I have taught courses in political science and international relations at Trinity College, Eckerd College and Stetson University. These include Introduction to International Relations, Introduction to Political Science, International Law, International Organizations, Human Rights in World Politics, Ethics and International Relations, and Dilemmas of American Power. Below are course descriptions from some of these courses.

Introduction to International Relations

Course Description: This course will survey some primary theoretical paradigms of International Relations (IR) theory including realism, liberalism, constructivism, and post-colonial approaches in order to examine their theoretical commitments, worldviews, and internal logics. We will use these theories to work through some history, concepts, and problems in international politics. We will also develop an understanding of specific international phenomenon such as international trade, the growth of international law, the threat of global terror, contemporary nuclear politics, global migration and displacement, and human rights. The primary questions this course addresses include: What makes politics “international”? Where does international order and disorder come from? How do states practice sovereignty? And, how do international processes shape the domestic politics within states? Each week is divided into a theoretical discussion, discussion of a scholarly article, and then discussion of a policy/popular media piece.

Global Nuclear Politics

Course Description: Nuclear politics dominates headlines in contemporary international relations. From the growing threat of nuclear proliferation to controversies over the safety and security of nuclear weapons stockpiles to the growth of local anti-nuclear activism around the world, the conflict over nuclear energy and weaponry continues to be a major site of contestation in global politics. How can we understand the development of nuclear technology and its international and domestic consequences? What is the relationship between this technological development and politics, both local and interstate? This course will explore both the historical development of and contemporary conflicts surrounding the growth of nuclear technology. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of nuclear politics by combining perspectives from physics, history, sociology, and political science. We will start with an examination of nuclear technology, highlighting some technical and scientific details about nuclear energy and its potential weaponization. We will then discuss the logic of deterrence and address other logics of nuclear desire, including the military and symbolic value of nuclear weaponry. We will then move onto the legal regime that governs the growth of nuclear technology and weapons. From a discussion of international politics, we will then turn to the way that the growth of nuclear technology affects domestic politics through a discussion of nuclear safety and nuclear accidents around the world. The second half of the course will use the resources of the first half of the course explore nuclear proliferation in regional contexts including Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East. And we will close with a discussion of nuclear technology as a solution for climate change.

Human Rights in World Politcs

Course Description: The rise of human rights represents a remarkable trend in international politics. Though grounded in older philosophical ideas about natural rights and justice, the prominence of human rights, both as a dominant idea and a set of international laws, is a product of more recent history. How did this change occur? Where do human rights come from and how are they enforced in an international system characterized by a lack of central government? And what are the political and legal implications of the “human rights revolution”? This course will survey the main ideas, treaties, theoretical debates, and practices of human rights in world politics. We will begin with a historical discussion of how the language of human rights came to be so central to international politics in the 20th century. We will then move to specific parts of the what is called the “human rights regime” in international politics including specific treaties that protect human rights and specific trends like the emergence of the International Criminal Court, humanitarian intervention, and statelessness. We will also explore specific case studies such as the China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, U.S. prison system, and laws of war violations in the Ukraine war, among others.

Other Teaching Awards and Fellowships:

Searle Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning, Graduate Teaching Fellow

2015 R. Barry Farrell Teaching Assistant Award Recipient