Professor Michael Petri
Information Portal
About the Instructor
MICHAEL C. PETRI is a passionate advocate for deliberative democracy. Students and faculty alike react to his conversational teaching style, ability to illustrate complex concepts to students of all levels and ages, and use of the Socratic method in the classroom, with enthusiasm and interest. For his relentless dedication to the teaching profession and improvement of his department, he received an Academic Leadership Award from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California.
Mr. Petri’s participation in local politics has made him well versed in California government. While at California State University, Long Beach, he received degrees in the following programs: a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science emphasizing Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and International Relations; a Master of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis on Political Theory, American Government, and International Relations; and a Certificate in Peace Studies. After receiving his MA, he went on to obtain a Master in Public Administration, during which he focused on Information Technology Systems (ITS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This experience is put to practical use during his lectures and research on democratic models. At the behest of Patricia Flannigan, Dean of the Social & Behavioral Sciences Division at Saddleback College, he created online courses that meet UC and CSU articulation requirements. Working closely with deans and fellow colleagues, Mr. Petri’s expertise in the area of technology in the classroom, both traditional and on-line, is in high demand.
When it appeared that an “outbreak of peace” between Israel and the Palestinians in the early 1990’s was on the horizon, there was a glimmer of hope for amicable resolutions. As Samuel Huntington might say, a “third wave” of democratization was now possible among many Arab nations and former Soviet republics. It was at this time that Mr. Petri developed an interest in Middle Eastern Politics; less than a decade later, the tragedy of 9/11 forever melded his desire to understand. After hearing students express many concerns and questions about the tragedy, Mr. Petri immediately began developing a course on the history, culture and politics of the Middle East. Seeing that Cypress College could benefit from such a course, in 2006, he proposed to his department that the class be incorporated into the Political Science curriculum. After jumping through many hoops for many months, the course was approved in 2007 and was offered for the first time in Spring 2009.
Professor Petri collaborated with Betty Disney and Dan Johnson of Coastline Community College. They adopted his online Middle East course it is being offered in the online program and the Military Program. Also at Coastline, Mr. Petri worked on an interdiscplinary global citizen grant project that was incorporated into several departments' curriculum including History, Anthropology, and Philosophy. The project revolved around water as a global commodity and culminated into multi-media presentations, such as Mr. Petri's, "The Politics of Water."
Mr. Petri's teaching experience covers many fields in political science. At Cypress College in Cypress, California, he teaches Introduction to Political Theory and American Government, both in the honors program and general education classes. At Saddleback College, he teaches the aforementioned courses in addition to Comparative Politics, Gender and Politics, Middle Eastern Politics, and introductory classes in Political Science, Public Administration, and Honor’s Political Theory. Possessing an irrepressible fervor for academia, Mr. Petri continually seeks to study many varied subjects and democratic communities all over the world. Under the tutelage of Dr. Mary Caputi, he studied Political Theory and Gender and Politics. Subsequently, he appeared as a guest lecturer, speaking on “Empowerment of Women in Politics Based on European Models,” for former professor and leading scholar in Women’s Studies, Dr. Betty Brooks. These valuable experiences brought him to develop an unprecedented course devoted entirely to Gender and Politics at Cypress College in the fall of 2007.
Mr. Petri has written two books, Democracy & Action (2007) and The Middle East: History, Culture, & Politics (2008). Partnerships in collaborating have included his work as a research aide for Annual Editions: Comparative Politics (Dubuque: McGraw-Hill) his mentor, editor Dr. Christian Søe. Recent projects include working with Jeff Monday from Apple Computer’s iTunes University, whom he met through an inservice at Coastline. The result of this collaboration can be found under the downloads tab in this website and will be further improved for future student projects. Among other endeavors, in the coming years Mr. Petri is setting his sights on writing the second edition of Democracy and Action, and new textbooks in covering an Introduction to Political Science, Comparative Politics, and a hand-guide to California politics.
[ bye107onSaturday 13 December 2008 - 15:27:02 | Comments: Off ]
