​Course Syllabi
Below are descriptions from courses I have taught at Colby College and the University of Virginia. 

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The American Presidency

This course interrogates the constitutionalizing of “executive power” in American political development.  It explores what power presidents have gained and lost in the country’s constitutional history, paying particular attention to the expectations and problems confronting modern presidents. It also considers how constitutional obligations and popular expectations conflict with other ideals of democratic government, including American federalism and separation of powers.

Constitutional Choice and Its Consequences 

This is a course about change and continuity in American politics. Topics include the development of various political institutions in the United States (presidency, Congress, state and local government), but also the creation of the welfare state, the administrative state, the carceral state, and other mediating institutions such as the press and public schools. Key themes include the role of the State in shaping citizens, the success and failure of various reform movements, and the role of cultural prejudices in Americas exceptional development
Federalism in Action: State and Local Politics
This is a course ultimately about inequality. After all, in permitting state and local governments to operate independently of a central authority, the government that citizens get depends on where they live. It will be unequal, by design. To better understand how federated institutions produce that inequality, this course is structured in two. During the first half of the semester, we consider how state variation in political processes and institutions leads to differing levels of citizen participation, involvement, and political control. In the second half of the course, we consider how federalism structures the decision-making of national representatives, and how intergovernmental policy exacerbates inequities in American society.  
Politics of Public Policy in the United States
The goal of this course is to provide students with a conceptual framework for understanding the policymaking process in the United States. In short, we want to know why government does what it does. Students engage with theoretical approaches to policymaking, including social choice dilemmas, and insights about legislative behavior from new institutional economics. Using a "pathways" approach, we consider the institutions that are responsible for problematizing, designing, implementing, and evaluating policy at the federal, state, and local levels; these include the bureaucracy, Congress, think tanks, and private corporations. We also interrogate some of the leading approaches to thinking about public policy, including cost-benefit evaluation, "nudging," quasi-market competition, and privatization. 

Political Science Research

Law and Lawlessness in American Politics
This course introduces students to the foundational theories and methodological approaches that make political science, scientific. Students will learn how rational inquiry into political phenomena differs from the ways in which we often discuss politics, and students will engage in a reasoned critique of that rational process to better cope with the limits of social science research. Students gain practical experience in conducting scientific research on social behavior, and work collaboratively to test an original hypothesis.
Not your average course on American bureaucracy! This course considers the historical and institutional dilemmas posed by administrative politics in the United States. . By lawlessness, we are interested interested in those moments when political power supplants agreement -- when law is used to empower the already powerful, when it is structured in a way to protect the empowered, or when the law breaks loose from its social moorings and loses the public's confidence. Students apply these theoretical insights to administrative law cases currently before the courts.
Introduction to American Government
This course surveys the fundamentals of American government and politics. Each week introduces students to an empirical approach used by political scientists to solve "problems in governance." In short, this course asks two basic question, how does government work in the United States, and, can it be made to work better? In answering both questions, students will focus on the method of political science in order to expand their understanding of political phenomena and behavior. We will tie those empirical considerations of institutional and political behavior to a discussion of competing political values, principles, and traditions in America’s political development.