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As my full-time job is in civil-rights law, my primary teaching is as an adjunct instructor at San Diego Mesa College, where I teach United States history.
But regardless of the particular topic, in all of my classes, ranging from American History to Legal History to the History of Science, I focus on evidence-based reasoning and argument. I want students to learn history, but I also want to prepare them to be effective communicators in business, academia, politics, or any area where analysis and critical thinking matter.
I try to connect students with history. For example, in my introduction to the history of science, covering key moments, events, and people in science and technology from the Greeks, to the Enlightenment, to present-day issues, I always ask students, “Why does this matter to you?” And I encourage them to find modern-day similarities and connections to the past—and to remember the differences, too.
Law plays a role in everything I teach. Thus, when I teach general American history, I emphasize the role of law in society as a method of engaging students in the issues and debates that continue to resonate today. Together we ask questions like, “Who is an American and who decides that?” and “What is the role of government in providing for its citizens?”
Rationality and evidence-based reasoning—using data as the basis for argument and analysis—is another key aspect in my teaching. I work with students to support their positions and to move away from unjustified assertions.
I want students to learn history, but I particularly want to prepare them to be effective communicators and leaders in business, academia, politics, or any area where analysis and critical thinking matter. I aim to produce better thinkers and better citizens.
History and the skills it develops can be both enriching and practical.
Selected Courses
- History of the United States II (Fall 2019) at SD Mesa College
- The United States from Reconstruction to the present; provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions. Syllabus
- History of the United States II (online) (Summer 2019) at SD Mesa College
- The United States from Reconstruction to the present; provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions.
- History of the United States I (Fall 2018) at SD Mesa College
- United States history from its colonial origins through the period of Reconstruction, provides an overview of the diverse peoples who interacted, settled, and influenced the history of the nation and its developing economic, social, and political institutions.
- History of the United States II (Summer 2018) at SD Mesa College
- The United States from Reconstruction to the present; provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions.
- History of the United States II (online) (Spring 2018) at SD Mesa College
- The United States from Reconstruction to the present; provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions. Syllabus
- History of the United States I (Spring 2018) at SD Mesa College
- United States history from its colonial origins through the period of Reconstruction, provides an overview of the diverse peoples who interacted, settled, and influenced the history of the nation and its developing economic, social, and political institutions. Syllabus
- History of the United States II (Fall 2017) at SD Mesa College
- The United States from Reconstruction to the present; provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions. Syllabus
- History of the United States I (Fall 2017) at SD Mesa College
- United States history from its colonial origins through the period of Reconstruction, provides an overview of the diverse peoples who interacted, settled, and influenced the history of the nation and its developing economic, social, and political institutions. Syllabus
- Data-Driven History of Science (Spring 2017) at University of San Diego
- An introduction to the history of science for undergraduates, covering the Greeks to the early twentieth century. Has a particular focus on the use of data as evidence in order to build reasoned arguments and analysis. Syllabus
- U.S. History Topics (Spring 2017): Law & Liberty at University of San Diego
- Syllabus
- American Legal History from 1865 - Present (Summer 2014): Law & Liberty at UC San Diego
- HIUS 151 covered "liberty and the law," ranging from the supremacy of contract law in the nineteenth century; to the controversies of wiretapping, civil rights (race, gender, disability), and abortion in the twentieth; and ending with the NSA in the twenty-first.