Teaching Philosophy

Practical application, lecture content and engaging discussion create the foundational structure of my classroom. As an educator, my responsibility to my students is to create an environment that allows them to think critically and express themselves intellectually. In order to stimulate their learning process, I view myself as a master facilitator with the responsibility of creating a safe and tolerant space for students to engage.

Undergraduate students enrolled in my Introduction to Health Disparities and the Social Determinants of Health course learn about health inequities deeply rooted in societal injustices and unearned privilege. It is not uncommon for my students to find it perplexing that even today, employed, American citizens face day to day struggles to feed their families, obtain a quality education and access quality healthcare services. Therefore, I instruct on privilege early in the semester and incorporate activities that allows students to reflect or even share from their own personal experiences.

The college classroom—even virtually—brings together students and instructors of various skillsets and backgrounds. Therefore, it is my belief that the most important aspects of education from within a liberal arts institution is to provide students with exposure and space to reflect and grow. I view the classroom, whether online or in-person, as a box without a lid—fit for pouring into and taking out an unlimited amount of knowledge and wisdom from an unlimited amount of sources.