Teaching & Mentoring
Teaching and mentoring are central to my identity as a scholar. I strive to build an inclusive classroom environment that includes a variety of pedagogical techniques and learning strategies. I have created and instructed original courses on international law and human rights at UW-Madison. From 2020-2021, I served as the TA mentor for the Department of Political Science, in which I trained and mentored new and experienced TAs. I also designed policy to facilitate instructor feedback with the UW-Madison Teaching Academy and Feedback on Teaching program. I was elected to the Teaching Academy’s Executive Committee in December 2020, which I co-chaired from 2021-2023. As co-chair, I acted as the leading graduate student voice for teaching innovation and community on campus. I received multiple teaching awards at UW-Madison, including the campus-wide Early Excellence in Teaching Award. Full course evaluations are available here (contact me for password).
Courses Taught at Denison University
PPA 122 – Introduction to Global Governance (Fall 2023, Spring 2024)
PPA 344 – The United Nations and World Problems (Fall 2023)
PPA 345/INTL 250 – Human Rights in Global Perspectives (Spring 2024)
PPA 359 – International Law (Spring 2024)
Courses Taught at UW–Madison
PS/IS 434 – The Politics of Human Rights (online) (Summer 2022, Summer 2023, Summer 2024) [syllabus]
PS 356 – Principles of International Law (Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023) [syllabus]
PS 140 – Introduction to International Relations (online) (Summer 2021, w/ Jon Pevehouse) [syllabus]
Selected Student Comments
“Andrew is a really great teacher who truly cares about the success of his students. He is the best professor I have had at UW-Madison by far.” -Fall 2021, Poli Sci 356, Principles of International Law
“Andrew is phenomenal, if he was a full professor I would take as many classes as he offered. I feel like he did a really great job explaining material in an easily digestible way, even when topics could be confusing, and would re-explain in multiple other ways until a student would understand which I think is REALLY nice to have an instructor actually care that his students do well and understand.” -Fall 2021, Poli Sci 356, Principles of International Law
“Andrew was passionate about the course material which shined through during his lectures. His passion prompted me to engage more, which I appreciated. I enjoyed having him as a professor.” -Fall 2021, Poli Sci 356, Principles of International Law
“He is by a significant margin the best TA I have had while at UW-Madison. I genuinely can't imagine any way he could improve. He is phenomenal and I hope every political science student gets to take a class with him.” -Spring 2020, -Poli Sci 350, International Political Economy
“Andrew is a fantastic TA and educator. His energy and passion is contagious and he makes you want to learn. His teaching style is inclusive and his knowledge for the topic is vast. He is also very personable and is easy to connect with at a personal level. In my 2.5 years of college he undoubtedly a top three TA I have had here at UW.” -Fall 2019, Poli Sci 356, Principles of International Law
“Andrew is above all caring. He learned nearly all of our names after one week. He put a lot of effort into structuring his discussion sessions and was always available by email. You could tell he cares about the content he's teaching as well…He's honestly one of the best TAs I've had in my 4 years here.” -Spring 2020, Poli Sci 350, International Political Economy
“Andrew is a subject matter expert, friendly, organized, approachable, rationally and appropriately objective, kind, tactful, overall professional, and a nice guy. He is excellent at prompting and continuing dialogue and deliberation, and posing questions that make students think critically about the course material.” -Spring 2019, Poli Sci 377, Nuclear Weapons and World Politics
“One quality of Andrew's that made his teaching style specifically engaging was that he wanted to get a better understanding of each student, as both a student and a person. I believed that this encouraged greater engagement, discussion, and interest than if this was not the case.” -Spring 2019, Poli Sci 377, Nuclear Weapons and World Politics
“Andrew made a clear effort to include each student in the group discussion. If a particular student seemed more shy to participate, Andrew would go out of his way to encourage them to attend office hours. He took note of the individual interests and talents of his students and tried incorporating them into the material to make the subject more thought-provoking.” -Spring 2018, Poli Sci 377, Nuclear Weapons and World Politics
“Andrew is an amazing TA and will make an even better professor. He has been exciting and engaging during discussions, making participation easy and clarifying any difficult subjects. He provides great feedback on projects and is easily able to make time for meetings, even outside of office hours. Also, considering how hard it’s been on everyone to adjust to online learning, Andrew has made it seamless.” -Fall 2020, Poli Sci 347, Terrorism
“Andrew is really great at what he does and is probably the best TA I have ever had. He was super helpful, always available during office hours, and made discussions very interesting. It is clear that he is passionate about teaching and international relations in general. I have really enjoyed this semester with him as my TA.” -Fall 2018, Poli Sci 140, Introduction to International Relations
“His relatability to students allowed Andrew to foster a dynamic discussion atmosphere that not only engaged me but often challenged me to think more complexly about the material. Furthermore, his facilitation of placing us in groups to take the point of view of different actors at the international level helped me develop the framework to answer questions of IL more thoroughly”. -Fall 2019, Poli Sci 356, Principles of International Law