I primarily teach in the areas of American Government and Research Methodology -- including the first two semesters of the University of Mississippi Political Science PhD program methods sequence. I routinely strive to make my classes engaging and accommodating to students' various learning styles. I often integrate group discussions, written responses papers, and data analysis exercises into class meetings, even in large lecture settings. For the 2016 election, students in my undergraduate research methods course observed polling precincts in Northern Mississippi as part of the nation-wide Voting Lines Project.

I also enjoy mentoring and co-authoring with my students. Collaborations with my graduate students have produced peer-reviewed journal articles, and ongoing working papers.

Introduction to American Politics

This course serves as an introduction to American politics and government – allowing students to understand the politics of today by learning about the debates of the past and their resulting government institutions. The course will focus on four areas of American politics: foundations of government (the Constitution, Federalism), primary political institutions (Congress, the Presidency, and the Judiciary), intermediary political institutions (political parties, the media), and political behavior (Public Opinion, Campaigns & Elections). By the end of the course, students will have a more complete understanding of the way government operates as well as the effect rules and institutions have on citizens’ behavior. Time will also be spent exploring ways for individuals to actively engage the political process. Full syllabus available for in-person and online asynchronous formats.

Introduction to Political Science Research Methods

The main purpose of this course is to teach the basic concepts and techniques for empirical research in political science using statistical analysis. Statistical tools are extremely valuable for anyone working in a host of industries, including journalism, business, politics, public policy, and international relations. Learning statistics is not necessarily a goal in itself. Rather, it will provide you with a powerful toolset that will guide your decision-making and allow you to empirically answer questions about a range of socio-political phenomena. In addition, statistics will allow you to understand and evaluate the consequences of political decisions. Being able to quantify facts and make statistical arguments will make you a better (and almost certainly more marketable) analyst of political phenomena, regardless where your interests lie or where your career leads you. Further, with an understanding of statistics, you are better able to think critically about the information you encounter in the real world. Full Syllabus.

Research in Politics (Graduate Level)

This class, the first in the sequence of graduate-level research methods, is an introduction to empirical research in political science. You will learn how to situate your own interests in the political science literature, pose focused research questions, develop answers with theoretical frameworks, formulate and refine concepts, construct valid and reliable measures, and ultimately execute your own research. While other methodology courses, including the subsequent semesters in the series, will teach you how to analyze data, this class emphasizes development of research questions and developing the appropriate methodological designs for answering them. Because no single approach to a research question is ideal, we will learn about the trade-offs involved in selecting one design over another. Full syllabus available for in-person and online synchronous formats.

Empirical Political Analysis (Graduate Level)

This class is the second semester in the graduate sequence on research methods and statistics in political science. Generally speaking, this course will take a more conceptual, rather than technical, approach to statistics, pushing you to think critically about data and how it can be used to answer questions related to political science. The first part of this course will focus on bivariate statistical relationships (e.g. t-test, chi-square, correlation); and the second part of the course will explore multi-variate statistical relationships (i.e. multiple regression and its assumptions). We will also discuss the issues of model specification and model assessment throughout, all while learning how to manage datasets and execute descriptive and inferential statistics using STATA. This course emphasizes hypothesis testing “in the real world,” and the interpretation and effective communication of results in tabular, graphical and/or written form. Full syllabus available for in-person and online synchronous formats.