students – Active Learning in Political Science ©

May 19, 2026May 19, 2026

Midwest Model EU 2026: A student’s perspective

As the semester winds down, I want to share a professional highlight from this past spring: I advised and accompanied Indiana State University’s first Model EU team to the Midwestern Model EU simulation at IU Bloomington, Indiana. I pitched it the team as part of my interview over a year ago, and I am appreciative of the administration, the department, and – most importantly – my students who supported and joined this adventure. All students were “recruited” from a concurrent Politics of the EU class I taught in Spring 2026, and I believe – biased as I am – that they did a fantastic job in terms of preparation and professional conduct at the event. Model EU is definitely a high-impact practice that requires students to think on their feet and immerse themselves in an environment that is largely unfamiliar to them (especially those who do it for the first time). In terms of experiential learning, this was certainly one of the most intense experiences I have administered for a student group so far. In true pedagogical fashion, I debriefed with the team in the aftermath (with apple pie), and I am excited to improve and build a new team for next year’s iteration.

Image: Indiana State University’s first model EU team, representing Slovakia, at MMEU 2026 (Credit: JO)

Below I am sharing something perhaps different for ALPS: One of my students, Princes Habal (sophomore, Political Science) reflected on her experience, being part of her team. She shares in the post below challenges and success she experienced in participating.

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.

February 9, 2024February 9, 2024

Student: “Please guide me to all of knowledge”

In a recent post, I spoke about my intention this semester to mandate an office hour visit from all of my students. We are now in Week 3 of the semester, and I am pleased to say that students are fulfilling this requirement already – and even coming back for more conversations. However, a recurring theme is emerging, which I thought I’d seek input for amongst this community. My students are anxious that they don’t know enough. And they want to point me to the magical Google Doc folder we all share as professors, where we store all necessary knowledge about the world and life.