Teaching & Mentorship

• Graduate Teaching (UC San Diego)

  • • Teaching Assistant and Section Leader 

      • • Sociology Department

          • • SOC 1 - Introduction to Sociology (Prof. John Skrentny)

            • SOC 139 - Social Inequality (Prof. Christine Crofts)

            • SOC 162 - Popular Culture (Prof. Charlene Holkenbrink-Monk)

            • SOC 137 - Sociology of Food (Prof. Christine Crofts)

            • SOC 184 - Gender and Film (Prof. Pablo Victoria Torres)

        • Urban Studies and Planning Department

          • • USP 170 - Sustainable Communities (Prof. Maryam Entezam)

• Mentorship (UC San Diego)

  • • Sociology Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program: Principal Investigator

• Visiting Lecturer (External)

  • • University of Southern California - Thornton School of Music: Guest Lecturer

      • • MUIN 270 - Introduction to the Music Industry

        • MUIN 497 - Current Topics, Case Studies, and Analysis

        • MUIN 510 - The Music Industry: Careers, Rights, and Income Streams

    • Whittier College: Guest Lecturer

      • • INTD 120 - Relationships

    • University of San Diego - Kroc School Trans-border Institute, Sinaloa, Mexico: Program Facilitator  

• Selected Student Feedback

  • SOC 1 (Fall 2023)

“Andrea has been an amazing asset to this course and to my understanding of sociological concepts. Her greatest strengths include her clarity, her clear communication with students, her fast responses, her consideration, her willingness to help and her punctuality. She is always providing us with resources and aiding us in our understanding of the material. I would highly recommend Andrea for any other instructional assistant position as she has more than proven her worthiness.” 

“She was welcoming, helpful, knowledgeable, and made it a great experience for a transfer or 1st year student. Gave good and constructive feedback on assignments. I felt like I had a clearer idea of the article readings after attending this section Very professional but still able to make students feel heard and supported. Welcomed ideas and options on the readings from all students.” 

"Andrea was a great TA, she was always very interested in the topics and did a good job at encouraging her students to be as well. She led discussions in a helpful manner and made sure to comment after every student spoke. She was always very understanding and wanted to help us the best she could."

"Andrea was great at teaching passionately and enthusiastically about the course's content. She made the environment welcoming and kind, never shaming students for asking questions or giving incorrect answers instead she would take their answers and tie it into what the correct response would be. She clarified readings, course material, and took time to interact with the students."

"Andrea was so good at engaging in fun interactive exercises with the class so that the students could familiarize themselves with each other, feel comfortable sharing, and make friends. She was always rooting for us and I felt like she had my back with anything (she was amazing at connecting with students). Great at conceptualizing and tackling difficult topics/concepts to make them relatable and understandable for the class too. She was also super supportive around midterms and finals. She was very considerate of our busy schedules; always very easy to reach out to and get extra help via office hours and Calendly. Lastly, Andrea made our discussions in section very fun, relevant, and convenient as much of them overlapped with lecture content and expanded on potentially troublesome topics."

"Ms. Garcia's greatest strength is that she's a very caring person, she cares a lot about her students and is always willing to help us. During lectures she tried to explain it as clearly as possible and go over as much as she could. Whenever I emailed her I always had a response right away, she tried to make herself always available."

"Ms. G's greatest strengths are her communication skills and honesty. Since day one, she made sure to make our sessions a safe and welcoming place."

"Ms. Garcia was an extremely attentive IA, she responded to all questions eloquently and demonstrated great understanding of the topics. She always made students feel very welcome!"

• SOC 139 (Winter 2024)

"I appreciate Andrea's help throughout the quarter in terms of providing personalized feedback on our assignments as well as being available as an additional resource for SOCI 139."

"Really strong and detailed feedback"

"TA Garcia always checks in with us when we're having our group discussions, and always provides us help, different perspectives, and more if we ever need it."