Teaching Experience

Teaching Philosophy

Holy Cross

ECON110 Principles of Economics

Current students please visit the course Canvas page.

Instructor of Record

ECO 2020 Principles of Macroeconomics (Elmira College)

ECO 2020: Ensures understanding of GDP, unemployment, standards of living, and inflation. Examines the determination of economic growth in the long-run and analyzes short-run fluctuations of output. Discusses the Federal Reserve and its role in formulating monetary policy as well as the  government’s role in fiscal policy and the effects of both types of policies on the economy.

Course Evaluation Overall Scores for each section: 4.5, 4.9 out of 5

ECO 3040 Intermediate Microeconomics (Elmira College, Asynchronous Class)

ECO 3040: Reviews of supply and demand concepts. Presents the theory of consumer behavior, including cardinal and ordinary utility functions, indifference curves, Engel curves, elasticity of demand and Giffen Goods. Discusses the theory of the firm including perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and imperfect competition, and also explores factor markets. Introduces students to key concepts from game theory.

Course Evaluation Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5

ECO 3041 Intermediate Macroeconomics (Elmira College)

ECO 3041: Provides an understanding of advanced macroeconomic theories and concepts. Examines national income accounting measures, the behavior of the economy in the long run, and the determination of output in the short-run. Particular attention is paid to the ISLM model of aggregate demand.

Course Evaluation Overall Score: 4.7 out of 5

University Teaching Assistantships

AEM 4150/5150 Price Analysis

Professor: Harry Kaiser

AEM 4150/5150: Focuses on the analysis of supply and demand characteristics of commodities with particular attention to agricultural products. Pays special attention to empirical analysis. Includes institutional aspects of pricing, temporal and spatial price relationships, price forecasting, and the economic consequences of pricing decisions.

As a TA for AEM 4150/5150, I attended and assisted lectures, as well as led partial and complete lectures throughout the semester.

I also held regular office hours and review sessions, helped write and graded all exams.

Overall TA quality of TA’s teaching: 4.77/5

Selected student comments:

“I am so so so incredibly impressed with Dana as my TA! She is so helpful in understanding topics and keeping the class organized and on task. She was always ready to jump in if the professor needed help, and made people’s ideas/questions feel valued!”

“Dana was very helpful as a TA. She responded to any questions I emailed her very quickly, and was very available to meet during her office hours.”

“Dana is a wonderful TA and does an exceptional job of synthesizing and simplifying the course material”

“Dana always responds to emails quickly and answers all my questions, whether in email, class or OH. I appreciate how dedicated she is to the class and the amount of time she takes out of her day to have a review session before exams. Her knowledge and understanding of the material are evident as she thoroughly explains the content. It was amazing to have her as a TA!!!”

AEM 2350 Introduction to the Economics of Development

Professor: Joanna Upton

AEM 2350: This course is a survey of the field of development economics, with an eye to theory, empirical research, and policy. It is intended to introduce you to the application of economics to understanding the causes and consequences of poverty around the world, and poverty alleviation. We will explore how both macro- and micro- economic theory is applied to the study of these issues, in the presence of scarcity, market failures, various shocks and stressors, and weak formal institutions. We will also consider the limits of economic study in understanding development, and the many trade-offs involved in the development process.

As a TA for AEM 2350, I attended and assisted during lecture and led asynchronous lectures.

I also held regular office hours, and graded final projects.

 

AEM 2000 Contemporary Controversies in the Global Economy

Professor: Chris Barrett

AEM 2000: This course aims to stimulate critical thinking, economic reasoning, and cogent writing about contemporary controversies that attract regular attention in the international press and among key private and public sector decision-makers. Students read and discuss competing arguments about current issues such as morally questionable market exchange among willing buyers and sellers, immigration policy, foreign aid, sovereign debt forgiveness, regulating genetically modified foods, etc.

As a TA for AEM 2000, I attended and assisted during lecture and led two discussion sections each week where I taught writing skills, relevant economic concepts, and led discussion on the essay prompts for the class.

I also held weekly office hours, and graded final drafts of the three papers students wrote over the course of the semester.

Overall TA quality of TA’s teaching (2022, sections 1 and 2): 4.89/5, 5/5

Overall TA quality of TA’s teaching (2021, sections 1 and 2): 5/5, 5/5

Selected student comments:

“Dana is very organized, kind, and encourages a range of different opinions during discussion.”

“Dana is an amazing TA and researcher. She always clarifies complicated prompts and gives us effective directions. She is also very inspirational in terms of the perspectives she provides. She is always very responsive and gives recommendations to me even about my future plans.”

“I think that Dana is an amazing instructor! She is very knowledgeable about the material and highly capable of explaining confusing concepts in a clear manner. Dana always encouraged group discussions and gave everyone the opportunity to share their perspectives during the section. I greatly appreciated her support and guidance throughout the semester, as she provided helpful insight into the real-world application of the prompts. She also helped me improve my argumentative and persuasive writing by being available often and providing constructive feedback on my assignments. Dana is a kind and passionate person who cares about the course’s material and the success of her students.”

“Dana was a great TA – she was always really prepared and had a good grasp of the subject matter. She never appeared thrown off by any question”

AEM 2600 Managerial Economics

Professor: Terry Alexander

AEM 2600: This course covers microeconomic principles that inform managerial decisions in firms and organizations. The course will touch on how these principles apply to the Dyson School research foci of management, agribusiness, environmental sustainability, and emerging markets. 

As a TA for Managerial Economics, I attended and assisted during lecture, held weekly office hours, and graded exams for an intermediate economics course.

Overall quality of my TA’s teaching: 4.18/5

Selected student comments:

“Dana is great at answering questions and laying out the steps to answering a difficult problem”

“Helpful during office hours”

AEM 2800 Hot Economic Issues in the News Today

Professor: Steve Kyle

AEM 2800: This course is a writing in the disciplines course in current economic issues. It is intended as a topical course focusing on selected issues that are important to the national debate. The basic analysis taught in ECON 1110 and ECON 1120 is taken as the point of departure and is used to illuminate these issues.

 As a TA for AEM 2800, I attended and assisted during weekly lectures and discussion sections, held weekly office hours, and graded first and final drafts of six essays students wrote over the course of the semester.

Overall quality of my TA’s teaching: 4.67/5

Selected student comments:

“Dana was really knowledgeable about the course and graded the papers in a way that was helpful but also pushed you to rethink and improve you writing”

“I appreciated the thorough feedback on my work, it was beneficial and prepared me for other classes I may encounter in the long run”

Teaching Coursework and Workshop Experience

I have completed ten hours of Writing TA training with the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines focused on assisting in writing classes, leading weekly discussion sections, helping students develop writing skills, giving constructive feedback, facilitating effective student learning, and grading consistently. These workshops involve leading practice classroom activities, grading samples, and role-playing various in class scenarios.

I took in Writing 7101: Writing in the Majors Seminar led by Dr. Elliot Hart Shapiro. Graduate teaching assistants appointed to Writing in the Majors courses enroll in Writing 7101, our seminar on writing and teaching in the disciplines. This course provides an interdisciplinary forum for the discussion of specific issues that arise in Writing in the Majors courses. It also explores more general dimensions of writing and teaching that are rarely objects of instruction in graduate programs or topics of organized discussion within departments. Writing 7101 begins by eliciting from the participants detailed concerns about writing and teaching, as a basis for further discussion. Later sessions pursue the following topics, among others:

• Strategies for responding to and evaluating student writing, both in drafts and in final versions
• Methods for generating lively, inclusive discussions
• Assignment design
• The writing process and the writing methods used by undergraduates, graduate students, and professional writers
• Analysis of professional writing across the disciplines, with attention to continuities and discontinuities
• Troubleshooting specific problems in the classroom

Through the Cornell Center for Teaching Innovation, I participated in their TA Teaching Institute in 2019. In the fall of 2020, I participated in the four-week course “Teaching and Learning in the Diverse Classroom.”  The focus of this course was to Be a part of Cornell’s campus-wide interdisciplinary conversation about creating and sustaining inclusive learning environments;

• Experience a framework for inclusive course design;
• Reflect on the implications of social identities—both students’ and instructors’—within the teaching and learning environment;
• Explore evidence-based pedagogical strategies proven to support student-centered learning;
• Explore strategies for facilitating discussion and modeling inclusivity when unexpected issues arise.

 

Teaching Awards and Recognition

2021 Dyson Graduate Teaching Assistant Outstanding Service Award