I want my students to achieve their dreams— but nearly 50 percent of students who enroll in community college drop out. Income inequality is a factor: students who must also work 40 hours a week face an enormous obstacle– there aren't enough hours left in a day to put adequate effort into homework. Their grades suffer, and they get discouraged. They give up.

Students also get discouraged when they find they lack the math and language skills required for college-level work. High school was easy, so they get upset and angry when their grades decline; some believe their professors are unfair. They don't want college to be so hard.

Many students regard first-year classes as something “to get out of the way.” In truth, these classes provide skills and knowledge that will prove essential to their later success. When community colleges and professors lower their standards, they undermine their students in the long run. When these students transfer to more demanding upper division classes, they often founder.

I don’t want that to happen to anyone in my classes. I will not give my students easy assignments so they can pass now and fail later. Instead, I hold them to standards that will ensure their later success. Effective, persuasive writing does not magically occur from learning how to use an apostrophe. Strong writing emerges from strong thinking.

My goal is to empower students: I help them learn to express themselves with a voice that will be heard. My students include African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, the LGBTQ-identified, refugees, vets, and single moms. They must learn to think critically about the social and political issues that affect their lives. I teach them to recognize the rhetoric and the strategies used to manipulate them and divide Americans into warring factions. Whether they are liberal or conservative, I challenge students to support their views with reason and truth. Although differences are unavoidable, I teach that we can bridge the gap between ourselves and our opponents through shared values, bringing us one step closer to understanding and acceptance, compromise and compassion.

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I'm also interested in unconscious juror bias, a flaw that undermines our legal system and results in the unjust incarceration of minorities. Research shows that people are not nearly as good at being "fair and objective" as they think they are. An impartial jury is essential to a fair trial and achieving the American ideal of equal justice for all.