At Xavier University of Louisiana, where the mission calls us to prepare students for leadership and service in a more just and humane society, collegiality is not just a professional norm—it is an ethical and educational commitment. I understand it not as mere civility or agreement, but as a practice of mutual care, intellectual generosity, and shared purpose.
My most meaningful professional experiences have involved listening across difference, mentoring with intention, and contributing to the collective work of building stronger classrooms, departments, and communities. Whether through curriculum development, faculty mentorship, or university-wide initiatives, I approach collegiality as a daily, deliberate act of cooperation that reflects the values at the heart of Xavier’s mission.
In the Political Science department, collegiality has meant helping to build structures that are equitable, sustainable, and student-centered.
As a mentor to new faculty like Dr. Ezra Spira-Cohen (hired 2024), I’ve shared syllabi feedback, opened my classroom for observation, and created informal spaces for reflective conversations about teaching. I remember how uncertain the early years can be, and I see mentorship less as offering expertise and more as building trust, clarity, and presence.
Since 2021, I’ve served as our department’s Assessment Coordinator, gathering and synthesizing materials to evaluate our program. This work requires sustained collaboration across courses and faculty—not simply to meet external benchmarks, but to support honest reflection and shared pedagogical growth.
This same ethic guided my development of PSCI 4800: Political Science Research Methods, a course I proposed and launched in Spring 2024 to address long-standing gaps in our capstone sequence. Before this course, students had no structured support for independent research, and faculty carried unsustainable advising loads without credit. I worked with colleagues to design a scaffolded, credit-bearing course that improves student outcomes and distributes advising more equitably.
I also collaborated on revisions to the PSCI 4999 exam and study guide to ensure clearer expectations and shared faculty ownership of assessment.
Across these efforts, I’ve come to see department-building not as solitary labor, but as collaborative problem-solving rooted in mutual trust and care.
Co-organizing and participating in campus events has shown me how essential trust and vulnerability are to public-facing academic work.
In March 2023, I joined a public safety panel hosted by the XULA Civic Center with Sarah Singh. Later that year, I served as Project Director for Xavier’s Constitution Day campaign, collaborating with Singh and Dr. Beth Manley (History) to lead a weeklong series on civic education. These projects asked us to navigate the political and emotional stakes of public discourse with honesty, care, and mutual respect.
Experiences like these remind me that collegiality often involves emotional labor: being present for difficult conversations, offering support when needed, and trusting colleagues enough to be both honest and generous. These are the same values we ask of our students—and they must be visible in how we show up for one another.
Some of my most meaningful collegial relationships have emerged in faculty learning communities—spaces where we gather not only as experts, but as learners.
From Fall 2021 through Spring 2023, I participated in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development’s writing groups. These gatherings provided structured time for scholarship and cultivated a community of intellectual care, where I learned to listen closely, give affirming feedback, and celebrate the diverse scholarly voices that make Xavier distinct.
That same spirit shaped my work in the 2024–2025 Faculty Portfolio Working Group, where we shared materials, exchanged feedback, and reflected on how to document our growth as teacher-scholars.
In May 2024, I joined the Faculty Communities of Teaching Scholars seminar Human Learning in an AI World, which informed my presentation at the October 2024 workshop AI in the Classroom: New Assignments for a New Era. There, I offered tools for integrating generative AI into pedagogy—while also joining colleagues in exploring what meaningful learning looks like in a time of rapid change.
These communities have shaped more than my scholarship—they’ve shaped my vision of faculty life. Here, collegiality becomes a method: a way of being that invites openness, cultivates trust, and models the intellectual generosity we hope to instill in our students.
At its best, teaching is collective work.
My experience with PSCI 4999: Senior Capstone exemplifies this belief. Before my revisions to the course structure (adopted in Spring 2024), I worked closely with departmental colleagues from 2020–2023 to design a research sequence that supported both student independence and faculty collaboration. I created the overall framework, while each faculty member contributed their expertise: Dr. Russell Frazier guided students in qualitative methods and public policy; Dr. Pamela Waldron-Moore offered support in international relations and quantitative analysis; and I focused on political theory, literature reviews, and the organization of final papers. Together, we ensured each student produced a cohesive, rigorous research project. This work required ongoing communication, mutual trust, and a shared commitment to honoring both our pedagogical strengths and our students’ needs.
In cross-listed courses like PSCI/WMST 2240 and PSCI 2100/XCOR 3010, I’ve partnered with colleagues in Women’s Studies and the Core Curriculum to align syllabi, exchange strategies, and explore new ways to engage students across disciplines. These collaborations have enriched my teaching and deepened its sense of shared purpose.
What stays with me most, though, are the everyday acts of support: co-mentoring a student, sharing a rubric, or coordinating care for someone struggling. These quiet gestures reflect a collective commitment to student success—and a recognition that none of us carries this work alone.
How we treat one another as colleagues models for students what ethical leadership and intellectual responsibility look like. Collegiality is how we build an institution that honors its mission, sustains its people, and prepares students to lead with integrity.
At Xavier, collegiality is a form of service. It’s the daily practice of listening with care, collaborating across difference, and showing up in ways that reflect our shared commitment to justice, equity, and community. Whether mentoring faculty, co-creating curriculum, or engaging in public scholarship, I strive to be the kind of colleague I needed when I began: someone who leads with humility, supports with intention, cooperates gladly, and believes in the transformative power of collective work.
In all I do, I aim to help build a campus culture where trust, respect, and shared purpose are not just values we teach—but values we live.