dynamics OF ORGANIZATIONal life (PA 5011)

I redesigned this core required course that is taken by most of our master’s students at the Humphrey School in order to prepare them for the dynamics of pursuing the work they are passionate about within organizational settings. It is based upon the premise that organizations are sites of power, innovation, and social change. They are also places reinforce systems of oppression, involve the complexity of human behavior, constrained resources, competing stakeholder demands, and pervasive change. The course is designed to prepare our graduates to be organizational leaders, empowering them with the courage to act under uncertainty in order to strengthen the effectiveness of their organizations.  Furthermore, it aims to provide both “the forest” and “the trees”, and practices thinking back and forth between the different levels so that when they approach a problem at one of these levels, they have an awareness of the complexity of the situation at alternative levels. The course introduces students to some of the major theoretical approaches to organizational analysis, including concepts from sociology, psychology, management, public administration, and political science.  Learning to use multiple perspectives is critical because each contributes an alternative understanding of how to develop and sustain effective organizations.

By the completion of this course, I expect that students will be able to: 

• Think critically about organizations, especially regarding ways in which they reflect and create power and privilege, the manner in which individuals’ needs and desires interact with, support, or challenge the needs of the organization, and how all of this is influenced by forces outside the boundary of organizations; 

• Given this complex understanding, be able to develop actionable recommendations to improve the effectiveness of organizations working for the public good in the context of multiple (and often contested) public purposes and conflicting stakeholder demands; and   

Syllabus Available Here —>

Understanding and Addressing Burnout (PA 5124)

We spend most of our waking hours for the majority of our adult lives at work. Not surprisingly, people are increasingly demanding work that is engaging and meaningful. Simultaneously, research demonstrates that when people find their work meaningful, they are more likely to undergo personal sacrifices and engage in practices that result in burnout. This seminar-style course helps students:

• Understand the phenomenon of burnout and why it is increasingly prevalent.

• Examine organizational and institutional strategies that both perpetuate and address burnout, underscoring the systemic nature of the phenomenon.

• Develop individual and community practices that facilitate your ability to thrive in a career that is personally meaningful and personally sustainable.

Embodied leadership (PA 5190)

This course examines embodiment as a critical dimension of leading with presence, authenticity, and resilience in public affairs. Drawing upon neuroscience, it explores the body as a resource for sensing, relating, and acting in political and professional contexts. It also engages trauma-informed somatics to understand embodiment as a socially-embedded experience shaped by personal history, cultural norms, and structural forces. Through scholarly research, Indigenous knowledge systems, self-awareness practices, and applied leadership labs, students strengthen their capacity to navigate complex, high-pressure environments by linking embodied awareness with the demands of policy action and social change.

transformative dialogue (PA 5920)

This course explores dialogue as a relational practice of listening to ourselves and others, emphasizing curiosity, grounding, and accountability as foundations for transformative change. Moving beyond transactional models of “effective” communication, the course examines how habits of dialogue are shaped by power, history, and institutional context. Students practice an iterative approach to dialogue: cultivating self-awareness, speaking vulnerable truths with dignity, listening with humble curiosity across difference, and practicing relational accountability when harm occurs. Through readings, applied exercises, and structured reflection, the classroom becomes a living laboratory for developing grounded, accountable, and transformative dialogic capacity.

Doctoral research Seminar on Management (PA 8106)

This course surveys major frameworks, topics, and questions in the study of public and nonprofit management, leadership, and governance; helps students apply this knowledge to their own work; and helps students learn how best to relay this knowledge to scholarly and practitioner audiences. By the completion of this course, we expect that students will:

● Be conversant in key frameworks, topics, and questions in the study of public and nonprofit management, leadership and governance. Have a significant depth of understanding on the concepts of closest relevance to your own proposed research areas, and have sufficient familiarity with the field to recognize and be able to pursue other key issues.

● Be able to contextualize their own interests and research within the field of public and nonprofit management, leadership, and governance. Learn to operate successfully in a scholarly community deeply involved with questions of practical significance.

● Engage effectively with academic literature, including being able to read key texts critically, identify and work with key concepts in the literature, perform an effective literature search, and skim productively. To accomplish these objectives, they will actively participate in class discussions.

● Be competent, constructive discussants of papers written by authorities in the field and their peers. They practice this through active participation in class dialogues and by providing feedback on others’ work.

● Be transitioning successfully into being a member of the academic community. This objective will be accomplished through building connections with peers, Humphrey School faculty, and other scholars through class discussions, and engagement with faculty and visiting scholars.

● Prepare and teach a module on a topic relevant to the course for a professional, masters-level student audience.

Syllabus Available Here —>

ORGANIZATIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT (PA 5151/PA 8151)

How can we make international aid organizations more responsive to the needs of both the staff that work for them and the beneficiaries they are attempting to serve, while maintaining the support of their funders and working within the existing regulatory apparatus? This course will examine the successes and challenges faced in these tremendously complex environments, focusing on empowering students with the courage to act under conditions of uncertainty in order to strengthen the organization’s ability to meet beneficiary needs. Taking an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, this course examines the efforts of multiple organizations within the international aid “industry”, with particular focus on private actors – including NGOs, corporations, and foundations. We cover some of the major theoretical approaches to organizational analysis, including concepts from sociology, political science, psychology, public administration, and management. Learning to use multiple perspectives is critical. By gaining insight across different theoretical perspectives, students will develop an understanding of how theories provide distinctive windows into understanding behavior in complex social settings. Throughout, you will come to see that organizations provide opportunities and constraints as well as power and privilege within particular contexts.

Syllabus Available Here —>

Professional development on facilitation and teaching

• Leah Manaema Avene’s oral discussion of “Fieldwork” (2025)

• Black Octopus Society’s “Embodied Somatic Abolitionism” (2025)

• Authentic Relating Training: Levels 1 & 2 (2025)

• Center for Courage and Renewal Foundations Program (2025)

• Barre Center’s Insight Dialogue “Awakening White Awareness” Course (2025)

• Constructive Dialogue Institute’s “Foundations in Facilitating Dialogue” (2024)

• University of Minnesota’s “Navigating Challenging Conversations” Workshop (2024)

• University of Michigan’s “Intergroup Dialogue” Training (2023)

• Blackbird Revolt’s “Racism Untaught” Workshop (2022)

• University of Minnesota’s “Anti-Racism Work: Dismantling your Practice” (2021)

• University of Minnesota’s “Teaching with Intention: Facilitating Challenging Classroom Conversations” (2018)

• Center for Faculty Development and Diversity’s “Effective Teaching” Webinar (2015)