"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." –Socrates
“Everything you know, and everything everyone knows, is only a model. Get your model out there where it can be viewed. Invite others to challenge your assumptions and add their own." – Donella H. Meadows
Teaching Responsibilities
My current teaching appointment resides in the Department of Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Environmental Science at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). My primary teaching duties include co-managing the undergraduate Agribusiness program, leading the undergraduate Ranch Management specialization, and teaching specialized graduate courses in collaboration with the King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management and the interdisciplinary Environmental Systems Management program. My personal teaching style is to allow students to self-direct their own learning (to the extent the course content allows), providing them with a road-map of the course and feedback along to the way to help them achieve their goals for the class. This applies whether the course is face-to-face, hybrid, or online.
In addition to traditional university classes, I teach a variety of systems thinking and system dynamics modeling workshops locally and nationally for both scientific and professional audiences.
For a description of my vision for teaching, feel free to take a look at my Teaching Philosophy Statement.
Teaching Awards
TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Innovator of the Year Award for Teaching (2017)
Courses Taught
Undergraduate:
Principles of Agribusiness Management
Introduction to Agricultural Economics
Farm and Ranch Business Management
Agricultural and Food Policy
Environmental Economics
Water Resource Management
Rangeland Resource Economics
Strategic Agribusiness Management
Introduction to Systems Thinking for Agriculture
Decision Support Tools for Agriculture
Graduate:
Systems Approach to Natural Resource Problem-Solving
Agricultural and Ecological Modeling
Environmental Economics & Sustainable Development
Outreach / Extension Education
Systems Thinking Workshops or Lectureships:
King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management (annually)
Southwest Veterinary Symposium (2021)
University of Missouri, School of Veterinary Medicine (2019)
Iowa State University, Iowa Learning Farms (2019)
System Dynamics Modeling Workshops:
American Society of Animal Science, National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) (2019, 2022)
Modelling Nutrient Digestion and Utilization in Farm Animals International Workshop (2022)
Argentina Agricultural Economics Association (2021)
Teaching Certifications
TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Certification in Distance Education
TAMUK's Distance Education and Instructional Technology's Panopto Video and Lightboard Lecture Capture Certification