University of Texas at Austin:

Distinguished Senior Lecturer

I’m the author of Economics in the Movies (2005), Essentials of Economics (2015), and Principles of Economics (2020), and an award-winning instructor. I’ve been featured in the "Great Teachers in Economics" series and I was the inaugural winner of the Economic Communicator Contest.

At Penn State, I received the George W. Atherton Award, the university’s highest teaching award, and was voted the best overall teacher in the Smeal College of Business by the readers of Critique Magazine.

When I taught at the University of Arizona, I received the best large class lecture award in the Eller College of Management and the University’s Koffler Teaching Prize, a quadrennial award for his contributions in economic education.

More about my teaching philosophy

When everything goes right, the classroom is magical place where faculty and students come together to gain a common understanding of the way things work. Teaching large classes (and being in a large class) can be thrilling.

Large classes are a lot like sporting events and concerts. If you’ve felt the roar of 100,000 fans at a stadium or laughed in unison with 400 moviegoers at a funny line you know what I mean.

But just because I teach large classes at University of Arizona does not mean that I am a large class instructor. Classrooms work best then you think about how to manage the course like a small class instructor.

I remember what it is like to be a student. I lay out a series of expectations in the syllabus for my courses that are student-centered. The expectations include my policy on attendance, homework, answering questions, how to reach me, the posting of exam scores, and student conduct. It is important that students understand that you are their advocate, and that you are there to help them to learn the material.