Courses
Classical Social Theory engages students with century-old ways of thinking about communities, power, and justice.
An undergraduate Law and Society and a graduate Sociology of Law course introduce students to how law matters to everyday life and pressing social-justice issues in law
In seminars on Urban Inequality and Housing Equity, students learn about the causes and consequences of residential segregation, about the sociology of life and work in the city, and about gentrification and development. They produce independent research about an urban place
In an Advanced Topics in Law and Society seminar, undergraduate students support one another in completing original research on the criminalization of immigration , and producing an academic paper and a publicly-oriented podcast to share their findings.
Innovations
In partnership with Make the Road New York(MRNY), Debbie has developed a course called Social Justice: Connecting Academics and Action, in which students collaborate with each other and with MRNY to produce research about community organizing in practice. The course was initially supported by a Mellon Foundation grant for the Barnard-Engages New York program and innovated forms of university-community partnerships as well as ways to support student agency and collaboration in college learning.
She is actively involved as a member of learning communities about teaching at Barnard, particularly with respect to issues of inclusion and pedagogies for empowerment. Debbie is supporting Barnard’s most recent and expansive effort, its new Center for Engaged Pedagogy, by serving on the search committee for its Executive Director and advising about new programs.