COURSES I TEACH

Intermediate Level
Sexual Identities: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Identities and Development (HDFS 167)

Upper Level Seminars
Close Relationships: Friends and Lovers (HDFS 268)
Committing to Caring: Intellectual and Ethical Development in Adulthood (HDFS 266)
Contemporary Issues in Parenting: Who's Fit to Be a Parent? (HDFS 264)
Advanced Seminar in Sexual Identities (HDFS 267)

Additional Teaching Interests & Experiences
Academic Service-Learning
Adult Development
Aging and Ageism
Family Relationships Across the Lifespan
Gender(ed) Development: Social Construction of Gender
Preventing Heterosexism and Homophobia
Psychologies of Women
Social Construction of Race, Sex, Gender, Class and Ability
Social Development
Understanding Development in Contexts of Privilege and Oppression
Women's and Girls' Development

ADDITIONAL COURSE INFORMATION (See Current Course Schedules and UVM Handbook for specific course offerings and prerequisites each semester.)
 

HDFS 1: Introduction to Human Development & Family Studies and Academic Service-Learning

Back to Top

*For HDFS Majors Only
*Fall Semester Only
HDFS 1 (3 credits) introduces Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) majors to the HDFS discipline.  Particular attention is paid to introducing students to: (1) college and college skills associated with professional success and informed citizenship, including self-reflection; critical thinking, writing, and reading; and scholarly analysis of arguments, evidence, and conclusions; (2) current theoretical, research, and policy issues in the HDFS discipline; settings that promote and/or challenge human development; and the scientific approach to the study of HDFS; (3) the HDFS community of students, faculty, and staff; and (4) service-learning and practice in HDFS.  As part of this course, students serve and learn in a social service setting and reflect on their service-learning experiences through various writing assignments, class discussions, and other activities.
 

HDFS 167: Sexual Identities

Back to Top

*Typically offered Fall Semester, Annually
The purpose of this introductory course is to explore the development of diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities, families, and communities, and to examine their current personal, social, and cultural meanings.  We will consider several contexts that shape individual and group LGBT development, including the extent, form, and timing of identification as LGBT; other individual developmental factors; gender and transgender identity; racial and ethnic identity; socioeconomic class; age; ability; family context; and cultural context.  Particular attention will be paid to examining the roots, forms, functions, and effects of heterosexism, a form of oppression that targets LGBT people and that assigns rights and privileges to heterosexuals that are denied to LGBT people.

To foster these explorations, we will draw upon several sources, including theoretical readings, research, individual stories and perspectives, and students' own personal knowledge and experience.  We will also rely upon a variety of learning activities, including in-class activities, small and large group discussions, guest speakers and films, lectures, and outside class assignments.  Students will be encouraged to examine their own and diverse others' assumptions about and attitudes towards LGBT and heterosexual identities.  Class size will be limited to allow for fuller student participation and an interactive learning community.
 

HDFS 264: Contemporary Issues in Parenting: Who's Fit to Be a Parent?

Back to Top

*Typically offered once every two years.
Who's fit to be a parent?  This question, and the job of parenting itself, has increasingly garnered the critical attention of social service professionals, legal professionals, the media, politicians, governments, conservatives and liberals, and parents and non-parents alike, especially as we are confronted with serious concerns about healthy child development and "family values."  Yet what is good parenting?  What does it mean to be a good parent in the late 20th century United States?  What kind of parenting will best meet the needs of our children and our society?  And what are the needs of children and society?

There have always been differences in expectations and values for children and child development, and various ways that parents have perceived and carried out the parental role.   Yet the current spotlight on parenting seems to cast a more critical light on parents, questioning not only particular parental practices but also parental fitness--that is, who is fit to be a parent.  Are there certain individuals who cannot be good parents, either by virtue of their personal characteristics or identities, or the contexts within which they are parenting?  Should some individuals in certain contexts be denied the right to parent?  Should others be explicitly supported and encouraged to parent?  These are the types of questions we will explore in this course, as we consider as well what makes a good parent for particular children at particular developmental phases and in particular family and cultural contexts.  We will draw upon available empirical evidence, developmental theories, and socio-political perspectives that address parental fitness, along with students' personal experiences, to explore these questions.  In so doing, we will work together towards constructing an understanding of the relevant issues, assumptions, values, empirical research, contextual factors, and developmental theories to consider when defining good parenting and parental fitness.
 

HDFS 266: Committing to Caring: Intellectual and Ethical Development in Adulthood

Back to Top

*Typically offered once every two years.
What does it take to be committed to caring—of and for our families, our friends, our diverse communities, our multicultural society, our world?  This course involves an in-depth study of adult intellectual and ethical development, and the impact of these aspects of development on our ways of thinking about (and taking) personal and social responsibility in various relationships and situations.  Emphasis is placed on examining selected models of intellectual and ethical development, and their implications for education, caring communities and multicultural understandings.  Factors (e.g., the college experience, interpersonal relationships, cultural expectations, personal and cultural experiences, and institutional and informal training) that may contribute to intellectual and ethical development, and to personal and social responsibility, are also examined, as are students' own ways of knowing and caring.
 

HDFS 267: Advanced Seminar in Sexual Identities

Back to Top

*Typically offered once every two years.
*Academic Service-Learning Course
This advanced seminar course in Sexual Identities offers students the opportunity for intensive study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender identities, families, and communities in diverse individual, social, political, and cultural contexts.  Particular attention is paid to identifying and examining some of the diversity within LGBT communities, including current areas of consensus and discord.  Also emphasized is the context of heterosexism and current knowledge regarding ways to reduce and prevent this form of oppression.

As part of these efforts, students will engage in an academic service-learning experience in which they work directly with an LGBT-focused organization or heterosexism prevention effort.  Through critical engagement in service-learning, critical reflections upon service-learning experiences, and course readings and in-class activities, students will further their understanding of current LGBT issues and efforts to support LGBT lives, at the same time as they engage directly in these efforts.
 

HDFS 268: Seminar in Close Relationships: Friends and Lovers

Back to Top

*Typically offered once every two years.
The focus of this advanced seminar in close relationships is on two types of close relationships in adulthood— lover/partner relationships and friendships.  We explore the formation, maintenance, and dissolution of each of these relationship types, as well as various conceptions of and experiences in these relationships and the roles they play in adults' lives.  As we do this, we examine and evaluate diverse personal, interpersonal, and socio-cultural contexts that influence current understandings of, ideals for, and experiences in close relationships in contemporary U. S. society, with concentrated focus on the context of gender.  We also draw upon a diversity of resources, including theory, research, cultural analyses, popular writings, fiction, autobiographical accounts, and students' own personal experiences, to aid in our in-depth and critical examination of close lover/partner relationships and friendships in adulthood.
 

HDFS 291: Special Problems & HDFS 296: Field Experience

Working one-on-one or in small groups with students, I also supervise students' independent work in the field, as they explore personally-identified social problems, developmental needs, human service agencies, professional interests, and their own development.

last revised on July 30, 2002