Courses I teach:

Activism and Popular Culture

Deviance

Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender

Introduction to Sociology

Introduction to Native American Studies

Native Americans and Film

Popular Culture

Religion and Popular Culture

Sex and Sexualities

Sociology of Education

Sociology of Family

Sociology of Public Health

Sociology of Work

Technology and Society

TV, Culture, and Society

Urban Community

Women: Bodies, Sex, and Science

If you're interested in seeing sample syllabi or assignments, or if you'd like to engage in some resource sharing, please contact me!

Teaching Philosophy:

I come to the profession of teaching with a passion to create and maintain working relationships with my students, and believe strongly in cooperative learning in the classroom.  As a scholar trained in Sociology, I approach the classroom setting as a unique opportunity enabling me to teach, write, and learn interdisciplinarily, since Sociology compliments other disciplines in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences.  Perhaps more than other disciplines, Sociology is situated in such a way as to make stellar contributions across disciplines because of its expansive territory of scholarship.  I think that because of this my students find themselves at the end of a course in the unique position of applying their critical thinking skills to their intimate social world. 

Often today’s college students, be they traditional or nontraditional, will study popular culture, feminisms, political and/or economic institutions, education, religion, family, and social psychological approaches to the family, stratification, and group behavior.  The beauty of these situations is that often no matter what the topic, all of these areas intersect and expand upon each other.  Sociology as a field sees all things as connected, positioning itself as attractive and interesting to students from other majors as well, and they often find new ways of looking at their discipline or major of choice.  To that end, no matter what the course, Sociology seems to have a place in any classroom.  At the beginning of each course I try to find out what students are taking, not only during that quarter or semester, but also what their major is and what their academic (as well as social and extracurricular) interests may be.  This kind of knowledge allows me to keep the curiosity in the class going when I use their interests as springboards for demonstrating the field and its research methodologies.  In my experience in teaching for a variety of departments such as Interdisciplinary Studies, Cultural and Historical Studies, Human Sciences, and Native American Studies, I can easily bring in Sociological frameworks and they transfer over quite easily.  By utilizing interdisciplinary frameworks, students see themselves as products of the social world in which they live, and as persons who are often controlled by hegemonic forces.  Overall, my goal is to facilitate critical thinking with students.