Teaching

Introduction to International Relations

• Course Description: The world political stage sometimes seems a distant and unimportant venue to undergraduates. With tensions rising between the U.S. and China, sanctions on Russia for the Ukraine war, and foreign interference in cyberspace, world politics have affected our life in tangible ways. This class will introduce you to theoretical and analytical tools which political scientists employ to make sense of the complicated dynamics of international relations. We will build up your analytical skills over the course of the semester by applying the concepts we come across in readings to contemporary political events and discussion. You will understand the political processes and consequences of international politics through in-class activities and assignments. You will also do research on how current global events are presented in the media and evaluate the hidden media bias. These exercises will provide you with a rich practical knowledge of international relations.

• On-campus course taught in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024 (scheduled), Wabash College

Trade Politics of Asia Pacific

• Course Description: Trade politics are a complex nexus of domestic and international politics, economic conditions, global and regional institutions, business interests, and civil society. This course aims to provide an understanding of trade politics in the Asia-Pacific region – the largest market and manufacturing base in the world. The course introduces the latest developments in the Pacific Rim by reviewing cutting-edge research. The first half of the course covers trade policy preferences of Asia-Pacific countries, intraregional and extra-regional free trade agreements, and the political implications of Asia-Pacific’s key position in the global supply chain. Specifically, we will analyze trade politics between Australia, China, Mexico, Peru, South Korea, and the United States. The second half of the course focuses on the politics of multinational corporations, foreign direct investment, trade in services, and digital trade. We will then examine the impacts of global trade on Asia-Pacific’s labor rights, development, and environment. There are no prerequisites for this class as we will go over the trade models throughout the semester if needed. 

• On-campus course scheduled in Fall 2024, Wabash College

International Relations of East Asia

• Course Description: This course introduces students to the international politics in East Asia. East Asia is a diverse region in terms of political and economic development. Over the past decades, countries in the Northeast and Southeast Asia have not only reached economic success but have also undergone great political transformations. The regional development changes the interstate interactions within East Asia as well as international relations in the world. The dynamics give rise to many questions: What implications does China’s rise bring? What role does the US play in the region? Why are there “two Chinas” and “two Koreas”? How are maritime disputes in the South China Sea affect world politics and economy? What are the efforts in uniting East Asian countries together? This course will cover a range of topics, including the historical background, major disputes between East Asian countries, and economic development in the region.

• On-campus course taught in Spring 2024, Wabash College

• Online course taught in Fall 2019, Binghamton University

• Teaching Evaluation: Fall 2019

Politics Economy of East Asia 

• Course Description: This course is to introduce students to the political economy in East Asia. Japan, China, and the East Asian Tigers, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, have experienced economic success and political transitions in the past decades. How do East Asian countries achieve “economic miracles"? How do the governments and their society drive economic growth? How does the region’s political economy influence the world? This course will cover a range of topics, including the developmental state, East Asian regional integration, and the relationship between the regional supply chain and the global economy. We will focus on the development strategies of the countries in the region and discuss the underlying theoretical logic that explains East Asia’s growth. We will also evaluate the interdependence between this region and the world. 

• On-campus course taught in Fall 2023, Wabash College

• Online course taught in Spring 2021, Binghamton University

• Student feedback (anonymous): Spring2021 

• Teaching Evaluation: Spring 2021

Political Inquiry and Analysis 

• Course Description: This course introduces students to the craft of asking and answering questions about politics. It considers the variety of normative, descriptive, and causal concerns that motivate contemporary political science and surveys an array of approaches political scientists use to gather and analyze information in their quest to understand political phenomena. In addition to examining the use of fundamental research process elements in published political science studies, students will produce their own research project proposal.

• On-campus course taught in Spring 2024, Wabash College

Senior Seminar

• Course Description: This course is the capstone for the Political Science major. Much of it will be dedicated to the development of your senior paper, an original research project that answers a compelling political science research question. We’ll also devote some time to preparation for the comprehensive exam and reflection on how you might deploy your political science knowledge and skills beyond the classroom.

• On-campus course taught in Fall 2023, Wabash College

Analyzing Politics Using R

• Course Description: This course will introduce students to data analysis using R. Students will learn how to explore, summarize, and visualize a data set. We will focus on the underlying structure of variables to develop intuition about the data. We will use R studio, a free software environment for statistics and graphics, to analyze and visualize data. We will build from popular data used in political science such as democracy, political protests, human rights, economic indicators, and surveys. At the end of this course, you will have an understanding of the R language, statistical tests to evaluate the relationship between variables, the ability to graph and present data, and the ability to find additional resources for more advanced topics. While this course explores data from political science, it is useful for anyone interested in learning data science. No prior knowledge of R or statistics is required.

• Online course taught in Summer 2022, Winter 2021, Winter 2020, Binghamton University

• Student feedback (anonymous): Summer 2022, Winter 2021, and Winter 2020 

• Teaching Evaluation: Summer 2022, Winter 2021, and Winter 2020 

Analytics Practicum

• Course Description: This course teaches data analytics under a problem-solving framework. In doing so, students are provided a unique opportunity to apply the analytical tools and concepts taught in the program in a practical manner. Students will work on live projects from various organizations. Students (in consultation with the client and faculty advisor) will be responsible for project scope, understanding the issues and analytic needs, identifying appropriate analytical methods, analyzing the data, drawing conclusions, making recommendations for decision-making, writing a report, and presenting conclusions/recommendations to the clients and to the instructor. 

• Human Rights Institute Project: The CIRIGHTS data project generates annual numerical scores measuring the human rights performance of all nations of the world. Most scores measure the strength of each nation's practices in protecting particular rights. There are also scores that measure the strength of the domestic laws protecting the rights. The team works on visualizing patterns in the national human rights scores. 

• Online course taught in Spring 2023, Summer 2022, Binghamton University

• Student feedback (anonymous): Summer 2022 

• Teaching Evaluation: Summer 2022 

Trade Wars

• Course Description: What determines countries’ trade policies? Who are the winners and losers from trade cooperation and from trade wars? How does international trade influence domestic politics? In this course, students will explore the interactions between governments, multinational corporations, and interest groups related to the cross-border flow of goods and services. The course will focus on how trade affects these actors and how they affect each other through international trade. By the end of this course, students will understand how international trade works and what considerations drive policy-making about trade. 

• Online course taught in Summer 2019, Binghamton University

• Teaching Evaluation: Summer 2019

Graduate Seminars

PLSC 500 - Research Methods & Statistics (Fall 2020)

• Instructor: Gregory Robinson

PLSC 502 - Introduction to Formal Theory (Spring 2018) 

• Instructor: Seden Akcinaroglu

• Teaching Evaluation: Spring 2018 

Undergraduate Lectures

PLSC 113 - Introduction To Comparative Politics (Fall 2017)

• Instructor: William Heller

• Teaching Evaluation: Fall 2017 - Section 1, Fall 2017- Section 2

PLSC 117 - Introduction To World Politics (Fall 2016)

• Instructor: Katja Kleinberg

• Teaching Evaluation: Fall 2016 - Section 1, Fall 2016 - Section 2