Approach to Teaching:
Over the years I have developed an approach to teaching that emphasizes critical thinking about pressing problems in the world today. A basic premise of my educational philosophy, similar to that of John Dewey and others, is that critical thinking emerges from the learner’s engagement with questions, and with contending theories and answers to these questions. Hence, one of a professor’s main tasks is to identify important, interesting and open-ended questions that will guide the learning of the course over a quarter or more. Equally important, I seek to develop strategies for giving critical thinking problems to students and for creating a course atmosphere that encourages inquiry, exploration, discussion and debate, while valuing the dignity and worth of each student. While I believe it is important to challenge students to re-think their own views and presumptions, which may sometimes provoke discomfort, I also believe that critical thinking and not conforming to any particular political view is the goal of the process and take great care to ensure space for all views. To that end, I often use various combinations of lecture and guest lecture, student-centered problem solving workshops, student presentations, debates and performances, and I frequently bring in films, video clips and other items to spur discussion. I also seek to encourage students to develop their intellectual interests and capabilities and work closely with students on improving their writing.
Current Teaching:
Spring 2010
“U.S. Foreign Policy and the Roots of Terrorism”
This program explores contending theories of the origins of terrorism and other asymmetrical forms of violence against the United States in the recent period and various policy response options including military responses, counterinsurgency strategies, law enforcement and social transformation.
Fall/Winter 2009-2010
“Transforming the Art of War: From Clausewitz to Al-Qaida and Beyond”
This program will explore two questions: (1) how is war changing today? and (2) what is the future of war? The program will examine current theoretical discussions about the rise of asymmetric war, fourth generation war, virtual war and counterinsurgency doctrine through a focus on case-studies from Iraq, Israel and Hezbollah, and the Zapatista movement in Mexico, among others. The program will also examine the rise of advanced robotics, computerized technology, information war, and globalized networks to explore the future of warfare.
Fall/Winter/Spring 2008-2009
Faculty Academic Advising Rotation
Spring 2008
“War: Consequences and Alternatives”
This program explores the nature of war and how it is changing in the late modern period. It looks at the moral and psychological impacts of war, the poetry and writing of war, the transformation of war from industrial to asymmetrical and non-violent alternatives to war.
Teaching Partner: Michael Vavrus
Fall/Winter 2007/08
“Poetics and Power”
This program will examine the politics of writing and the writing of politics through experimental and more representational modes of writing.
Teaching Partner: Leonard Schwartz
Fall/Winter/Spring 2006-07
“From Bosphorus to Suez: Cultural and Political Landscapes of the Eastern Mediterranean”
This program will explore the cultural and political interactions that have shaped and defined the peoples and lands of the Eastern Mediterranean, including the countries of what are known today as Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, and Egypt.
Teaching Partner: Martha Henderson
Spring, 2006
“The Vietnam and Iraq Wars: Uncomfortable Parallels?”
This program examines the similarities and differences between these two cases of American foreign military intervention.
Teaching Partner: Peter Bohmer
Fall/Winter, 2005/06
“Alternatives to Capitalist Globalization”
This program explores the theory, programs and movements in the world today that are attempting to develop alternatives social and economic systems and policies to the current forms of free-trade and free-market globalization.
Teaching Partners: Lin Nelson, Peter Bohmer
Spring, 2005
“The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Contending Narratives”
This program explores the roots and current nature of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Fall/Winter, 2004/05
“Poetics and Power”
This program examined the politics of writing and the writing of politics through experimental and more representational modes of writing.
Teaching Partner: Leonard Schwartz
Spring, 2004
“From Pillar to Postmodernism: Modern and Postmodern Political Theory”
This program introduced students to the dominant trends in contemporary political theory.
Fall/Winter, 2003/04
“Nature, Nurture or Nonesense”
This program explores the debates over whether nature or nurture play the key role in human development, behavior and political life.
Teaching Partners: Stu Matz, Stephanie Kozick