thesoccerlily

What does it mean when under the instructor it says "Staff, Departmental"? I wanted to enroll in Professor Lewis's Math 31L class but it filled up quickly and all that is left are classes with the "Staff, Departmental" label as the instructor. I'm not so confident about Calculus because of my rocky experience with my high school Calculus teacher so I want to make the right choice for my Calc. class.

SBR

It means that a teacher probably hasn't been assigned yet, or the department hasn't reported the instructor's name to the registrar's office.

I took math classes with departmental staff for 103, 107, and 108. The first turned out to be a grad student, the last two visiting profs. So that should give you an idea of what to expect (although I feel the grad student was a special situation). Overall, I have no complaints, it's just a bit risky in that you have no idea what to expect going into the class.

thesoccerlily

Ohh well the large majority of the Math 31L classes are like that. The only class that is really left is with Professor Chuang. Do you know anything about him? Am I better off choosing one without a teacher assigned yet?

Mondo

I'm sorry- Staff, Departamental isn't a good sign.

I took Math 32 first semester last year and ended up with Staff, Departamental (last registration window) my teacher was a grad student who didn't speak the best English and didn't explain concepts so well.

SBR

My grad student teacher was possibly the best math teacher I've had at Duke. Great guy, sense of humor, good explanations, fair grading, straight forward tests.

Although he did give us a test on the day he was off getting hitched...>.>

thesoccerlily

Ohh well I had no choice but to go with "Staff, Departmental". Blake's classes were full and the other named professor's classes didn't fit into my schedule.

Thanks for the input. I hope I luck out, if not I'll just have to study more.

law_applicant

I would wait for next semester if possible. The more senior professors are important to have in the math department, especially if there is a departmental final. The senior professors will prepare you better and are also more influential when the departmental final is written.

SBR

It depends on the professor. Not all professors are great professors and you shouldn't hold out just for that.

If the OP is an engineer (which I believe she has indicated so in another thread), then it would not be a good idea to wait for another semester because she would need to take 5 math classes in sequence (starting with math 31 up to math 108) plus a stat class (except MEs). Waiting around for a professor could seriously compromise her schedule and might require summer classes.

Azmodan

Most 25, 26, 31 and 32 classes are taught by grad students, though there are professors like Blake and Tomberg who specialize in teaching these classes (I believe their degrees are in education, not math) and from what I hear are great.

HiWei

I agree with the above. Usually in my experience if the class says Staff, Departmental, it means that they have not yet picked an instructor because all the ones that have taught the class before are already teaching something else or no one wants to teach it. In that eventuality, they'll probably find a grad student or a professor with little experience in the subject.

It is true that you might get lucky and have a great departmental staff, but its hard to know when all the people with names have previous ratings and staff doesn't.

SBR

Not all staff are grad students and inexperienced teachers. Some are visiting professors whose contract might stipulate that they teach a class while at Duke.