Keenan Marchesi, PhD

My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that individuals learn best when they are challenged, supported, and invited to see economics as a practical tool for understanding the world around them. As a first-generation college student, my path into academia was profoundly shaped by the mentorship and support I received from my undergraduate and graduate professors, who modeled this approach for me. Their example shaped my own commitment to building respectful, inclusive learning environments that encourage student curiosity and intellectual growth. Through my own work and these educational experiences, I understand the power in how teaching, advising, and research can work together to support students’ development, and I bring that to my classroom every day. While working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS), I used research collaborations to formally and informally mentor graduate students and newer staff, to put this practice into action. Since returning to the classroom, I have emphasized to students that by working together, with me and each other, they can achieve more than they could alone.

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I currently teach three sections of Principles of Microeconomics at Providence College, and I taught the comparable course at Clark University during graduate school. Across these courses, I integrate real-world examples from the news and my professional experiences with economic theory, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, analytical rigor, and clear communication. I have found that explaining the rationale behind assignments and connecting them explicitly to course goals helps students understand not only what they are learning, but why it matters. Student evaluations affirmed this approach, noting that well-organized lectures, practical problem sets, and in-class exercises made challenging economic concepts approachable and memorable. A recent classroom observation from a fellow faculty member had similar comments, noting how all parts of my class meetings, the slides, the examples, and the in-class activities, work together to give students a chance to succeed.

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My courses emphasize collaborative and experiential learning. At Clark, I co-instructed a senior-level food policy course with Professor Jacqueline Geoghegan, where students rated my overall effectiveness at 4.9 out of 5 on the departmental teaching assistant evaluation form, as only one primary instructor form was completed. The course included upper-level students in business, economics, and geography, which allowed me to draw on their interdisciplinary strengths. Therefore, I developed a capstone project in which students collaborated to develop a hypothesis, review relevant literature, clean and manage geospatial and economic data, analyze the data, and present their findings in both a university-wide poster conference and an in-class, business-style presentation. This teaches students how to defend their research and present their findings to different audiences. By providing a clear framework and allowing students to shape their own research questions, I helped them experience research as both rigorous and relevant to their communities. As a result of this work, I was invited by the Associate Provost to participate in a faculty focus group on project-based learning in capstone projects, where my assignment design and evaluation approach were recognized as on par with those of well-established faculty.

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Creating a supportive and respectful classroom is central to my teaching. At the beginning of each semester, I learn every student’s name within the first three weeks and collect information about how they prefer to learn so I can build a course that supports them effectively. I also encourage students to attend office hours not only to discuss course material and academic performance, but also to discuss their broader university experience and future. These practices help establish trust and make students more willing to engage with course material, participate in class discussions, and seek help should they need it. Already this semester, I have worked with multiple students in office hours on issues related to time management, study techniques and public speaking. Specifically, I have been working to improve public speaking with a quiet student in a low-stakes manner, to better prepare her for future courses. I also maintain an open dialogue with students throughout the semester and seek to improve the course as it is underway. Mid-semester, I conduct an anonymous survey to assess students’ progress and gather feedback on lecture pace, in-class activities, and course structure. At the end of the semester, I ask students to reflect on their learning experience and offer advice for future students. This feedback has both validated my approach and provided me with pathways to improvement. Students have reported that the structured framework and support I provided helped them develop stronger study habits, time-management skills, and confidence in approaching economic analysis.

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My professional experience outside the classroom shapes how I prepare students for what follows graduation. At ERS I mentored students and early-career researchers both formally through internship programs, including the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities program, and informally through collaborative research projects with newer researchers, giving feedback on research design, professional development and career planning. In industry, I was the only economist at my company, where I drew upon my classroom experience to host webinars with more than 600 attendees. Attendees commended my ability to manage discussions and break down complex concepts, allowing them to bring key insights back to their businesses. This role also provided me with the opportunity to support the type of client work many entry-level analysts start their careers working on. Together these experiences allow me to help students understand the professional contexts in which they will encounter economics, to train them to use publicly available government data for applied questions and translate the value of an economics education into an economics toolkit that they can use after graduation.

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Each stage of my career has strengthened my commitment to returning to academia. My years at a federal statistical agency sharpened my skills as a researcher and deepened my commitment to public service. My work in industry showed me the practical challenges students will face after graduation, including the evolving role of AI and the importance of data-driven decision-making. My current teaching and past mentoring through internships and research collaborations have clarified what I value most: helping students develop confidence, curiosity, and professional direction.