Abe and I first worked together when he was a teaching assistant for a large introductory course I taught at UC Santa Cruz. A year later he enrolled in the pedagogy course for graduate students, for which I was the co-instructor. I was also assigned to perform an observation of Abe's teaching in a section meeting with students, so I got a chance to provide feedback to support his growth as a teacher. I enjoyed my time observing him in the classroom, as he did a great job of not straying too far from the difficult texts while also finding ways to make the material accessible to students. His calm, thoughtful approach brought a great feel to the classroom.
What Abe says about himself:
Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, I have also lived in Chicago, Texas, Oxford, and currently resides in the Bay Area of California. I am a founding member of a housing co-op in Santa Cruz, an amateur video game developer, and a gardener.
I am currently a PhD student at UC Santa Cruz, where my specialization is Kantian ethics. My research focuses on questions concerning pseudoscience--the anti-vaccination movement, HIV denialism, and climate change denialism, for example--and the extent to which skepticism towards modern scientific consensus can or cannot be ethically justified.
After grad school, I hope to land a job at a small liberal arts college or community college, with the goal of developing a teaching-oriented career.
What Abe says about working with Amena:
Working with Amena was really great. Her lectures are accessible to the students, without sacrificing the amount of depth that is normally lost in intro level philosophy classes. Furthermore, they aren't boring, a problem that sometimes arises for students with little to no familiarity with philosophy.
The course was also well-organized, which made what could have been a heavy workload much more manageable. The assignments were also much better suited to philosophy than more standard assignments--the discussion and writing they required helped my students learn to apply the material rather than to simply regurgitate arguments they don't understand. Ultimately, Amena can demand more of her students because the assignments are clear and the material is presented in a compelling, and applicable-to-real-life, manner.