Teaching

Dr. Mehdizadeh teaches a wide range of lower- and upper-division undergraduate courses as well as graduate courses on topics that include rhetoric and composition, Critical Diversity Studies, Critical Race Studies, travel literature, Shakespeare, and anti-racist and inclusive pedagogical practice.

Selected Course Titles

Freshman Composition

Traveling Writers

Students consider the genre of travel writing and the effects of encountering difference through a close study of critical theory, travel writing, and composing their own travel accounts as “explorers” in Los Angeles.

Versed in Difference: Diversity, Privilege, and the Academic Institution

Students learn to critically examine the structures and institutions that promote asymmetrical power relations as well as the responses of diverse groups to these inequalities.

Upper Division

When East Meets West

Students explore transnational encounter within literature, and unravel the complex responses travelers have when encountering an “other” in foreign lands.

Global Othellos

Students engage in a close study of William Shakespeare’s Othello, as well as adaptations and re-imaginings of the original play to understand the afterlives and futures of early formations of race, gender, and sexuality over time.

Graduate Courses

Diversity and Student-Centered Pedagogy

Students gain the opportunity to learn more about creating inclusive curriculum for college classrooms and to apply these lessons to real-life teaching situations.

Academic Professionalization Colloquium

Students gain tools to navigate the academic landscape and possible career opportunities for Ph.D. earners with practical course activities that focus on researching various career paths, building appropriate application materials, and developing strategies for a more empowering experience in career planning.