Course description:  This course explores the development and politics of social policy in the United States, focusing on how the country addresses (or fails to address) the risks people face over their lives. Students examine the structure of the American welfare state—including social insurance, social assistance, and tax-based benefits—alongside the political processes that shape policy design and outcomes.  The course analyzes how institutions, elites, public opinion, and media interact to influence which policies are adopted and how they evolve. It also considers emerging social risks, state-level experimentation, and moments of expanded social provision (such as during crises), asking why such support is often temporary.  Overall, the class aims to build a deeper understanding of how U.S. social policy works and its broader political and economic implications.

Course description:  This subject introduces the academic study of American politics and the discipline of political science more generally.  We cover a range of substantive topics, including the cultural and constitutional foundations of American politics; its institutional structures, such as Congress and the presidency; the activities of strategic political elites; the political behavior of ordinary American citizens; and contemporary debates over such important issues as money in politics, partisan polarization, racism, and immigration. These topics will be examined using a variety of theoretical and empirical frameworks, with particular emphasis on the advantages and limitations of analyzing political actors as rational and strategic decision-makers.  This being a communication-intensive HASS subject, written assignments of various lengths are an integral part of the learning process, and we will be working closely with a writing advisor from Writing, Rhetoric and Professional Communication (WRAP). 

Select student feedback:

• Student 5343 - Angie is an incredible teacher, and I learned tons from her recitations! She facilitated lively discussions, offered helpful insights about the course material, and guided us with engaging questions/prompts.

• Student 64912 - Incredibly supportive of students from all levels of prior knowledge about the subject, and was able to make me feel a lot more comfortable speaking up during recitation. Also gave really helpful feedback on essays and specific areas to improve on, allowing me to do better each time and feel myself improving. Showed extremely strong understanding of the subject and is able to speak so clearly. Can see the amount of time Angie puts into preparing material for recitation and grading our work.

• Student 27437 - I'm not entirely sure if I can express how much I appreciated having Angie as a TA! I usually struggle to participate or speak up in discussions, but I felt much more welcome to do so in this recitation than in recitation sections in previous classes. Angie would really make sure to respond back to any points that students made, tying in readings or class topics. This acknowledgement was reassuring to me because I felt like what I said had contributed to discussion in a valuable way. Not only that, it encouraged students to think about topics in new ways, leading to an increase in other students' responses as well. After receiving feedback on recitation from students, Angie also implemented small pair discussions about class topics. After these discussions, the person who usually spoke up less in class would report on the conversation to the whole section. This was helpful to increase participation, both because discussions in pairs is much easier than in larger groups, and because knowing that others in the larger group discussion were similarly apprehensive about participation was reassuring. Outside of encouraging student participation, Angie's summaries of class content and detailed comments on student writing assignments were extremely helpful, both to further my understanding of topics in political science but also to help develop my skills as an academic writer. I've taken a few political science classes by now, and recitations led by Angie have definitely been the most well-structured and useful to my learning that I've experienced. I've found that students, including myself, often find themselves less interested in a class as the semester goes on, largely due to burnout from a heavy workload. In contrast, my interest in the subject actually increased: recitations helped frame classwork in a way that felt meaningful. Overall, I felt like Angie cared a lot about the students she worked with, wanted them to learn and succeed, and created a welcoming environment for them to do so :)

• Student 13158 - Wonderful, engaging TA who clearly knows the subject material and keeps up with the class readings alongside us. She did her best to engage with the recitation sections despite the lack of participation from students. She is very kind and accommodating.

• Student 39423 - Thank you Angie for a wonderful semester! I really appreciated her feedback on my essays, as well as her kindness whenever I asked for an extension. I learned so much this year!

Course description:  This is the first course in a four-course sequence on quantitative political methodology.  Political methodology is a growing subfield of political science which deals with the development and application of statistical methods to problems in political science and public policy.  By the end of the sequence, students will be capable of understanding and confidently applying a variety of statistical methods and research designs that are essential for political science and public policy research.  This first course provides a graduate-level introduction to regression models, along with the basic principles of probability and statistics which are essential for understanding how regression works.  Regression models are routinely used in political science, policy research, and other disciplines in social science.  The principles learned in this course also provide a foundation for the general understanding of quantitative political methodology.

Select student feedback:

• Student 35043 - Best TA ever! Angie was super encouraging and communicated the material in a clear way that made me feel better prepared to tackle the problem sets.

• Student 33966 - Excellent TA! Was kind and patient in office hours, and helped me really learn the material rather than just giving away answers (although sometimes I wish she would have). What I appreciated most about Angie was that she seemed to listen to students to learn how they learned best and then matched her teaching style to that student. For example, for students that were more visual learners she would seemingly instinctively draw graphs, for others that were more quant oriented she would lean on proofs, etc. Angie was also really excellent in recitation, taking the time to really break down the key concepts/themes that might have been a bit rush in lecture to make sure no one was left behind. Probably wouldn't have survived the semester without her. Thanks!

• Student 45424 - Angie was particularly helpful in both office hours and recitation, I felt like she was attuned to my particular challenges and was often able to understand where I was failing to grasp a concept, often much better than I was. She went out of her way to explain fundamental concepts better than they were originally explained and that made them much more understandable to me. I was also very appreciative of her feedback on the problem sets, it was often detailed and helpful for understanding the material.

• Student 45985 - I always appreciated Angie's support at office hours and recitation. She made the course material much easier to understand and digest. She also provided invaluable help on working through psets and understanding the theoretical lesson one was intended to draw from the applied problems.

• Student 52899 - Super dedicated, qualified, and helpful TA.

Course Description:  China’s urbanization over the last three decades has been unprecedented in human history – 260 million migrants have moved to cities supporting rapid economic growth, while also creating huge opportunities for the real estate market. Over the next 30 years, an additional 300 million Chinese are likely to move to cities. This unprecedented wave of urbanization has not only changed the lives of hundreds of millions, but significantly modified the world’s political, economic, and environmental landscapes. This graduate research seminar will focus on the fundamental mechanisms and key policy issues of urban development, real estate markets, and sustainability in China. It is geared towards students who are interested in China’s urban economy and real estate market. This seminar poses three questions: 1) With the liberalization of China’s land and real estate markets since the 1980s, how can we better understand the incentives and location choices of firms and households, the developers’ response to demand and regulation, and the aggregate consequences of such individual choices on real estate market dynamics, housing affordability, urban land use and spatial growth patterns? 2) Along other key dimensions of sustainable urbanization, e.g., transportation, energy and environment, local public finance and urban inequality, what are the tensions, discontinuities and potential threats to sustainability? Have politicians and their policies succeeded or failed in addressing such challenges? 3) What differentiates China from other countries in their equivalent urbanizing historical periods? What may China’s experience offer for the rest of the world?

Description:  The Teaching Development Fellows Network (TDFN) is a professional development and leadership opportunity for graduate students who are interested in improving their teaching while promoting pedagogical development and discussion among their peers. Fellows organize and direct department-based events. They also develop resources aimed at developing TA’s teaching skills in their home department with support from TLL and an interdisciplinary network of fellows.  The Teaching Development Fellows Network is designed to improve TA teaching, benefiting the Institute on several levels: Fellows benefit departments by providing specialized training for TAs with oversight from TLL. Fellows benefit the graduate student community by acting as teaching mentors, organizing collaborative learning communities, and providing a connection to other programs. Fellows benefit undergraduates by providing resources and training to new TAs, improving their ability to help undergraduates succeed. Fellows benefit themselves through academic and pedagogical professional development by continuing a reflective teaching practice, designing original workshops, and working in a collaborative and interdisciplinary network.

Description:   The Kaufman Teaching Certificate Program (KTCP) is an interactive workshop series intended for late-program graduate students and postdocs interested in academic careers or developing skills to support their teaching at MIT.  KTCP consists of eight practice-based workshops in a single semester. By participating in these workshops, you will learn evidence-based teaching techniques grounded in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Topics include: constructing a syllabus, designing a course, preparing a lesson plan, assessing and providing feedback to students, creating an effective and welcoming classroom climate. Participants will actively practice these teaching skills through microteaching workshops, in which they will receive individual feedback from peers and teaching experts.