About Me

Hello! My name is Julian Haddad and I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at UC Davis. I am a passionate instructor with nearly a decade of experience teaching political science to both undergraduate and graduate students. To date, I have served as instructor of record at American River College, UC San Diego, UC Davis, and Sacramento State University. As a Teaching Assistant Consultant at UC Davis, I have led a number of teaching workshops and created teaching resources for other instructors. I conduct both pedagogical and traditional political science research. The former helps us better understand how AI-related job threats are shaping workers’ attitudes toward the welfare state around the world. The latter provides instructors strategies for teaching political philosophy from a global perspective.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Political Science, UC Davis | 2026
    First Field: Comparative Politics, Second Field: Political Theory
  • Master of International Affairs, UC San Diego | 2018
    Career Tracks: International Economics and Business | Regional Focus Latin America
  • B.A., UC San Diego | 2016
    History and International Studies: Political Science Focus, Music Minor

Research Interests

Political economy of AI | Political Science Pedagogy | Welfare State Policy | Survey experiments | Latin America | Comparative Political Philosophy of Redistribution

Bio

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in understanding why some countries were so impoverished that their residents risked life and limb to emigrate. Growing up in Stockton, in a Lebanese immigrant family in a neighborhood of immigrants from Mexico and their children, this question was particularly salient. After studying political science at UC San Diego, I realized much of these differences in individuals’ prospects can be traced to government policy. In 2016, I began pursuing my Master of International Affairs at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy learn more about how different countries approached public policy. It was while serving as a teaching assistant there that I realized it is my vocation to help community college students succeed.

While completing my master’s degree, I had the life-changing opportunity to teach transfer students at UC San Diego’s Making of the Modern World (MMW) program, where I saw how transfer students disproportionately face obstacles to their goals and how much life experience they bring to the classroom. After graduating in 2018, I became a full-time Teaching Assistant in the MMW program and taught 10 weekly lessons to community college transfers. Then, each summer from 2019–2023, I had the wonderful experience of teaching Analytical Writing to English Language Learners at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. To broaden my Political Science knowledge and better serve community colleges’ needs, I began my Ph.D. studies at UC Davis in 2021 and now design and teach courses at community colleges and universities.

I now have nearly ten years of experience in teaching, mentorship, and pedagogical development. I’ve served as an instructor of record for courses in comparative politics, American politics, and international relations and have taught hundreds of discussion sections in comparative politics and political theory ranging from Mesoamerican Political Thought to key perspectives on political economy (Keynes, Friedman, etc.). My teaching emphasizes inclusive pedagogy, high academic standards, and active learning. At UC Davis, I also served as a Teaching Assistant Consultant, providing one-on-one consultations and leading workshops on Universal Design for Learning, making large lectures more engaging, and supporting multilingual learners.

I teach every course through a global lens. When teaching courses in American politics, students learn about the ways the US political system differs from its counterparts around the world. In political theory classes, in addition to learning about the Western canon of political thinkers, students read texts like the Analects of Confucius and pre-colonial Mesoamerican sources in order to broaden their understanding of political science.

Outside of my work I love to play the guitar, read fiction, bake sourdough, and spend time with friends and family.