*The "2004 Guide to Texas Colleges and Universities" listed my 'Introduction to Sociology' class in the "Best Class" category for the University of Texas, Brownsville campus.

*The Brownsville Herald recently (November 8, 2004) published an article entitled, "Sociology With A Smile: Magazine Selects Reid’s Course As Best On Campus."

*The Northern Mexico newspaper, 'El Nuevo Heraldo' also published an article ("Seleccionan curso como el mejor en UTB") featuring my Introduction to Sociology course.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy and Pedagogy

I continually aspire to facilitate the process by which college level students learn to interpret social life from diverse sociological perspectives and paradigmatic orientations. My classroom lectures are thus devised to promulgate the sociological imagination, critical/logical thinking processes, and the ability to sociologically analyze a gamut of micro and macro level social phenomenon.

I have instructed and advised college level students of varied cultural, socioeconomic, and demographic backgrounds. For a period of two years, I taught college level sociology and criminology courses at Trumbull Correctional Institution, a max/medium security prison located in Levittsburg, Ohio. I have also served on the faculty of Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona and, for a period of four years, instructed active duty Airforce personnel stationed at Davis-Monthan Airforce base. Such eclectic teaching experiences have proved extremely challenging and they continue to augment my pedagogy here at the university. In an effort to derive pedagogical effectiveness in our culturally distinct locality, I utilize varied instructional mediums which have been especially beneficial to students embracing disparate learning comprehension idiomatics.

My lecture style embodies what has been termed an ‘interactive discussion' format. This style aims to ameliorate student interaction and participation. To expedite this process, I labor to formulate an effectual genre of ‘real world' illustrations that are thematically pertinent to the university's bilingual socio-cultural context. Persistent sociological analysis of localized happenings aid illustration and clarification of fundamental sociological concepts. As a result, sociological discourse becomes readily intelligible, familiar, and pragmatic to the student's everyday life experiences.

I feel that a competent college professor has a style of presentation that is thematically and substantively accurate yet readily understandable at the student's level of apprehension. I continually attempt to achieve these while, at the same time, implementing thematically appropriate wit and humor. I find that humor tends to make students feel more comfortable in the classroom and excited about the lecture materials. I plan to continue to devote substantial emotional energy to my lectures in the hope that the students become more interested and impassioned about the subject matter.

Fortunately, my aspirations have been officially acknowledged. Exemplary are several university scholarship and teaching awards that I've acquired including, "The Graduate Student Teaching Award", "The Graduate Student Senate Thesis Convocation for Superior Scholarship", "The Honors Day Citation for Superior Scholarship", and "The Elaine Mae Schock Honorarium for the Most Outstanding Graduate Student in Sociology." Also, I was recently nominated for the 2000/2001 "Aspire Faculty Appreciation Award."

I embrace a sustained attraction to teaching a wide range of sociological courses that focus on sociologically-based social psychological problematics. I aspire to develop such courses because they accentuate the relationship between the individual social person and the larger social structure and society. As articulated below, I retain a substantive interest in the links between sociological paradigms, theory, and research methodologies.

As a sociologically oriented criminologist and social psychologist, my research examines structurally-based micro level reality construction processes and subsequent intersubjectivity at the level of meaning. Conciliatory with philosophical suppositions regarding the ontological nature and constitution of social reality, I am located in what has been termed the 'interpretive paradigm.' The paradigm proposes that meaning (‘reality') is not inherent to objects/situations but rather, is socially generated, modified, and sustained. Correspondingly, my teaching incorporates analyses of the intersubjective meaning persons embrace consequent to social structure positioning (e.g., roles) as well as the identification what I (forthcoming) term ‘life- world archetypes.'

Through the development and implementation of imaginative instructional resourcefulness, I continually aspire to bridge teaching with my scholarly and collegial activities. In the years to come, I hope to remain concerned with, aware of, and responsive to student needs, desires, and life experiences. I also plan to continue to develop as an innovative teacher and active scholar, gain familiarity with emerging educational issues, and publish work requisite to the continuation of the field of sociology.

Paradigmatic Orientation and Research Interests