My approach to teaching is to blend my enthusiasm for the material with a diverse array of teaching techniques. I mix traditional lectures with facilitated discussions, group projects, and student presentations to actively engage all students in the learning process. This mixture of approaches requires careful planning and good course organization. I have found that detailed course outlines, lecture notes, and interactive web sites are important to support the lectures and laboratory exercises. My lectures build on these course materials by drawing on examples from the primary research literature and on my own research experience. I hope that my courses in ecology and statistics can foster life-long critical thinking even in students who do not pursue careers in these disciplines.

This approach has been successful in stimulating student interest and maintaining a high level of motivated participation. In my ten years at San Diego State, my student evaluations have been consistently above departmental averages. In fact, since coming to SDSU in 1997, 80% of my students (over 1100 undergraduate students and 240 graduate students) rated my teaching as outstanding (Q8: on evaluation "give your overall rating of this instructor, using all criteria which seem appropriate").

Courses Taught (2003-2006):