Teaching Sociology as a Way of Seeing the World

Dr. Stokes has taught in-person, online, hybrid, honors, independent-study, accelerated, writing-intensive, and research-intensive courses, with enrollments ranging from individualized instruction to courses enrolling more than 200 students.

He has also fully designed and prepared courses in Social Inequality, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Native Americans, Gender and Sexuality, Gender, Power, and Violence, Crime, Law and Justice, Criminological Theory, Policing and Law Enforcement, Punishment and Corrections, Victimology, Mass Incarceration, Race, Crime and Criminal Justice, Quantitative Methods, Qualitative Methods, Global Historical Sociology, and International Political Sociology.

Research gives students opportunities to move beyond learning about theory and methods abstractly to participating in the production of knowledge. Dr. Stokes has worked with students as research assistants and scholarly collaborators, helping them develop the skills to contribute meaningfully to research. At the University of Pittsburgh, for example, he recruited and directed a team of undergraduate research assistants on a project examining the relationship between Native American political recognition status and collective action. Through training in research activities such as conducting literature reviews, developing coding manuals, and collecting and interpreting data, students developed methodological competence and judgment in research design and analysis, gaining hands-on experience they could carry into more independent research. Students become active contributors to the research process rather than passive observers, gaining experience in the production of scientific knowledge.

Dr. Stokes views mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students as an integral part of his teaching. Stokes has mentored students of all backgrounds on the full spectrum of the undergraduate experience. This includes strategizing study habits and time management to helping students navigate obstacles, and graduate school applications. He has helped students develop more effective study practices, manage competing demands, address obstacles to completing academic work, and identify resources when additional support would be useful. This mentoring helps students turn broad ambitions into concrete next steps while developing greater confidence and independence in navigating academic life.

Dr. Stokes has also mentored graduate students as they develop their teaching practice. Through individual guidance and work with teaching-assistant teams, he has offered actionable feedback on instruction, student relations, and the responsibilities of teaching. His support has included helping graduate teaching assistants respond to student concerns and take on greater instructional responsibility as they prepare for academic careers. These experiences connect immediate teaching challenges with longer-term professional development, helping emerging educators build the judgment and practical skills needed to lead their own classrooms.

Dr. Stokes' contributions to teaching and academic development extend beyond his own classroom to the colleagues and academic communities with which he works. He has informally mentored a newer faculty member on teaching practices, responding to student concerns, and navigating the transition into faculty life. Their conversations addressed the practical decisions that shape classroom experience and the challenges of balancing instructional responsibilities with the broader demands of an academic position. The colleague subsequently obtained a tenure-track faculty position. By sharing practical knowledge, offering constructive feedback, and supporting colleagues' development as teachers and scholars, Dr. Stokes contributes to the collective expertise and instructional capacity of the departments in which he works.