Courses
Classical Social Theory engages students with century-old ways of thinking about communities, power, and justice.
An undergraduate Law and Society and a graduate Sociology of Law course introduce students to how law matters to everyday life and pressing social-justice issues in law
In a seminar on Urban Inequality, students learn about the causes and consequences of residential segregation, about the sociology of life and work in the city, and about gentrification and development. They produce independent research about an urban place
In an Advanced Topics in Law and Society seminar, undergraduate students support one another in completing original research on the criminalization of immigration , and producing an academic paper and a publicly-oriented podcast to share their findings.
Innovations
Debbie has been partnering with Daisy Rooks, Professor of Sociology at the University of Montana to devise a new method of teaching intercultural competence. The project, called Connecting Classrooms, links courses in the same discipline at different US colleges and engages students in collaborative work.
Debbie is developing new opportunities at Barnard for community-engaged pedagogy. She is planning a pilot course entitled Community Organizing in the Southwest, in which Barnard students will visit with and learn from grassroots efforts to achieve social and environmental justice in southern Arizona. Debbie was awarded a grant from Barnard’s Global Innovation Fund to assist with planning for this class in 2020.
She is actively involved as a member of learning communities about teaching at Barnard, particularly with respect to issues of inclusion and pedagogies for empowerment. Debbie is supporting Barnard’s most recent and expansive effort, its new Center for Engaged Pedagogy, by serving on the search committee for its Executive Director and advising about new programs.