Teaching Fellow Experience

PLSC 4225 Money in American Politics (Spring 2026) 

Instructor: Jacob Hacker

Responsibilities: Taught a unit on energy and AI politics, led a workshop on research design, and gave feedback on student projects at each stage of the research process.

This course offers students an opportunity to do hands-on research on the role of money in shaping American politics and policy at the national, state, and local levels. Students assimilate existing research and theories and identify opportunities for new research and theories, and then carry out this original work in a collaborative setting. Topics include campaign finance, the role of “dark money," lobbying, interest groups, the influence of employers, and the role of philanthropies and foundations.

PLSC 113 Introduction to American Politics (Spring 2025) 

Instructor: Christina Kinane

Responsibilities: Led two discussion sections, held office hours, graded exams, and advised students on their essays.

Introduction to American national government. The Constitution, American political culture, civil rights, Congress, the executive, political parties, public opinion, interest groups, the media, social movements, and the policy-making process.

S&DS 1720/PLSC 2509 YData: Data Science for Political Campaigns (Fall 2024) 

Instructor: Josh Kalla

Responsibilities: leading midterm and final review sessions, holding office hours for help with coding problem sets, grading midterm and final exams. 

Political campaigns have become increasingly data driven. Data science is used to inform where campaigns compete, which messages they use, how they deliver them, and among which voters. In this course, we explore how data science is being used to design winning campaigns. Students gain an understanding of what data is available to campaigns, how campaigns use this data to identify supporters, and the use of experiments in campaigns. This course provides students with an introduction to political campaigns, an introduction to data science tools necessary for studying politics, and opportunities to practice the data science skills presented in S&DS 123, YData.

Student Evaluations

PLSC 4225 (Spring 2026) does not normally carry a teaching fellow; I served in that role at the instructor's request, and because the course had no official TF section, Yale's evaluation system did not generate student evaluations for it. The following contain results from my evaluations in S&DS 1720 and PLSC 113; full evaluations are available upon request. 

Numerical Evaluations

PLSC 113, Spring 2025: Avg student review 4.8/5 (Dept. average: 4.4)

S&DS 1720, Fall 2024: Avg student review 4.4 /5 (Dept. average 4.1)

Student Testimonials

"Eric was very good at facilitating student learning. He is passionate and truly cares about his students. I looked forward to learning in section from him each week. He was super responsive to any conflicts I had with section and always made himself available for questions or extra help!"

"he was amazing. i learned so much in section"

"He was fantastic. Always responsive to email and led an easy-to-follow section with lots of room for questions and conversation"

"Loved him as a Teaching fellow. He was very good at explaining things in section and overall very helpful. Made me enjoy the course."

"Eric Scheuch is kind, approachable, and knowledgeable, which makes him an effective instructor. His ability to synthesize complex topics clearly and coherently helps students grasp difficult concepts more easily"

"Eric was fantastic, section was incredibly helpful with him helping us concisely sumarize the readings for the week and very willing to help through office hours"

"Eric was incredibly helpful in organizing the course material. I feel that I gained a lot from section, even more than lecture itself. I really appreciate the way he so effectively tied concepts together and pulled out main themes, helping us draw connections between readings"

"Super nice guy and extremely helpful."

"Eric was great. He was very responsive in answering emails and helpful in answering questions during class."

"Eric was very accessible to students and willing to explain concepts in detail. He was a great help while doing the labs and preparing for exams." 

"Eric was extremely helpful when I met with him in office hours, which was pretty regularly! I was very grateful to have had his help throughout."

"His review session was perhaps the most informative moment of our class. Super responsive, obviously very skilled!"

"Eric is GREAT! His office hours helped me make significant progress on my assignments, and I am glad that I got to know him over the course of the semester."

"Love him, he was so kind and actually supportive."

"Very patient and willing to spend extra time to help students"

"Eric was an amazing TF! I felt quite out of my depth during the middle of the semester since the labs were becoming difficult and I had no coding experience prior to this class, but Eric was always so helpful and would walk me through the code until I understood it. He was also very encouraging and supportive when I was struggling, which I really appreciated."

"Eric was awesome as a teaching fellow. His office hours, review session, and guidance during labs were really helpful -- he always did his best to give me detailed, insightful advice and I really appreciate his advice throughout the semester."