I teach the Global Society sequence in the College Core at the University of Chicago. Before this, at Northwestern University, I designed a course in demographic history and co-taught a course on global health methods.
In my classes, students work learn to make and evaluate an argument from primary sources, ranging from Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah to John Graunt’s life tables to census microdata from IPUMS. I want my students to be able to make an argument from scratch, not just repeat summaries.
My classroom approach follows from this: class time is device-free for group exercises and discussion, with laptops only coming out for computing work. Assessment is built so that the work is the student’s own: in-person exams for reading-based courses and original research for the rest.
Global Society I, II and III — SOSC 16100 / 16200 / 16300 · University of Chicago · 2025–present
Two sections each year, ~15 students each · three quarters from social theory through demographic methods to an independent research paper
A three-quarter Core social sciences sequence. The first quarter works through works of social theory from around the world, the second teaches demographic methods alongside the intellectual history of population thought, and the third is a supervised research project.
I — Social theory. Classic texts on society, development, inequality and population, such as Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah, Thomas More’s Utopia and Nyerere’s Ujamaa.
II — Population and Society. Three parts. Population thought, reading large-scale studies of global population such as Malthus and McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples. Then demographic methods (Lexis diagrams, standardization and life tables) taught through weekly lab tutorials and problem sets. Then contemporary research on migration, fertility and marriage. Students leave able to construct a life table, standardize a comparison between populations, and look for demographic explanations of social phenomena.
III — Research Practicum. Each student develops an independent project from question formulation to a 4,000–6,000 word paper with a literature review, data and methods, and results. The quarter is scaffolded through a topic survey, research proposal, annotated bibliography, research update, draft figures and draft introduction. It ends with conference-style presentations and Q&A.
Previously, I taught one section of the third quarter as an adjunct lecturer (2023–2024).
The Demographic History of the US post 1860 — ECON 323-2 · Northwestern University · Winter 2025
Designed and taught solo · ~65 students · students analyze IPUMS census microdata · ends in an independent research project
Listed in the catalog as Economic History of the United States since 1865; I designed and taught it as a course in demographic history. The course examines US demographic history from after the Civil War to the mid-twentieth century. Students learn core demographic concepts and measures, explore US demographic patterns and change, and examine leading theories of fertility and mortality decline alongside the role of immigration. They learn to analyze publicly available census microdata from IPUMS, culminating in an independent research project.
Methods in Global Health — ANT 390 · Northwestern University · 2025
Co-taught with Sera Young · ~15 students · I led the statistical computing component using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data
A seminar on quantitative and qualitative methods in global health research. I led the statistical computing component, teaching students to work with DHS data in R and to evaluate measurement choices in global health indicators. The course culminates in an independent research project, presented in a conference-style poster.