Teaching

Featured Group Activities
I believe in the transformative power of integrative and experiential learning to make sociological concepts tangible and relevant to students' lives. I design interactive learning environments where theory comes alive through collaborative investigation and creative application. Below are select examples from three of my undergraduate courses.

Sociology of Culture

Meme Creation Contest
Groups create memes illustrating sociological concepts of their choice. They present their memes, analyzing how they represent the concepts and discussing factors contributing to meme popularity and cultural significance.

Cultural Capital

Creator: Cece Boswell (Soc of Culture, Spring 2025)

Social Norms

Creator: Cece Boswell (Soc of Culture, Spring 2025)

Cultural Capital Scavenger Hunt
Students explore campus environments to identify how various forms of institutional resources accessible using cultural capital (e.g., language, dress, institutional know-how) confer privilege or create barriers. They analyze how class-coded behaviors operate in educational spaces, drawing on Anthony Jack’s work to assess implications for first-generation and low-income students.
Subculture Balloon Debate Tournament
In this tournament-style debate, teams represent stigmatized subcultures (e.g., gamers, cosplayers) and use theoretical tools to argue for their group’s legitimacy. The culminating “balloon pop” vote forces teams to navigate both theoretical rigor and performance strategy.

Sociology of Gender

Meme-Busters: Gender Myths Decoded
Students challenge essentialist claims about gender (e.g., “men are natural leaders”) by using scientific research and sociological concepts to create counter-memes. This tournament-style activity invites critical engagement with popular discourse and teaches students how to contest pseudoscientific claims through visual creation.
Leadership Fashion Runway
Students create a simple “fashion show” of women and men leaders and professionals (CEOs, Politicians, etc.) by collecting photos from the internet. Each group presents their photo collages as if hosting a fashion show, making the discussion of gendered regulations of bodies more engaging.
Time Travelers
Groups create fictional letters from 1950s time travelers confused by modern work-family roles. Peers write sociologically informed responses that connect personal experiences to institutional shifts.

Technology & Society (scheduled for 2026 Spring)

Recognition Bingo
Students play a bingo game to learn how credit in science is often unequal. Bingo cards list factors like “published in a top journal” or “mentored by a famous scientist.” As they read short scientist profiles, groups mark off the boxes and discuss how recognition piles up for some people more than others.
AI in Daily Life Diaries
Before class, students write short diary entries about one everyday encounter with AI and/or algorithms, such as Spotify recommendations. In class, they trade entries and discuss how algorithms shape daily choices.
Digital Divide Stackers
Groups use blocks to build towers that represent different communities’ access to technology. Strong blocks show advantages like fast internet, while weaker blocks show disadvantages like broken devices or poor access. The towers make digital inequality visible in a hands-on way.

Course Descriptions

Intro to Social Statistics (Syllabus)

This course provides a survey of basic statistical concepts and techniques, with a focus on their application in social research. Throughout the semester, students will learn social statistics as a powerful tool for investigating and explaining relationships in data. The course emphasizes both conceptual comprehension and practical application of statistical methods.

Sociology of Culture (Syllabus)

This course surveys key concepts and frameworks in the sociology of culture in mass society. Students will read empirical studies written by scholars in the field and learn to view everyday cultural objects such as literature, film, popular music critically. We will also explore interesting questions drawing on sociological perspectives, such as: How do cultural industries work? What makes popular culture popular? How come cultural tastes define/reproduce one’s social status and class? What makes/changes a fine line between popular culture and high arts? Students are strongly encouraged to connect their own experiences to key concepts in the course materials. This will help them understand and analyze cultural aspects of social issues such as status, class, and inequality.

Sociology of Gender (Syllabus)

This introductory course examines how gender shapes our daily experiences and how it intersects with other aspects of social life. We will explore how gender impacts opportunities and constraints across various domains including education, work, family, and relationships. Through engaging with sociological concepts and contemporary examples, students will develop critical thinking skills to analyze gender as a social structure rather than simply an individual characteristic.

Technology & Society (Syllabus)
This course examines how science and technology shape society and how society shapes them in return. We study how recognition, inequality, and institutions affect who gets credit in science and how knowledge is organized. We also explore how new ideas and innovations disrupt existing systems and how AI technologies are adopted, governed, and woven into everyday life.

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