TEACHING
RECOGNITION
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, 2007
Nominated by Students for UMD College of Liberal Arts
Outstanding Teaching Award, 2015
Nominated by Students for UMD College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, 2023
2019 news article about our UMD student, Kayla Ness.
COURSES
Assistant/Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
University of Minnesota Duluth , 2011 - Present
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Introduction to International Studies
Central American Politics
Latin American Politics
Women and Politics
State Response to Violence Against Women in Latin America
International State Responses to Violence Against Women
Violence and the State in Developing Countries
Human Rights and Women's Rights
Teaching Assistant , Department of Political Science
University of Notre Dame, 2004 - 2007
Contemporary Latin American Politics with Dr. Miriam Kornblith
Introduction to American Politics with Dr. Benjamin Radcliff
Introduction to American Politics with Instructor Joshua Kaplan
Democracy and Education with Dr. David Campbell
Political Participation with Instructor Bethany Albertson
Invited Guest Lecturer, 2007 - Present
Transnational Social Movements, University of Notre Dame
Advanced Seminar on Social Change, University of Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala
Analysis and Organization of Markets, University of Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala
Research Methods, University of Minnesota Duluth
Ethics and Society, University of Minnesota Duluth
Cultural Entrepreneurship, University of Minnesota Duluth
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Women and Politics
This upper-division course takes an international approach to the study of women and politics. Students begin the course by gaining a theoretical understanding of women's representation within the state as well as how they pressure for representation from outside the state (for example, through women’s movements). We then study several issues that impact women’s lives at the international level, such as employment, family policies, education, and wartime sexual violence. We examine women and politics across the globe, including case studies drawn from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Introduction to Comparative Politics
Introductory course explores political systems worldwide, with a focus on countries outside the United States. Students learn and apply key concepts such as good governance, democracy, and development. Students learn introductory methods (case studies, controlled comparisons, large-N comparisons) for making global comparisons, as well as examine specific countries and their political patterns. Students apply case study methodology by researching a developing country and identifying causal mechanisms for hypotheses about obstacles and opportunities for development and democratization.
Central American Politics
Upper-division research seminar begins with an introduction to the history of Central America: from colonial times to more recent history of civil wars, social unrest, and fragile democratization. We critically examine U.S. policies toward Central America and reflect on future prospects for democratic consolidation in a region known for high rates of violent crime and drug trafficking. The course contains special topic sections on the history and lives of indigenous people, weaving and rural economies, comparative democratization processes, the roots of immigration, the history of United States military intervention, violence against women, and impunity for human rights violations. Students have the option to conduct a group project to advance the interests of rural indigenous women in Guatemala through participation in the Bisán Solidarity Project. Linked here is a video on this project produced by a former student.
State Response to Violence Against Women in Latin America
Upper-division research seminar takes a comparative approach to the study of violence against women in Latin America and the United States. Readings are aimed at providing a working conceptual and empirical background on the problem of violence against women worldwide, as well as responses taken by different countries and institutions (such as the police and the courts). Students learn field research methods and apply them through conducting original research (interviews and participant observation) in the local community. Students make comparisons for how the United States and Latin American countries address violence against women, and ultimately make concrete recommendations for improving the lives of women at the local and international level. Results from Minnesota are provided publicly and shared with the Duluth Trafficking Task Force to advance local advocacy efforts to protect women from sex trafficking.
"Women in Resistance" Guatemala City
Violence and the State in Developing Countries
What causes violence in developing countries, and what can be done to work toward more peaceful world? What are the causes and consequences of civil wars and revolutions? What are the causes and consequences of drug trafficking? When will states hold leaders accountable for past human rights violations? In this upper-division research seminar, we take an in-depth look at how developing countries have succeeded – and failed – in their efforts to keep violence at bay. Students learn to conduct country-based international research to analyze the dynamics of violence and state responses to it in developing countries.