I am a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at Texas Tech University.  I have also served as the Political Science Department's Director of Undergraduate Studies since 2022.  I regularly teach courses on comparative politics, Latin American politics, and political analysis/research design.  Some of the recent courses (along with links to syllabi) are described below.

I teach courses both in-person and online (both synchronous and asynchronous formats).  In 2022, I earned a certification in online course design from Texas Tech University's Online Course Design Academy.

Introduction to Political Analysis
Download Syllabus (Fall 2023)

This course is meant to familiarize students with political science research methodology, as well as how to understand and conduct political science research.  Upon completion of this course, students will be able to identify and locate academic sources on a variety of political and social science topics, to identify the particular research designs used in these studies, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these studies, and to utilize these publications and research methods in future political science courses. The primary objective of this course is to give students the skills they need to be effective consumers of political science research.  Specifically, this course will enable students to achieve the following goals:

1. Understand the basic goals of social science research
2. Identify and differentiate between a number diverse research methods currently employed by political scientists (emphasis on quantitative methods)
3. Be able to locate and summarize peer reviewed sources through library databases
4. Learn how to formulate an appropriate research question, develop testable hypotheses, and operationalize concepts in order to test said hypotheses
5. Have a working knowledge of basic descriptive statistics, as well as be able to interpret the types of regression analyses that appear in published articles
6. Gain enhanced collaboration and presentation skills.

Latin American Politics
Download Syllabus (Fall 2022)

This course is an introduction to contemporary politics in Latin America.  It is designed to expose students to many of the central questions in the current study of Latin American politics and the key theories that scholars have developed to answer these questions.  More specifically, the class will address questions related to democracy and representation, political institutions, political engagement and participation, and economic inequality.  Moreover, this class is designed to make students more informed citizens of the world.  By the end of the semester, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of concepts and methods of political science in the Latin American context.
2. Critically assess the validity of major theories in Comparative Politics in explaining political events in contemporary Latin America.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the political history of Latin America and current political events.
4. Critically assess the main challenges and opportunities for the continuity of democracy in various Latin American countries.
5. Use quantitative data to assess the generalizability of core case studies to the rest of Latin America.
6. Communicate trends and patterns in quantitative data to a general audience.

Representation in Democracies
Download Syllabus (Summer 2022)

This course reviews the major approaches to political representation.  In the first unit of the course, we will define the concept of representation and discuss various arguments for the formal inclusion of historically minoritized groups in democratic decision making.  In the second unit of the course, we will ask, “How do citizens in a democracy receive representation?”  In this unit, we will examine the role of elections, political parties, and other institutions (i.e., “rules of the game” that structure political life) from a comparative perspective.  In the final unit of the course, we will ask, “Does representation matter?”  In particular, we will investigate why policy outcomes do not always reflect the “will of the majority” and how various representative linkages affect citizens’ evaluations of democracy.  This course is designed to be delivered asynchronously and online, and has the following learning objectives:

1. Describe the status of historically marginalized groups in governments worldwide
2. Critically assess the normative arguments for descriptive representation
3. Critically assess the “integrated framework” of representation
4. Critically assess the validity of major theories in Comparative Politics explaining the lack of women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the working class in public office
5. Explain different types of quotas and their effectiveness
6. Explain the impact of descriptive representation on policy outcomes
7. Explain how political representation affects citizens’ political attitudes and participation.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Comparative Politics
Introduction to Political Analysis
Latin American Politics
The Politics of Class and Inequality
Representation in Democracies (asynchronous, online)
Comparative Politics of Developing Countries (asynchronous, online)
Texas Politics and Topics (synchronous, online for Texas Tech's Costa Rica campus)




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