Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy centers on cultivating an inclusive, student-centered, and engaging environment where students can thrive. I view education as a transformational experience that not only enhances intellectual capacity but also nurtures resilience and belonging. I prioritize building community, accessibility, and a sense of trust, encouraging respectful dialogue, critical inquiry, and intellectual rigor as key to academic excellence. Through reflexive and collaborative learning techniques, I inspire students to challenge assumptions, examine positionality, and embrace creativity and authenticity. I aim to prepare students with essential analytical skills for critical thinking, global awareness, and social responsibility, blending theory with practical application.
Engaging students through new technologies, media, and diverse participatory methods, I tailor my teaching to the varied needs of learners through interactive, collaborative, and accessible practices. I also integrate creative, arts-based, trauma-informed approaches, ensuring that classrooms remain healthy, safe, supportive, and welcoming for students navigating complex global, social, and personal challenges. Education, in my view, is a dynamic, collaborative, two-way process in which students and educators co-create knowledge through real-world experience, applied inquiry, and shared reflection.
My teaching emphasizes practical relevance, experiential learning, and impactful faculty-student mentorship. By combining theoretical foundations with creative, applied, and arts-based research methods, I aim to critically engage public policy, political science, and global studies students from diverse educational, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. My goal is to empower students to connect scholarship with real-world issues, cultivate critical empathy, and develop the intellectual and ethical tools needed to address urgent global challenges with creativity, resilience, and a strong sense of social responsibility.
Teaching Interests, Experience, and Mentorship
Prepared to Teach:
- Introduction to International Relations (Global Politics and Theory)
- Public Policy Analysis
- Comparative Political Economy
- Politics of Development in the Global South
- Rebuilding Fragile and Conflict-Affected States
- Gender, Conflict, and Human Security
- South Asia Politics
- Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Politics
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Mixed Methods Research in Social Science
- Evaluating Policy Networks (Social Network Analysis)
Teaching Experience and Instructional Contributions:
Delivered invited lectures, professional trainings, graduate-level workshops, conference presentations, and guest lectures on development policy, governance, social capital and network analysis, qualitative and mixed methods, grant writing, and inclusive pedagogy, including contributions to the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility track).
Please find detailed information on teaching-related experience on the Invited Talks and Conferences Page.
Facilitation and Engagement:
Lead inclusive, applied discussions for students, practitioners, and scholars; design and cultivate accessible and participatory activities that bridge research and practice.
Mentorship and Advising:
Mentor high school, undergraduate, graduate, and early-career professionals on writing, academic English, research design, qualitative fieldwork preparation, and diverse career pathways in global development, public policy, and international affairs.
Curriculum Design:
Develop multiple syllabi, assignments, and course materials that emphasize Global South perspectives and integrate inclusive, trauma-informed, and creative approaches to learning (arts-based methods) to support diverse learners.
Pedagogical Approach:
Student-centered and evidence-based teaching that emphasizes critical inquiry, experiential learning, and the connection between theory, policy, and practice. Committed to nurturing accessible, participatory classroom environments, integrating DEI, and supporting student reflection, methodological and intellectual rigor, belonging, and ethical engagement with real-world policy challenges across diverse backgrounds.