office hours – Active Learning in Political Science ©

January 9, 2026January 8, 2026

Office Hours: Year One (Part 3)

In mid-September we started a new series, “Office Hours: Year One”, where four first-year tenure-track professors from different institutions reflect on their experiences throughout the first year. See Part 1 here. We are back with Part 3, and the first semester is officially done done for our cohort. Hopefully, they and our dear readers used the winter break to recuperate and rest (ha!). In this post, we are checking in to see how things went in wrapping up the end of the fall semester, and what sort of priorities are guiding the group’s thinking as we look ahead to the spring semester.

Thank you again to Dr. Brooklyn Walker (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), Dr. Charmaine Willis (Old Dominion University), and Dr. Jennifer Ostojski (Indiana State University) for contributing and letting us get a glimpse at the first-year life.

September 12, 2025September 12, 2025

Office Hours: Year One (Part 1)

The First Few Weeks

With the fall semester slowly getting into full swing across the United States, we here at ALPS are starting a new column, titled “Office Hours: Year One“, that follows a group of first-year assistant professors in Political Science across the United States, as they set sail (or continue) on their journey through academia. The intention is to demonstrate the variety of experiences on the tenure-track and create a community of relatability.

I am excited to present the inaugural class of the first-year cohort: Dr. Polina Beliakova (American University – School of International Service), Dr. Jennifer Ostojski (Indiana State University), Dr. Brooklyn Walker (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), and Dr. Charmaine Willis (Old Dominion University).

As our assistant professors embark on their first year, they find themselves navigating a delicate balancing act: teaching, service, and research. These are the three pillars of academic life, each pulling in different directions. They are weighed differently across institutions, yet all are essential to success on the tenure track. Through this column, I’ll check in with our cohort as they reflect on their work, share their challenges, and explore how they manage the push and pull of competing demands.

December 15, 2023December 14, 2023

Course Planning for Spring 2024: A Mandatory Office Hour Visit

On a recent episode of Teaching in Higher Education, “The Ones Too Often Left Behind”, Todd Zakrajsek, PhD, author of many pedagogy books, spoke about his journey uncovering the many different obstacles and challenges students encounter in their learning that make succeeding in class – not because of lack of trying – harder than their peers.

Having taught at various types of higher education institutions, this resonated with me immensely. None of us are omniscient and all-powerful to anticipate all the things, and so when trying our hardest we still encounter each year plenty of unknown unknowns about our students, their lives, and their learning. Here is another attempt of mine to adjust my syllabus accordingly.

This past week, my campus had its finals week, including one review day on which I decided to offer an additional office hour session, providing my students one last opportunity to check in with me face-to-face regarding the final paper that was due at the end of this week. I had a steady flow of students coming and going. But I realized after that they were my steady “customers”, who had come in frequently throughout the semester. Approximating, I would say they account for maybe 20 – 25% of my students. Where have three quarters of mine students been this semester?