Teaching & Mentorship

• “Teaching U.S. Constitutional Design: The Case of the ‘Genovian Revolution’”. Revise & Resubmit.
• “The Challenge of Constitutional Design: A “Genovian” Constitutional Convention.” In Gibb, Ryan, Harvey, Mark, Fielder, James, and Glasgow, Derek, (eds), Short Games and Active Learning in Political Science: Beating the Clock. Taylor & Francis. In Press.
• “Audience, Purpose, and Civic Engagement: A Reassessment of Writing in Political Science.” Journal of Political Science Education 13(4): 389-403.

UMBC: POLI 100

• Fall 2023
• Fall 2022 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2020 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2019 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2018 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2017 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2016 (Two Sections)
• Fall 2015 (Two Sections)

This course is an intensive seminar in the art and science of research methods in political science. In our discipline, and in the social sciences more generally, scholars across the world are working to explain not only the “who”, “what”, and “when” of important social phenomena, but also why and how such patterns occur. In this course students will begin to develop an ‘analytical toolbox’ of skills and knowledge which will allow them to answer these questions, in a manner which conforms to the rigorous demands of contemporary practice. By doing so, they will come to understand how each and every step in the scientific research process is invaluable in guaranteeing that our claims are credible, theoretically-grounded, reliable, valid, and replicable. And perhaps students will also come to understand why professionals find the research enterprise to be so rewarding—and dare we even say it—fun.

• Goal Orientation in Political Science Research Instruction (Journal of Political Science Education).
• Audience, Purpose, and Civic Engagement: A Principled Approach to Writing Assignments in Political Science (Journal of Political Science Education)

While it is often said that “image is everything”, this conventional wisdom is perhaps nowhere more applicable than in the realm of contemporary American politics. In this course, we will explore the ways in which 21^st-Century media institutions have transformed—and been transformed by—the American political process. We will investigate how theories of the press inform the democratic process, and compare how theorists’ expectations square with the empirical realities of today’s era of “media politics.” We will examine changes in the organizational structures and functions of media institutions and political institutions over time, tracing the effects of these developments to changes in the substance of contemporary political media content. We will investigate patterns of media consumption, interrogating the implications of media exposure for public opinion and political behavior. By grounding ourselves in the scholarly literature on these subjects, we will position ourselves to critically analyze present and future developments in media institutions and political communication. And by performing original research on media, we will also try our hand at empirical analysis.

With the advent of each election, political pundits, prognosticators, and polemicists clamor to provide answers to a deceptively complicated question: Why do voters vote the way they do?

While Twitter savants and TV blowhards spar over haphazard (and sometimes downright bewildering) conjectures, political scientists find themselves at a critical juncture. Practitioners of political behavior research are currently reconsidering formative theories about voting in light of recent developments in American politics. Since the idiosyncratic electoral contest of 2016, the need for more research on voting and political behavior is urgent.

And that’s where we come in. In this course, we’ll work to square the assertions of contemporary commentators with the findings of political science research. We’ll draw on insights from cognitive and behavioral psychology, sociology, research on electoral institutions, and the field of communication studies to examine how, why, and when citizens perform acts of political behavior. What’s more, we’ll have opportunities to test these theoretical claims by trying to craft our own election models.

UMBC: POLI 309

• Fall 2020
• Fall 2018
• Fall 2016

Indiana University: POLS-Y317

• Spring 2013

This course is an intensive seminar in the study of American public opinion. We will principally focus on the following questions: what is public opinion, and what does it mean when “the people speak?” Are citizens capable of fulfilling the expectations of democratic theory, such that they can exert “appropriate” control over the political process? Can citizens’ opinions be manipulated? Under what conditions do politicians respond to the “voice of the people?”

By investigating key theoretical and empirical developments in the scholarship of public opinion, we will attend to these central questions with special attention to the contemporary political context.

              We will also work to transition from knowledge curation to knowledge generation. We will test theories of public opinion through the implementation of a large-scale online survey instrument of UMBC students. By collectively designing, fielding, and analyzing the inaugural “UMBC Paw Poll,” we will be able to shed new light on the contours of public opinion on our campus, while developing real-world skills.

UMBC: POLI 326

• Fall 2022
• Fall 2017
• Fall 2015

Indiana University: POLS-Y317

• Spring 2013

Over the past several decades, quantitative methods have become central to the empirical study of political science. Now more than ever, researchers in the field leverage quantitative data to arrive at more precise, more externally valid, and more causally informed estimates of political relationships. In fact, a perusal of the top political science journals reveals that our discipline has become a kind of testing ground for sophisticated quantitative methods: increasingly, practitioners in the private sector and in other academic fields are adopting methodological tools developed by political scientists, rather than the other way around.

The goal of this practicum is to help students develop their “methodological toolkit,” a set of practical skills which will be of direct benefit in a wide variety of careers. To that end, we will be “learning by doing” in this course, by engaging in a semester long data analysis project.

Throughout this semester, we will role-play as a statistical consulting firm. Students will attempt to answer research questions that have been presented to the firm. These questions can come from a student’s own research. They will also come from real nonprofit community organizations, who will present their data analysis needs to us. At the end of the semester, each student is to prepare a written report which answers their chosen research question(s) in a manner that is professional, replicable, and interpretable.

• Goal Orientation in Political Science Research Instruction (Journal of Political Science Education).