Environmental Studies 4943: Environmental Seminar

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In Spring 2017, I will teach one section of this seminar for seniors who are minors in the Environmental Studies Program.

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From the Boston College course catalog: 

 

With the goal to serve as a bridge between the college experience and the next stage of one's career, students fine-tune their critical writing, research, project coordination, facilitation, and public speaking skills.

 

We investigate, actively discuss, and write about contemporary environmental issues and solutions with the aid of weekly reading assignments and the knowledge and experiences each student brings to class.

 

Students also engage in a semester-long research project, collaborating with a campus or community mentor organization to address a specific environmental problem.

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Cross Currents: Thinking about Sustainability

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Since 2014, I have co-designed and team-taught Cross Currents: Thinking about Sustainability as a Living Learning Program. The year-long course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental sustainability, and proceeds under the assumption that with respect to the environment, “everything is interconnected” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ 70, 138, 240). 

 

Throughout the semester, students engage readings and in-class films, and participate in content-based dialogue about a variety of modern ecological challenges. Topics include integral ecology, economics, food and agriculture, water, religion, climate change, race, health, securty and conflict, social change, and public policy.

 

In the spring semester, students work in small groups on a Capstone project in which they design and implement an on-campus sustainability project, and present their work in symposia.

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Introduction to Christian Theology II

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In Spring 2016, I served as a Teaching Assistant for this course to Stephen J. Pope.

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From the syllabus course description:

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This is the second semester of a two-semester course—TH016-TH017: “Introduction to Christian Theology I-II”—that fulfills the Theology core requirement. The course intends to help students come to a better understanding of the major figures, beliefs, values, and practices of various Christian communities in different social contexts and historical periods. The first half of the course examined some key Biblical and early Christian texts and then some contemporary interpretations and applications of their messages. The second semester focuses on contemporary systematic, biblical, and moral theology.

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Introduction to Christian Theology I

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In Fall 2015, I served as a Teaching Assistant for this course to Stephen J. Pope.

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From the syllabus course description:

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This is the first semester of a two-semester course—TH016-TH017: “Introduction to Christian Theology I-II”—that fulfills the Theology core requirement. This course considers the significant questions and debates that have given shape to the Christian tradition in its major denominational forms (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant). The goal of the course is to arrive at a general comprehension of the major figures, beliefs, values, and practices of these various Christian communities in different historical periods.

 

This two semester course is focused on the major sources and a number of the most important methods used in Christian theological reflection. The first half of the first semester examines some key Biblical and early Christian texts and the second half turns to contemporary theological interpretations of them.
 

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Teaching Philosophy

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My philosophy is that teaching and learning are collaborative processes wherein the teacher and students engage diverse questions and wisdom sources towards transformative promotion of justice and peace. In particular, my teaching works to help students recognize the Judeo-Christian faith as a lived tradition that calls persons and communities to enact both charity and justice.

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To this end, I affirm the five steps of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation), value direct and vicarious experience, employ the Pastoral Circle (insertion - social analysis - theological reflection - pastoral planning) as a pedagogical tool, and utilize formative evaluation. In sum, and in the words of Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., I work to “educate the whole person of solidarity for the real world.”

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Courses

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