Communication (COM) 902: Communication Research Design II. I was invited to this class to discuss finding and using public opinion and social attitude microdata. I have worked with this faculty member a number of times this past year with providing Gallup microdata and he noted that he has noticed in previous semesters of this class that his students struggled with finding microdata that they could use for their data analysis assignments and he hoped my session would help his students find appropriate data sets. After this class, I worked individually with a number of his students on finding and understanding datasets, as well as finding scholarly articles related to their topics and in subsequent conversations with the professor, he noted a marked improvement with the quality of the work of his students. (Spring 2024, Spring 2025)
James Madison College (MC) 367: Global Cities and Urbanism. I collaborated with Leah Morin to provide a libguide and an instruction session. I demonstrated how to find statistics and other information about global cities. Link to libguide. (Spring 2026).
James Madison College (MC) 380: Social Policy. I created a libguide for resources related to social policy based on the course’s final research paper requirements. Link to libguide. (Spring 2021)
James Madison College (MC) 384: Metropolitan Society. Provided instruction on how to locate demographic, social, and economic data and information about Detroit, Lansing, and other metropolitan areas using data.census.gov (formerly American FactFinder, Social Explorer, SimplyAnalytics, and Policy Map. Link to libguide. (Spring 2018, Spring 2021, Spring 2024)
James Madison College (MC) 410: Research in Public Affairs. I taught an instruction session for this class demonstrating resources for finding information on women, work, and households, and social policies on child care and elder care in Michigan. Resources demonstrated include Overton, Social Explorer, and Policy Map. (Spring 2026)
James Madison College (MC) 498: Community Development and Civic Engagement in Lansing. Provide an overview of finding local and state information, such as Census data and education data. Link to libguide. (Fall, 2018, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2025, Fall 2025)
Packaging (PKG) 102: Introductory Packaging Seminar. I was invited to present to this class and provide an overview of resources for Packaging students. As many of these students are first year with little to no library experience, my session also covered the basics of using the library’s website. For Spring 2026, two weeks before the start of the Spring semester, the faculty member for this class contacted me because his department just assigned him to this class following the sudden departure of the original instructor. This was going to be the first class he ever taught, and he asked me to assist with developing assignments that would incorporate library resources, in addition to providing a library instruction session. (Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2026)
Packaging (PKG) 480: Packaging Laws and Regulations. I created a libguide and voice over PowerPoint presentation for this course. Link to libguide. (Fall 2020)
Packaging 485: Packaging Development. Along with Anita Ezzo (2018-2020) and Breezy Silver. Explained the differences between laws and regulations and showed the class how to find applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations regarding their assigned packaging project. After I became the liaison to the School of Packaging following Anita’s retirement in 2020, I covered how to use the library’s resources for finding packaging resources that relate to their specific assigned packaging products. Link to libguide. (Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021)
Packaging (PKG) 810: Packaging Professional Seminar. I worked extensively with the faculty member to develop this new course, and provided possible course materials and assignment ideas. I also taught a library instruction session for this class, emphasizing how to conduct packaging research and research into prospective employers. (Fall 2025)
Political Science (PLS) 100: Introduction to American Government. This class, with approximately 200 students, had a final research paper assignment to write an argumentative essay proposing a 28th amendment to the Constitution. For this session I covered the basic elements of a constitutional amendment and how it differs from a bill, how to use resources like Congress.gov to find bills and proposed amendments, and how to use that information to create their own amendment. I showed students how to use the library’s catalog to find books and how to use discipline-specific databases to find scholarly articles, as well as newspaper articles and public opinion data that they can use to strengthen their essays, and how to cite their sources. Link to libguide. (Fall 2019, Spring 2020)
Political Science 392: Special Topics in Political Science: I worked with an academic advisor in the Political Science Department, who was teaching this freshman seminar for the first time, to design an assignment centered around library resources and the research process. I also created a libguide and taught an instruction session to introduce library resources and skills needed to complete the assignment. In class, I had the students complete two activities: writing a research question and literature searching. (Fall 2022)
Political Science (PLS) 422: Ethnic Politics. I provided instruction on finding scholarly articles in a variety of databases, as well as finding international newspaper articles, public opinion poll data from around the world, and documentaries. Link to libguide. (Fall 2019, Fall 2020)
Political Science 481: Exit Poll/Survey Polling. I created a libguide and taught an instruction session for this course to help students learn the skills necessary to complete a data analysis paper. I taught how to find public opinion data, general library resources such as newspapers and journal articles, as well as plagiarism and how to cite sources. Students completed two in-class activities: one related to summarizing and citing text and a literature search activity utilizing the sources in the libguide to find resources for their research topic. Link to libguide. (Fall 2022, Fall 2024)
Political Science (PLS) 800: Political Theory and Research Methods. This class is for first year graduate students. | discussed relevant library resources for students working on their political science dissertations, with an emphasis on available data resources. I also discussed academic integrity, including how and when to cite sources and using citation managers. During the session, the students completed two activities: one related to summarizing and citing text and the other on using the techniques and resources I discussed to start working on their specific research topics. Link to libguide. (Fall 2019, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024)
Social Science (SSC) 499: Food for Thought. Capstone class taught along with Suzi Teghtmeyer. Showed how to find government information related to this course’s topic, including how to use the Agricultural Census, and finding general demographic and economic information from Social Explorer and Proquest Statistical Abstract. (Fall 2017)
Urban Planning (UP) 314: Methods for Investigating Urban Systems. Amanda Tickner and I provided instruction on finding and using Census data. My part focused on using library and Census resources to access numerical data and statistics. (Spring 2023)
Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures (WRA) 337: Writing and Public Policy. I created a libguide highlighting relevant resources for researching public policy. My instruction session highlighted the most important public policy resources, as well as an overview of plagiarism and how to properly cite sources. The students completed a literature search activity in the session to allow them an opportunity to use the resources from the session to find sources for their research topic. Link to libguide. (Fall 2024)
Non-Course Instruction
I taught a three-hour session for Dr. Anna Maria Santiago, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, and her cross-disciplinary team of nine graduate and undergraduate students who were evaluating the impact of COVID on child and elder care for women of color in Detroit. Her team of researchers needed instruction on Census resources (data.census.gov and Social Explorer), as well as how to find data and information resources on this topic through government and nonprofit agencies. (Fall 2021)
Packaging Graduate Orientation. I was invited by the School of Packaging’s Assistant Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Academic Analytics to attend the full-day graduate orientation and provide a 1-hour presentation on the library for incoming graduate students in the School of Packaging. It was a valuable networking and library promotion opportunity since all the Packaging teaching faculty were also in attendance. (Fall 2022, Fall 2024)