I'm teaching Astronomy 101, UNC's introductory course on planets and the Solar System. With an expected enrollment of 300, this will be an adventure for everyone involved!

I have co-taught the introductory course on planetary astronomy twice at Cornell and a course called Elements of Astrophysics once. Typical enrollments for the intro course are 250, which was a lot of fun (and a wee bit of work, too!). The astrophysics course was calculus-based and covered stars and galaxies, and I really enjoyed digging into material I hadn't thought enough about in recent years.

I taught the introductory course on the Solar System for two semesters at Ithaca College while continuing my research at Cornell. The Physics Department at IC had just completed an experimental classroom to facilitate group learning activities. The room had no front or stage, and the students sat facing each other at round tables, which helped me to diverge some from the traditional lecture format. It was a great experience.

I taught general physics each of my three semesters at Virginia Tech. This included both (1) calculus-based physics for freshmen in engineering and science and (2) physics without calculus for students in biological disciplines. Each semester, I was responsible for 2 or 3 sections, ranging in size from 80 to 120 students each. My favorite part of the course? Motivating students to tackle a challenging subject. Despite the sheer number of students I had each semester, I was able to give one-on-one attention to the students who needed it (including a few who didn't realize that they weren't going to stay anonymous in my classes).

The Division of Physics hosted me in Armidale three times, starting each time in July. As the only astronomer at UNE (and a visiting one at that), I was asked to teach their astronomy course, help them reorganize and update it, and improve the laboratory exercises for the students.

The summer before I completed my Ph.D., Montana needed someone to teach their concurrent summer courses on planetary and stellar astronomy. Lecturing 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, didn't lead to a lot of progress on my dissertation that summer, but I really enjoyed the experience. Most memorable was the open house we held during the partial solar 1991 eclipse. One of the department engineers linked a heliostat on the roof with a closed-circuit large-format television monitor in the lecture hall, and several hundred people came by to view it! I was very impressed with the interest in astronomy among the citizens of Missoula, and that was the first time I made the evening news.

After my first year of graduate school, I volunteered (begged really) to teach the introductory astronomy course offered during the summer school. This was such a good experience, I volunteered again the next summer I was available.

While in grad school, I also served as a teaching assistant for virtually every course the department offered (but then, who hasn't?).