My primary goal in facilitating is to instruct students on how the field of sociology is applicable to their career field and within their personal life. I believe that students become highly motivated learners if they are able to place themselves and their surroundings within the sociological concepts being learned.
Secondly, I strongly encourage student engagement, participation and interaction. I have a firm belief that understanding the dynamics and characteristics of your class and accommodating their preferred learning styles aids in course effectiveness and student satisfaction. For this reason, I make sure to incorporate diverse learning techniques such as: service and experimental learning to enhance students’ practical understanding of theoretical frameworks.
With my experience as a scholar/practitioner in conflict analysis and management, I have been able to effectively incorporate the fields foundation within any work environment. This has enabled me to create positive work environments, better employee/employee and employer/employee work relationships and a mutual respect for diversity. I consider this to be the ultimate job skill within any field because it entails emotional and social intelligence, active listening, effective communication and the willingness to manage/resolve conflict and embrace difference. These are all assets conducive for a positive learning and working environment. Positive learning and working environments are most often synonymous with the productivity of that environment and its ability to be successful.
I have taught at varying colleges & universities, including Antioch University, Sinclair Community College, and University of Cincinnati.
“Life without knowledge is like death in disguise.” – Talib Kweli
“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” – James Baldwin
“People pay for what they do and even more for what they have allowed themselves to become, and they pay for it very simply by the lives they lead.” – James Baldwin
- PhD, University of Cincinnati, Sociology
- MA, Conflict Analysis and Management, Antioch University Midwest
- BA, Sociology, Psychology, and Cultural Anthropology, Antioch College
College is the training ground before entering into a career field. It is this training ground that essentially arms you with the tools to productively deal with diversity (i.e., race, class, gender and sexual orientation) and adversity (i.e., opposing political or religious views). Many times, social institutions promote a sense of “safetyism” for the student or the protection from opposing ideology deemed harmful in one way or another. While it is in my best interest to protect you from any potential persecution from stressing your ideas within a public space, it is also important that people have a space to voice their opinion. It is equally important for those ideas to be stressed respectfully and void of malicious intent. It is essential that we promote civility so that we can all disagree without being disagreeable, confront without being confrontational and ultimately bring dialogue to the forefront enabling it to birth consciousness, acknowledgement and accountability.
- Sociology
- Interpersonal Conflict
- Intercultural Conflict
- Public Speaking
- Global Communities
- Social Stratification
- Popular Culture
- Public Speaking Training
- Research Methods
- Workplace Mediation
- Understanding Conflict in a Changing World*
- Interpersonal Conflict*
- Intercultural Conflict*
- Managing Race and Racism