Courses Taught @ Michigan State University
Lecture/Seminar Courses
CSUS 301 | Community Engagement for Sustainability
Courses Taught @ Purdue University
Lecture/Seminar Courses
ANTH 100 | Introduction to Anthropology
ANTH 205 | Human Cultural Diversity
ANTH 309 | The Development of Contemporary Anthropological Theory
ANTH 327 | Environment and Culture
ANTH 392 | Sustainability, Development, and Sovereignty in Africa Honors
NRES 498 | Intro to Environment and Sustainability Studies
ANTH/POL 590| Issues in Sustainability and Resilience
ANTH 505 | Theory and Society
Directed Readings
ANTH 390 | Anthropological Approaches to Food and Policy Change
ANTH 498 | Anthropology of Food and Farming
ANTH 497 | Anthropology of Food, Policy and Behavior
ANTH 590 | Food, Taste, and Care
ANTH 590 | Sustainability and Resilience
ANTH 590 | Food and Culture in Africa
ANTH 590 | Gender, Food, and Farming
My Teaching Philosophy
I create learning environments that reflect my commitments to scholarly rigor, collegial collaboration, and enthusiasm for finding commonalities across difference. Three primary goals undergird my work as a teacher and mentor: 1) to provide students with the skills, resources, and confidence to ask and begin to answer difficult questions; 2) to enhance students’ abilities to learn from each other and thrive in diverse domestic and international settings; and 3) to actively demonstrate the value of transdisciplinary approaches towards the study of and actual day-to-day arts of living in complex and uncertain times. To meet these goals, I foster educational spaces where students feel – and actually are – respected, safe, and inspired to be brave as they take an active role in their own learning.
My own career trajectory as an environmental policy professional turned academician directly informs the content and pedagogical approaches I use in my teaching and advising. Because we all learn differently, I assign course materials and designs assessments in multiple formats. Textbooks, monographs, academic and popular articles, policy documents, podcasts, and extended and brief films of various kinds introduce students to multiple kinds of materials and methods of analysis. Short and long form research and writing, individual and group presentations, and active participation in discussions further develop students’ abilities to individually reason and collaborate towards shared goals.
I regularly bring my research into the classroom, just as I encourage students to identify materials in their own lives to stimulate their interests in course themes and encourage active learning. My work on biodiversity, colonial histories, and informal economies in African fisheries helps students in anthropology and interdisciplinary courses alike understand the kinds of received wisdoms about environmental sustainability and economic growth that often undergird and sometimes contradict sustainable development efforts. My current research in Indiana on environmental contamination, community health, and environmental justice helps students appreciate the complexity and tragedy of ongoing toxic exposures, and begin to imagine futures otherwise. Examples from both research contexts illustrating diverse practices of worldmaking and the ontological conflicts these may generate helps students understand how it is possible for some students to experience individual and institutional racism regularly on our campus, while others can confidently state that racism is not a problem at Purdue. By deepening students’ abilities to access, analyze, and convey diverse forms of information with rigor, creativity, and an appropriate mix of humility and confidence, my students develop skills which enrich their education, lives, and are valued in the varied careers they seek.
I teach courses in community engagement for sustainability, cultural and environmental anthropology, social theory, and environmental studies, and have supervised fifteen teaching assistants, and curated nine directed reading and research courses with individual students. I’ve also chaired one graduate committee, served on seven others, and supervised eight undergraduate research and honors thesis projects. The success of these efforts is reflected in the following awards that I've received at the department, college, and university levels for my teaching.
2021 Kenneth T. Kofmehl Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award. College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award. College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
2018 Outstanding Teacher Award. Department of Anthropology, Purdue University
2018 Teaching for Tomorrow Fellow, Purdue University
My own career trajectory as an environmental policy professional turned academician directly informs the content and pedagogical approaches I use in my teaching and advising. Because we all learn differently, I assign course materials and designs assessments in multiple formats. Textbooks, monographs, academic and popular articles, policy documents, podcasts, and extended and brief films of various kinds introduce students to multiple kinds of materials and methods of analysis. Short and long form research and writing, individual and group presentations, and active participation in discussions further develop students’ abilities to individually reason and collaborate towards shared goals.
I regularly bring my research into the classroom, just as I encourage students to identify materials in their own lives to stimulate their interests in course themes and encourage active learning. My work on biodiversity, colonial histories, and informal economies in African fisheries helps students in anthropology and interdisciplinary courses alike understand the kinds of received wisdoms about environmental sustainability and economic growth that often undergird and sometimes contradict sustainable development efforts. My current research in Indiana on environmental contamination, community health, and environmental justice helps students appreciate the complexity and tragedy of ongoing toxic exposures, and begin to imagine futures otherwise. Examples from both research contexts illustrating diverse practices of worldmaking and the ontological conflicts these may generate helps students understand how it is possible for some students to experience individual and institutional racism regularly on our campus, while others can confidently state that racism is not a problem at Purdue. By deepening students’ abilities to access, analyze, and convey diverse forms of information with rigor, creativity, and an appropriate mix of humility and confidence, my students develop skills which enrich their education, lives, and are valued in the varied careers they seek.
I teach courses in community engagement for sustainability, cultural and environmental anthropology, social theory, and environmental studies, and have supervised fifteen teaching assistants, and curated nine directed reading and research courses with individual students. I’ve also chaired one graduate committee, served on seven others, and supervised eight undergraduate research and honors thesis projects. The success of these efforts is reflected in the following awards that I've received at the department, college, and university levels for my teaching.
2021 Kenneth T. Kofmehl Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award. College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award. College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
2018 Outstanding Teacher Award. Department of Anthropology, Purdue University
2018 Teaching for Tomorrow Fellow, Purdue University