While it is hardly revolutionary to suggest that good teaching and good scholarship go hand in hand, my own work in both areas has led to my belief that an interdisciplinary research agenda provides unique and indispensable training for teaching better sociology. To the extent that I have drawn upon significant contributions from Communications, Geography, Public Health, and other fields in my own research on press coverage of tobacco, my teaching has only become better as I have encouraged the same connection-making in my students. Regardless of the type of student, every sociology course should use whatever tools are available to challenge students to take a critical approach to their everyday surroundings (both within and out of school), to integrate a sociological imagination with their study of other fields, and to communicate their thoughts effectively.

The ability to look beyond the confines of the discipline to understand how sociology is complemented and contradicted - both within and outside academia - ought be practiced by sociology students and professors alike. My own research provides an excellent inroad to achieving these goals. One of the great benefits of being a media scholar is the ability to bring a well-informed, critical perspective to media coverage of any topic - and so encourage students to do the same. To that end, I routinely bring related news articles to class so we can assess them in the context of our scholarly readings. I have also included excerpts from popular press articles in exams and asked students to provide a sociologically-minded response. Emphasizing a critical consideration of the media resounds with every student, from non-degree seekers to senior Sociology majors.

My reading list also actively incorporates both readings from both non-scholarly works and other disciplines. One example of a paper assignment that I developed was for a Juvenile Delinquency course, in which I asked students to choose a contemporary novel and to analyze how the novel constructed notions of "juvenile" and "delinquency", and finally to imagine the real consequences that these constructions have on how the United States treats young offenders. This assignment met the three goals of critically assessing a social artifact, demonstrating both academic and practical understanding of sociological concepts, and practicing how to communicate these thoughts effectively.

In addition to readings and other assignments, my classroom techniques also work in service of my goals. I incorporate students' major areas of study (and/or occupations, depending on circumstance) into the classroom discussion. This gives students the opportunity to serve as the occasional expert, while at the same time encouraging them to see the relationship between sociological concepts and their own lives. This exercise illustrates how I try to apply my belief that learning is most effective when it is critical, interactive, and introspective. I have also experimented with assignments that ask students to leave the classroom with their sociological imagination, such as sociology scavenger hunts and "flash research" projects.

In sum, I believe that students, regardless of the major, should be encouraged to connect Sociology with their experiences from not only "the social world", but with their other academic pursuits. At its best, Sociology does inform how they perceive their everyday experiences. It does provide a social context for any academic discipline they pursue. And it does illuminate the personal, educational, and professional choices they make.