My Courses
Statistics
Boston College | 2020
This course is an exploration of sociological approaches to statistics and quantitative reasoning. Students will be exposed to introductory statistical techniques, and they will familiarize themselves with Stata software. The course emphasizes quantitative literacy (students will learn to critique and interpret different kinds of statistical claims), but the course is primarily designed to advance students’ understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics.
Building the American Body
Boston College | 2020
This course is an examination of how bodies have been conceptualized, valued, and regulated in health and wellness initiatives throughout American history. Students will explore the many ways that bodies have been known, evaluated, and managed throughout the Western world, and in doing so, they will be exposed to the rich and peculiar theoretical history of the body. Using contemporary “health and wellness” discourses as our guidepost, we will engage theoretical traditions dating back to the 16th century and many case studies in between. Students will be invited to consider spiritual, medical, legal, and economic health initiatives that have shaped the parameters of human wellness. As students confront these “projects of the body,” they will enrich their understanding of social theory and refine their critical capacities as consumers of, and participants in, the culture of bodies.
Sexuality & Society
Boston College | 2018-2020
This course is an exploration of sociological approaches to sexuality. We examine the ways that society shapes sexual identities, politics, and behaviors. And we confront the ways societies are structured by sex and sexuality. The course critically considers legal and medical designations of normality and dysfunction, and addresses the construction of sex and gender, otherness, exoticism, pornography, global politics, marriage, partnership, family, fertility, repression, and panic. Together we examine the linkages between social structures and human experience. The course also emphasizes theoretical research issues, especially how and to what degree our understanding of sexuality is a direct result of the processes we use to define sexuality. Students learn to critique popular discourses with critical sociological perspective and are encouraged to form their own opinions.
Deviance & Social Control
Boston College | 2019-2020
This course explores the social construction of boundaries between the "normal" and the so-called "deviant." It examines the struggle between powerful forms of social control and what these exclude, silence, or marginalize. Of particular concern is the relationship between dominant forms of religious, legal, and medical social control and gendered, racialized and global economic structures of power. The course provides an in-depth historical analysis of theoretical perspectives used to explain, study and control deviance, as well as ethical-political inquiry into such matters as religious excess, crime, madness, corporate and governmental wrong-doing, and sexual subcultures that resist dominant social norms.
Social Problems
Boston College | 2018
This course is an exploration of different sociological approaches to the study of social problems and social trends in contemporary society. It examines the linkages between social structures/institutions, culture and human experience. The course emphasizes theoretical research issues, especially how, and to what degree, the understanding of social problems are a direct result of the processes used to define social problems as well as the research methods and procedures used to investigate them. Students will learn to critique popular discourses from a critical sociological perspective and will be encouraged to form their own opinions and critiques.
Fundamentals of Human Communication
James Madison University | 2014-2015
This course examines human communication as a process. We overview the principles and practices of communication in small group and public communication contexts, emphasizing the roles of self-concept, perception, culture, verbal and nonverbal dimensions of interaction. Students develop a toolbox for managing conflict, applying critical listening, practicing audience analysis, and constructing informative and persuasive presentations. The course has significant digital literacy and public speaking components.