In my work, I endeavor to embrace the teacher-scholar model, actively blending research and learning into a single project that both advances social scientific inquiry and promotes student success. This has meant that the courses I have designed and taught at Johns Hopkins have been intertwined with my research agenda, focusing on globalization, conflict, and (comparative-historical and quantitative) methods.
Much of my work has purposefully fused research and undergraduate education. I have helped develop courses that incorporate students into collaborative projects, using ongoing research as a pedagogical tool for teaching methods and social theory.
My teaching experience at Johns Hopkins includes developing my own course, co-teaching a capstone seminar, re-designing syllabi for core curriculum courses, and acting as a teaching assistant. I have experience teaching courses for both Sociology and International Studies majors.
From 2018-2022, I also served as the co-coordinator of the Global Social Change and Development Program at Johns Hopkins University, a research-intensive undergraduate degree program that offers students double-majors in International Studies and Sociology. This work has involved curriculum development, program management, and academic advising for approximately 30 students each year.
I received a Dean’s Teaching Fellowship to design and teach an upper level seminar, “Sociology of the Military-Industrial Complex” in 2021.
My Courses
Sociology 326: Sociology of the Military-Industrial Complex (Instructor of Record)
Students will critically examine the military-industrial complex—and the social relations that constitute it—in the United States in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries by drawing on works from sociology, history, political science, geography, and economics. Over the course of the semester, we will interrogate how (and by whom) war is made. In 2020, over a third of the record-breaking Department of Defense budget was earmarked for the procurement of weapons and supplies from for-profit armaments firms. Billions more flow to private companies that provide services—from security and combat to cleaning and food preparation—to the military. Over 2 million people are directly employed by the U.S. military, and countless more by its myriad private contractors. This sprawling network of private corporations, armed services, political actors, and workers constitutes the military-industrial complex. By examining this network of actors that “make war,” students will explore the social, political, and economic dimensions of U.S. militarism and their changes over time.
Cross-listed with the International Studies Program.
Sociology 325: Global Social Change and Development Research Practicum (Co-Instructor)
This course will be run as a collective research project in the field of global and comparative-historical sociology, providing students with “hands on” research experience. Students will gain experience in all phases of a successful research project including specifying a research question and thesis statement, conducting a literature review, designing a research strategy, data collection and analysis, and writing up and presenting the final results.
The research topic for this course changes each semester. This semester we will focus on analyzing the complex nature of the current world hegemonic crisis/breakdown by comparing the present to analogous past periods of world hegemonic crisis/breakdown.
Cross-listed with the International Studies Program.
Re-Designed Core Methods Courses
Sociology 265: Research Tools for Global Sociology
This course will introduce students to a range of software programs that are critical for conducting social scientific research in the 21st century. Students will develop competency in the use of computer programs for statistical analysis, database management, the creation of maps and timelines, and the presentation of research reports. The course uses examples from ongoing social science faculty research projects at Johns Hopkins on global inequality, international development, and global social protest.
Cross-listed with the International Studies Program.
Corey R. Payne 