Teaching
As a cognitive social scientist my courses emphasize the sociocultural and community bases of meaning and challenge students to think about how their own lives and thinking have been influenced by social forces. I take a goal-directed, active-learning approach to course design and lesson planning, and use a Socratic Method-style of instruction to keep students actively engaged in the material and to focus on their reasoning processes.
Instructor
Cognitive Social Psychology
Autumn 2022, Summer 2022, Spring 2022, Autumn 2021, Spring 2021, Summer 2020, Spring 2020, Summer 2019
Cognitive sociology is an interdisciplinary field examines how social dynamics shape patterns in the way people interpret information and derive meaning from experience. Studying cognitive sociology means considering how social forces shape the development of human behavior and cognitive norms, and how those norms can lead to vastly different interpretations of social life. In this course, students will learn the conceptual foundations of cognitive sociology, and explore how social, cultural, and community environments affect seemingly individual cognitive processes like self-knowledge, perception, and emotions. By the conclusion of this course, students will understand how key sociological concepts shape individual cognition and be able to apply those ideas to explain somethings about cognition patterns.
Intro to Social Psychology
Summer 2023, Winter 2021, Winter 2020, Summer 2017
Social psychology is an interdisciplinary field that tries to explain how other people influence our thought and feelings, how we form impressions, and how we behave around other people. Social psychology research explores both (1) how society influences how individuals perceive themselves, their experiences, and their world, and (2) how social norms structure and shapes interaction between individuals. This course will focus on the sociological foundations of social psychology, and will explore contemporary social psychological research on topics including self and identity, impression management, emotions, and stigma. By the conclusion of this course, students will understand key social psychological theories and be able to apply those theories to identify social factors that influence what people think, feel, and do in their daily life.
Cognitive Sociology of Deviance and Stigma
Spring, 2023, Winter 2022, Summer 2021
This course takes a cognitive sociological perspective to address questions of deviance and stigma. In this course, students will learn the conceptual foundations of cognitive sociology, and explore how that theoretical perspective can be used to analyze and understand social issues or phenomena related to deviance or stigma. By the conclusion of this course, students will understand how to think like a cognitive sociologist to explain how the meanings of deviance and stigma are constructed and negotiated within a particular sociocultural context.
Sociology of Sport
Winter 2023, Summer 2018
Sports are an integral component of modern life because they have the potential to influence every level of society, from international relations, to economic markets, to group behavior, all the way down to individual thought and communication. The sociology of sport refers to a critical examination of the complex relationship between sport and society, focusing on the ways that society influences sport, as well as the ways that sport influences society. This course explores what it means to “think like a sociologist” by studying how sociologists have analyzed the multifaceted roles sports play in society. Each week, we will focus on a different topic related to sports, which will introduce you to some of the concepts and theories sociologists have used to analyze that topic. By the conclusion of this course, students will understand basic sociological approaches to analysis and be able to apply them to develop a deeper understanding of the role of sports in our world.
Teaching Assistant
Media & Politics
taught by Prof. Ann Frost.
Autumn 2019, Spring 2017
News media has a profound influence on American society and politics. We are immersed in a pervasive media culture, which obscures how what we see, hear, and experience is a product of our society and its political, economic, material, and cultural configuration. Simultaneously, our media culture is rapidly evolving, as new technologies, new venues for political discourse, and new models of participation emerge online. This course examines the communication strategies used to shape political knowledge and participation, and how those strategies have evolved as communication technologies have developed.
Crime, Politics, & Justice
taught by Prof. Ann Frost.
Winter 2017
Discussions of crime and the criminal justice system have strong moral dynamics, but these simplistic conversations typically ignore either the broader dynamics through which certain behaviors are defined as criminal or the complicated dynamics of criminal justice institutions. This course explores the politics of crime and of society’s responses to criminal behavior, particularly the social and moral discourses that frequently attend to both crime and the criminal justice policies generated to address it. In this course, students will learn the most significant dynamics shaping the crime and criminal justice in the United States and will be challenged to think about those dynamics in broader, more conceptual terms.
Law & Society
taught by Prof. Ann Frost.
Autumn 2016
Law and society interact in ways that impact us even when we don’t realize it. This class will explore these interactions to examine how law is the product of social, economic, political, and psychological forces. This course explores the origin of law, its development, and the way it functions in society by examining topics like dispute resolution, psychological and political influences on judicial decision making, criminal law, law and social control, international human rights, and law and racial inequality.
Sociological Theory
taught by Prof. Edgar Kiser.
Spring 2016
This course introduces students to classical and contemporary sociological theory, focusing on how different theoretical models explain: (1) the process of individual choice and action, and (2) the structural contexts within which action takes place. Students will critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective, and discuss their contemporary relevance. By the conclusion of the course, students will be able to develop their own argument, applying sociological theory to explain some social phenomenon.
Urban Sociology
taught by Dr. M. Somashekhar.
Winter 2016
This course introduces students to traditional and new approaches to studying social life in cities. Topics include theories of urbanism and urban living, segregation, migration, neighborhood effects, gender and identity, and suburbs. Although the primary focus will be on the United States, this course will also extend these analyses to cities outside of the U.S. Because urban studies draws from additional disciplines, such as economics, geography, and political science, the course will bring in many perspectives when discussing the study of cities.
Social Problems
taught by Prof. Alexes Harris.
Autumn 2015
This course seeks to examine the social forces that lead some, but not all, important social issues to be labeled a “social problem.” After providing an overview of a central sociological perspectives, this course explores how three major social issues in the United States and other countries have been identified as important social problems: juvenile and criminal justice, poverty and inequality, and HIV/AIDS. Students in this course will learn descriptive and statistical information about these issues, apply different sociological perspectives to the problems, and explore how sociologists have investigated these problems.