My teaching philosophy is based on the belief that teaching, research, and learning activities are ongoing formative processes that can improve the individuals, communities, and societies. I develop and facilitate units that challenge and broaden students’ perspectives of prominent and relevant issues. Whether delivered in face-to-face, online, or flexible formats, I focus on increasing student capacity to critically analyze topics through a variety of methods and conceptual frameworks. I employ a combination of cooperative and experiential learning in my units, which reflect my belief that adult learners bring a rich and varied set of professional and personal experiences to their studies. As such, the instruction that I provide is active, challenging, immediately relevant, and constructively built upon previous experience and knowledge. My goal is to develop individuals who examine their role as empowered actors in the processes that shape development and policy issues at local, national and international levels. I am also wholly committed to practicing culturally relevant pedagogy, meaning that I believe in: (a) teaching with rather than at students; (b) understanding that cultural differences between teachers and students demand an approach to instruction that is sensitive to needs, traditions, and mores of individual students, as well cultures and sub-cultures within an educational setting, and; (c) being mindful of both processes and outcomes related to education and achievement, not solely one or the other. 

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