Teaching I approach teaching at the University of Texas with three primary goals: to design learning environments where students gain mastery of skills and knowledge to synthesize and create; to recognize diverse learning styles and respond with diverse pedagogical approaches; and to continuously improve my curricula and instruction. To accomplish this, I combine deductive and inductive strategies—in-class activities such as think-pair-share, live quizzes, and simulations, alongside field excursions, discussion boards, short assignments, and semester-long projects—all aligned with clear learning objectives. Sustained investment in pedagogical development, including the NCFDD Faculty Success Program and Harvard Bok Center and UT teaching programs, has grounded my practice in the science of learning, allowing me to intentionally align objectives and assessments with higher-order thinking and to bridge my research and teaching through case studies drawn from my own work. Courses: Program Evaluation for Nonprofit and Social Impact (PA397C, Advanced Empirical Methods) Semesters taught: Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Fall 2025 This core Advanced Empirical Methods course provides a rigorous overview of the rationale, frameworks, and tools used to evaluate the causal effects of nonprofit and public programs and policies. Students learn to apply research design to evaluation questions, use quantitative analytical methods, and become proficient in R by applying statistical techniques to program data. The course emphasizes clearly articulated per-session learning objectives paired with graded and ungraded assessments, and a focused treatment of quantitative impact evaluation. Sustainability Governance (PA388L, Advanced Public Management) Semesters taught: Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2025 This course examines how sustainability and governance shape the interaction between society and environment, from local to global scales, in an era of human-driven earth-system change such as climate change. Students learn to apply frameworks of sustainability, resilience, environmental justice, social-ecological systems, and multi-level governance to evaluate climate adaptation and resilience initiatives. The course also engages critically with questions of power and inequality in sustainability science, policy, and governance. Collaborative Governance (PA388L, Advanced Public Management) Semesters taught: Fall 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2025 Many pressing social, environmental, and policy problems are too complex and cross-cutting for single-agency or ‘silo’ approaches, requiring collaboration across disciplines, jurisdictions, and organizational boundaries. Students learn to analyze the institutional and stakeholder context of public problems, judge when collaborative strategies are appropriate, and design, lead, facilitate, and evaluate collaborative processes. A distinctive feature is a series of collaborative decision-making simulations conducted across the semester. Mobilizing Communities and Engaging Volunteers (PA388L, Advanced Public Management) Semesters taught: Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2023 This course surveys community engagement and volunteer management through theory, case studies, and a service-learning project, treating engagement not as a tokenistic gesture but as a core activity that centers community in policy and program development. Students learn to apply key civil-society concepts, assess stakeholder and power dynamics, and design and implement engagement and volunteer-management programs. A popular course for the RGK Center Nonprofit Leadership Portfolio, it draws students from across LBJ, Social Work, CRP, and Public Health. Assessing and Preparing for Extreme Weather (PA680PA: Policy Research Project) Semesters taught: Fall 2024, Spring 2025 This two-semester Policy Research Project addresses climate extremes in Austin in partnership with the University-City Climate CoLab, bridging academic, city, and community partners. Students work with downscaled climate data to assess exposure and human-impact vulnerability across hazards such as extreme heat, winter storms, drought, wildfire, and flooding, then benchmark policy and build a roadmap of actions Austin families, businesses, and governments can take to reduce risk. Global Learning Seminar (CE 377K / LA329) Semesters taught: Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Summer 2025 This set of co-taught, field-based global courses in Kenya tackles water scarcity by harnessing solar power to desalinate water in rural, peri-urban, and urban communities. Supported initially by the President’s Award for Global Learning, students travel to Kenya and partner with Austin-based nonprofit GivePower and South Eastern Kenya University to implement decentralized desalination systems while examining the socioeconomic impacts of solar water farms. Natural Hazards and Networks for Farmer Resilience (PA680P: Policy Research Project) Semesters taught: Spring 2026 The second semester of a two-semester Policy Research Project examining the U.S. disaster-response system’s reliance on non-state actors, this course centers in-depth case studies of four natural-hazard events affecting family farmers across the country. In collaboration with Farm Aid, a nonprofit supporting family farming, students conduct qualitative interviews with farmers, government officials, and nonprofit representatives to understand the lived experience of navigating disaster response and recovery.
