Brendan Connell is a fifth year PhD student studying Political Science. His research focuses on international political economy (IPE) with an emphasis on the politics of international finance. Brendan was recently awarded a Teaching Excellence Award based on his teaching philosophy and dedication to his students. We asked Brendan a few questions to learn more about him as a teacher and get to know him better. Read more below!
What is your favorite part about teaching?
I love seeing students grow intellectually and find their own passion within a subject area. I see it during the course of every semester through the assignments and in-class discussions. Occasionally too, I will get emails from former students saying something along the lines of "You helped me discover my interest in so and so" and "Your class gave me the ability and confidence to apply to this job or internship." Emails like these make my week. Even playing just a small part in helping CU students develop is incredibly rewarding and makes me feel lucky to have picked this career path. I don't think most people get that sense of fulfillment in their job.
Please tell us a little bit about your pedagogical philosophy.
To get students engaged, you have to find a way to make class fun and relate the material to students' everyday lives. As an instructor, if you're not up there having fun and showing why your subject area matters, students are not going to either. In this sense, I believe it's not just the material you teach that is important, but how you deliver it. I begin most lectures with puzzling empirical trends while also integrating current events into almost every topic that I teach. I also come prepared to class everyday with silly analogies that make even the most complex topics fun and easy to understand. Ideally, I want to have students forget that they are even learning.
Is there a particular story from the classroom you would like to share?
I can be pretty emphatic at times when I teach. So a few years ago, I jumped onto a table during the last recitation of the semester. Long story short, I guess word got out and last semester there was a friendly class bet (that I was unaware of) on which day I would be jumping onto furniture again. While I don't condone gambling, it was nice to have some added incentive for students to come to class.
Tell us a fun fact about you that is not related to your teaching and research.
I'm a pretty avid brewer of beer. I try to brew a new beer once a month (though sometimes work gets in the way).
What is a good book you have read recently and why did you enjoy it?
I'm currently reading Stephanie Kelton's The Deficit Myth. It's a book that debunks much of the hysteria surrounding the US federal budget deficit and flips mainstream macroeconomic theory on its head. I love reading works that push against conventional wisdom since they force you to rethink what you thought you already knew.