Over recent days we have witnessed a devastating series of events play out regarding House Bill 11, which would ban transgender children from playing sports in Utah middle and high schools. It has been widely reported that the legislature is expected to override Governor Cox’s veto of the Bill. We…

It’s so tempting to adopt a “not my business” mentality in the workplace when we observe or learn of inequities, discrimination or just plain offensive behavior . . . but [advocacy and] allyship requires showing up where injustice shows up . . . …

Guidance on Providing Feedback on Course Writing (and Beyond) — Long an important aspect of the research process, peer review can be a valuable educational exercise which offers authors critical feedback, affords reviewers constructive criticism practice, and helps foster a more collaborative learning environment. As with any aspect of graduate-level writing, effective peer reviewing is a learned skill. …

Strategies for More Successful Digital Discussions — Online forum discussions too often feel like busy work, resulting in little learning payoff for time and energy expended. This post offers some strategies, drawn from my observations and experiences as an instructor of online courses, that can help discussions feel more organic and promote tangible learning benefits. #1 |…

A Catalogue of Podcasts on Matters of the “Public” Sort — This post offers a curated list of podcasts relevant to public affairs, including matters of civics and governmental affairs, public policy, public administration, nonprofit organizations, and social enterprise. This is a “living” list — I encourage you to respond to this story with any suggestions I may have missed. Last…

Expectations & Tips for Public Affairs Graduate Students — This post outlines basic guidelines for graduate-level writing in my classes. I don’t expect you to have these customs mastered at our semester’s outset, but I do expect you to practice them in course writing. …

It goes without saying that you are taking this course in unusual — indeed unprecedented — times. After much deliberation, I’ve chosen to continue my classes this semester almost entirely online. The details of the course format follow, but first I want to explain why I’ve made this decision. I’ve…

Amid the heightened antiracist activism that followed the killing of George Floyd (and other people of color), the Program of Public Affairs (MPA, MPP, and MIAGE) received necessary and urgent feedback from current students and alumni. In carefully written letters, community members of color and their white allies candidly articulated…

This is my original course pedagogy letter, penned in 2019 during the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic. A revised (2021) version of this letter is published at A Letter on Pedagogy, Course Design, & Assessment Every course has an underlying pedagogy — and every instructor is guided by…