Teaching

Courses Offered

Sociology & Urban Studies and Planning

• SOCI 153 / USP 105: Urban Sociology (Summer 2024) [syllabus]

This course is an introduction to urban sociology with an emphasis on urban (re)development and urban governance. Why does our city look the way it does? Who gets to decide the city’s future? These questions are important because we live, study, work, and engage in leisure activities in the city. The way our urban environment is built affects our daily lives, as it can promote equity or reinforce inequity in our well-being and life opportunities.

Sociology

• SOCI 148: Political Sociology [syllabus]

Political sociology is a field of study that aims to investigate how members of a society collectively make decisions about the organization and governance of public life. It recognizes that different social groups often hold conflicting interests, leading politics to emerge as a natural struggle for wielding the state power to shape the social world according to their policy preferences. In other words, what lies at the core of the field are the power dynamics among social groups and the state-society relationship. To uncover the linkages between policy outcomes and the influence of specific social groups, political sociologists often ask these questions: Whose voices are heard in the state’s decision-making process? Who wins, or who loses, in political competition? In this course, we will examine these fundamental questions through the lens of political sociology, building our understanding step by step.

Courses Assisted

Urban Studies and Planning

• USP 143: The U.S. Healthcare System (Winter 2024, Winter 2022)

• USP 144: Environmental & Preventative Health Issues (Fall 2023)

• USP 145: Aging: Social and Health Policy Issues (Spring 2024, Winter 2022)

• USP 147: Case Studies in Healthcare Programs: Poor and Underserved Populations (Spring 2022)

Sociology

• SOCI 1: Introduction to Sociology (Summer 2023)

• SOCI 2: The Study of Society (Summer 2022, Summer 2021, Winter 2019)

• SOCI 60: Practice of Social Research (Summer 2021, Winter 2021)

• SOCI 115: Social Problems (Spring 2021, Spring 2019) 

• SOCI 145: Violence and Society (Summer 2023, Summer 2022)

• SOCI 151: Social Movements (Fall 2020)

Honors and Training

Feedback

From Students

• Professor Hsu is such a sweetheart anyone who takes this class with him should consider themselves lucky! — Student, SOCI 153 / USP 105

• Overall, really enjoyed this class! The instructor's passion and knowledge for this course were admirable. Taking a class where your instructor truly cares about the content AND the students is refreshing and deeply appreciated. — Student, SOCI 153 / USP 105

• He seemed knowledgeable of the class content, and I liked the way he conducted the TA-led discussion lectures. He spoke clearly and was organized, and the discussion sections really helped me with the completion of my project throughout the quarter. I also valued the constructive feedback he provided on assignments. — Student, USP 144

• One of the best TAs I have ever had. His passion for not just the course material but for his students shows in everything that he does. I can tell that he is very intentional in his work, and it has truly made my experience in the course so much better as a result! It made me so happy to hear that he wants to pursue education in his career. He was born to be an educator! — Student, USP 144

• Incredibly kind and prepared. Was always ready with a creative set of slides that allowed for actual thinking, and I actually admit I used many of his explanations and breakdowns for my midterm and final papers. He is incredibly good at explaining things in a way that makes sense and makes sure to continually go over things and address student feedback when performing discussions. — Student, SOCI 1

• He put a lot of effort into creating slides that were both accessible to students and were understandable to us all. I liked how we would put practice questions for us to answer and see if we understand the key concepts of the course. They were low-stakes check-ins and they were super helpful. The effort was very apparent to us as students. — Student, SOCI 60

From Instructors

• Yen-Ting is an indispensable TA, whose intelligence, organization, and positivity were essential to the success of the class. He is consistently proactive and quick to spot inconsistencies or errors, which is especially helpful, while also maintaining a positive and professional demeanor with students and the teaching team. I am deeply grateful for his support and hard work.  — Professor JB Hinds, USP 143 Instructor

• Yen-Ting is a seasoned TA and I would hire Yen-Ting as a TA in a heartbeat! In my 16 years of teaching, this is the first time, I felt I had “a colleague” and not a “TA” whom I could delegate part of my class. He took a leadership role by being the lead TA and guiding the other TA as needed to complete all assigned work on time and follow the syllabus guidelines. He led three class discussion sessions with students, and I was impressed by how well he prepared for each class! He led each of these discussion classes with authority and knowledge. Yen-Ting is very dedicated and understands what students need to succeed in class. He is always ready to provide extra time and extra help to students. His communication skill is excellent and promptly acts on assigned tasks. I was very lucky to have him this quarter! — Professor Zohir Chowdhury, USP 144 Instructor 

• Yen-Ting is an excellent sociologist and teaching assistant. In fact, he is the best TA I've had so far (and I've only had very good TAs). — Professor April Sutton, SOCI 115 Instructor