What is the future of democracy globally? How strong and secure are autocratic regimes from Iran to North Korea? Do populist movements in the United States and Europe really put democracy in the heart of the “democratic west” at risk? This course surveys the historical rise of democracy, the domestic and international causes of democratization and democratic consolidation, the rise and fall of democracy promotion, and the impact of democratic and autocratic major powers on the spread of democracy worldwide. By the end, students will be expected to write an intelligence memo on the prospects for political instability in a specific country and to give an oral presentation on the future of democracy there.

Syllabus: Spring 2019, Summer 2020

Writing for Political Science and Policy (IPS 250), Carnegie Mellon University (one semester)

The aim of this course is to equip students with the essential skills necessary to successfully write academic research papers and theses in political science and professional documents such as policy memos, op-eds, political speeches, briefs, and PowerPoint slides. Students thus learn fundamentals of writing for political science and public policy. Key topics include principles of rhetoric, evidence-based argumentation and citation, concision, and framing. Students also learn how to cite properly using citation management software EndNote and construct powerful tables and figures using quantitative datasets. This is a writing-intensive course in which students practice writing, edit peers’ writing, read about how to write, and analyze examples of stellar writing. A final project entails writing a draft senior thesis proposal.

Syllabus: Spring 2020

Academic Advising / Mentorship Courses

Summer Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship (99-270), Summer 2017-2020

Humanities & Social Science Senior Honors Thesis I&II (66-501/502), 2018-2019

Dietrich College Freshman-Sophomore Research Training (84-198), Spring 2019

Undergraduate Research (84-498), Fall 2016-2019, Spring 2017-2019

Teaching Assistant / Graduate Student Instructor

Introduction to International Relations (POL 240), Princeton University (two semesters)

Precept Syllabi: Fall 2012, Spring 2013

Applied Regression Analysis (PUBPOL 569), University of Michigan (one semester)

Evaluation: Fall 2007

Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 2), University of Michigan Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (one semester, Summer 2008)

Calculus (MATH 2), University of Michigan Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (one semester, Summer 2008)