Teaching Philosophy
"If a better world is your aim, all
must agree: the best should teach"
~Lindley J. Stiles
"The mind is not a vessel that needs
filling, but wood that needs igniting"
~Plutarch
INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGY
Maintain an inclusive classroom that exposes students to multiple backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, and foster an open exchange of ideas and opinions through respectful discussion to strengthens students' ability to communicate and interact with different people and groups.
Emphasize the importance of interpersonal, relationship-building, and communication skills as loci between scientific and societal concerns; students must be effective communicators and gain real-world experience expressing their interests, opinions, and work via multiple formats and mediums.
Develop students’ critical thinking, systems thinking, and reflexivity with facilitated discussions, experiential learning activities, and real-world case studies.
Help students recognize the scientific and societal relevance of course content via student-centered learning that uses real-world examples to demonstrate the necessity of exploring the human elements of conservation, and that also demonstrate how complex ideas are reflected in everyday situations.
Courses
Social Research
Design & Methods
Focuses on quantitative and qualitative methods to study social aspects of conservation; how to choose and apply selective research methods; design, collection, and statistical analysis of primary and secondary data; program evaluation; reporting results; interpreting research literature; lab exercises in research design, data collection, and analysis; and the communication of research issues and findings to lay and professional audiences.
Social theory
Intensive examination of contending theoretical frameworks of human behavior; the course surveys classic and contemporary social theory, including normative theories of environmental behavior and descriptive perspectives on human behavior and/or the human-nature relationship.
Human Dimensions of
Natural Resources
Focuses on the relationships between humans and nature; including how societal values, ethics, behaviors, politics, and economics influence how and why natural resources are preserved, conserved, and enhanced. Introduces students to the role of social science theory and methods in natural resources management research and practice.
Courses (previous)
Communications in
Natural Resources
Focuses on communication theories, methods, and principles while developing students’ interpersonal communication skills (written, verbal, and visual) to enhance their ability to communicated with diverse audiences in the context of natural resources, conservation, and environmental sustainability.
Contemporary Natural
Resources Issues
Two-week field immersion course that focuses on salient natural resources management issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, and soil and water conservation. The 2018 course traveled from the Mississippi River Delta to the Continental Divide. The 2019 course traveled the U.S. Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida Keys.
Natural Resources Policy
Introduces student to natural resources policies and the public policy process; the purpose of public policy, how and why policies are made, who makes them, how they affect lives and resources. Students learn how to be active citizens and engage in participatory democracy for the benefit of natural resources.
Social Aspects of Natural
Resource Management
Graduate course that focuses on the economic, political, and social dimensions of natural resources management and decision-making. Emphasis on natural resources valuation, human-nature relationships, natural resources communication, and environmental history.
