Job Market Material
Teaching Statement
The ultimate goal in my courses is to nest learning objectives and course content into my students’ broader education and their experiences. To accomplish my goal, I use two overarching pedagogical approaches. First, I meet my students where they are by accommodating their educational needs and abilities to help them grow their potential to learn. Second, I offer hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to students so that they can apply lessons in real and tangible ways. I give them multiple venues to develop their knowledge base and skills and through which they can articulate new insights. I have been refining these pedagogical approaches at Binghamton University since I arrived in 2018, serving as a teaching assistant, co-instructor, instructor of record, and Lecturer for a dozen courses over that time.
Teaching Statement
Research Statement
Two broad questions inspire my current research; these questions have prompted my dissertation, multiple publications, and ongoing lines of inquiry. First, I ask what motivates variation in court-curbing activity and judicial independence across the United States? And concomitantly, what is the effect of those activities? Second, how does the public influence extrajudicial behavior of judges (outside of their formal roles in court)? In studying these questions, my research focuses on the dynamic interplay between and among courts, policy-making institutions, and the public.
Research Statement
Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness/Student Surveys
See student survey results and feedback on courses I have taught.
Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
I foster an inclusive environment with the ultimate goal of empowering all in the class to reach their full potential. I believe in respecting the dignity of all people while celebrating the diversity that enriches our community. I approach my classes and research with sensitivity to the cultural and political diversity within the United States and around the world. Exposure to diverse perspectives in a constructive and supportive class setting benefits students who can interrogate their own thinking while better understanding and learning from the thinking of others. To do this, I create a classroom built on respect between and among the students, as well as myself as their instructor. I pursue my goal of establishing an inclusive classroom in how I (1) construct my syllabus,
Diversity Statement
Job Market Paper/Writing Sample
Michael Catalano. 2022. “Ex Ante and Ex Post Control over Courts in the US States: Court Curbing and Political Party Influence.” Justice System Journal 43(4): 503-523. doi.org/10.1080/0098261X.2022.2123287
Court curbing, proposed policy that attempts to “restrict, remove or otherwise limit” the power of the judiciary, occurs regularly and with considerable variation throughout the US states. I deviate from past studies, which consider court curbing as an ex post control mechanism, by focusing on ex ante controls of state courts – judicial selection rules and processes. I argue that levels of political party influence over judicial selection (before a judge is seated) alter the motivation to engage in court curbing after a judge is seated. I test this novel ex ante explanation with an original data set of court curbing and judicial selection from 2015 to 2018. Mixed results offer some support for my theory while opening new opportunities for study, particularly among partisan election systems.
Job Market Paper
The ultimate goal in my courses is to nest learning objectives and course content into my students’ broader education and their experiences. To accomplish my goal, I use two overarching pedagogical approaches. First, I meet my students where they are by accommodating their educational needs and abilities to help them grow their potential to learn. Second, I offer hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to students so that they can apply lessons in real and tangible ways. I give them multiple venues to develop their knowledge base and skills and through which they can articulate new insights. I have been refining these pedagogical approaches at Binghamton University since I arrived in 2018, serving as a teaching assistant, co-instructor, instructor of record, and Lecturer for a dozen courses over that time.
Teaching Statement
Research Statement
Two broad questions inspire my current research; these questions have prompted my dissertation, multiple publications, and ongoing lines of inquiry. First, I ask what motivates variation in court-curbing activity and judicial independence across the United States? And concomitantly, what is the effect of those activities? Second, how does the public influence extrajudicial behavior of judges (outside of their formal roles in court)? In studying these questions, my research focuses on the dynamic interplay between and among courts, policy-making institutions, and the public.
Research Statement
Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness/Student Surveys
See student survey results and feedback on courses I have taught.
Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
I foster an inclusive environment with the ultimate goal of empowering all in the class to reach their full potential. I believe in respecting the dignity of all people while celebrating the diversity that enriches our community. I approach my classes and research with sensitivity to the cultural and political diversity within the United States and around the world. Exposure to diverse perspectives in a constructive and supportive class setting benefits students who can interrogate their own thinking while better understanding and learning from the thinking of others. To do this, I create a classroom built on respect between and among the students, as well as myself as their instructor. I pursue my goal of establishing an inclusive classroom in how I (1) construct my syllabus,
Diversity Statement
Job Market Paper/Writing Sample
Michael Catalano. 2022. “Ex Ante and Ex Post Control over Courts in the US States: Court Curbing and Political Party Influence.” Justice System Journal 43(4): 503-523. doi.org/10.1080/0098261X.2022.2123287
Court curbing, proposed policy that attempts to “restrict, remove or otherwise limit” the power of the judiciary, occurs regularly and with considerable variation throughout the US states. I deviate from past studies, which consider court curbing as an ex post control mechanism, by focusing on ex ante controls of state courts – judicial selection rules and processes. I argue that levels of political party influence over judicial selection (before a judge is seated) alter the motivation to engage in court curbing after a judge is seated. I test this novel ex ante explanation with an original data set of court curbing and judicial selection from 2015 to 2018. Mixed results offer some support for my theory while opening new opportunities for study, particularly among partisan election systems.
Job Market Paper
