Teaching

I teach in JMU's Intelligence Analysis Program, having previously taught in the Economics Department. Since 2016 I have taught fourteen distinct undergraduate courses — from large introductory lectures to small seminar-style electives — and have advised twenty-seven senior capstone projects in the IA program. I also taught from 2019-2024 an MBA course, The Microeconomics of Business Decision-Making, in JMU's College of Business.

Approach

My teaching philosophy rests on two convictions.

The first is that analysis, taught well, is an exercise in applied ethics and epistemology as much as it is a technical skill. Students who will spend their careers producing judgments under conditions of uncertainty need more than tools and templates; they need a working understanding of what it means to reason responsibly when evidence is partial and the stakes are real. I work to build this understanding alongside the practical skills.

The second, following Michael Polanyi, is that the most valuable kinds of learning are personal — what Polanyi calls "indwelling," where knowledge becomes one's own rather than a stock of memorized facts. I organize my courses to create the conditions for that kind of learning: careful preparation, structured discussion, and close, frequent writing feedback. In my ethics courses I use the Harkness method, a seminar format built around student-led dialogue, which has worked well for the kind of sustained ethical reasoning these classes require.

Courses

Intelligence Analysis Program

  • IA150 – Introduction to Intelligence Analysis. Foundations of the discipline and the major, with attention research design, analytic writing, and a simulation exercise.

  • IA240 – Technology Applications in a Networked World. Practical and methodological introduction to the technical environment of modern analytic work.

  • IA314 – Strategy Assessment. Methods and frameworks for assessing strategic behavior and intent.

  • IA405 – Ethics, Law, and Intelligence Analysis. Seminar on the ethical and legal foundations of intelligence analysis. Taught in the Harkness format.

  • IA440 / IA450 – Capstone. Mentored senior project sequence, conducted in collaboration with external partners.

Economics Department

  • ECON200/201 – Principles of Macro- and Microeconomics.

  • ECON302 – History of Economic Thought.

  • ECON405 – Political Economy.

  • IA300 / ECON electives – Ethics and Economics. A course I designed on the moral foundations of economic policy, analysis, and life!

College of Business

  • Microeconomics of Business Decision-Making (MBA).

Experiential and partnered teaching

In Fall 2025, I co-taught Reimagining Virginia's Fight Against Organized Retail Crime, a JMU X-Labs course developed in partnership with the Virginia Attorney General's Office. The course brought together students from eleven disciplines and faculty from four JMU colleges to research the problem, build prototype solutions, and present findings to the Attorney General's office in Richmond. Coverage of the course is here.

Curriculum and seminar work beyond JMU

I have designed curriculum and led seminars for external organizations, and I'm glad to hear from programs working in adjacent areas. Two recent engagements:

  • American Enterprise Institute. Co-author, with Erik Matson, of the Invisible Hands: Adam Smith on Friendship, Community, and Prosperity post-graduate seminar. I also led the pilot seminar in Indianapolis.

  • Ramsey Solutions. Primary economic advisor on a high school economics curriculum developed for national use.

More on this work is on the Consulting page.

Selected invited talks and guest lectures

  • American Enterprise Institute — Adam Smith Seminar (Indianapolis, 2019)

  • Christendom College — Private Property and Ownership: Two Traditions (2021)

  • Malone University Worldview Forum — Capitalism, Socialism, and the Church (2023)

  • Waynesburg University — Reason and Irregularity in Adam Smith (2017)

  • Everything Economics podcast with Tahlia Murdoch — economics and literature (episode)

Open to collaboration

I welcome inquiries about guest lectures, invited talks, seminar leadership, and curriculum development — particularly in economics, the history of economic thought, ethics for analytic professionals, and Adam Smith. Contact me at robinsja [at] jmu.edu.