<p>So who has been your favorite professor at UVa and what class does he/she teach? I am a ratemyprofessors junkie lol and I just want to see other opinions of other past/present UVa students. Thanks!</p>
<p>Ed Murphy - astronomy - affiliated with the ed school and is a great lecturer and fair grader (but you still need to study for tests)
Karen Parshall - math/history - she actually doesn’t get the best ratings because many of her classes are compulsory for math ed people, and she isn’t teaching any classes for the next four years, but she has a core of followers who have taken 2-3 classes with her (I took 3, and she is my advisor). She works you hard but you learn an incredible amount.
Curby Alexander - he just finished his PhD so he’s actually leaving to teach elsewhere, but he used to teach the ed school technology requirement class, easiest A ever. Very nice guy with cute twins, there should also be some youtube videos of him singing silly songs.
Stephen Plaskon - another ed school professor, typical southern professor with a bow tie, soooo nice.
Greg Arone - math - again he will work you somewhat hard (or at least his tests are harder than homework and lectures) but he is very nice. He’s only teaching grad level math this fall though.
Tisha Hayes - another ed school professor, she will keep you all the way until the end of class (3 hours) but she is soooo nice.
Jennifer LoCasale - this is an amazing ed school professor who teaches development and researches, she always lets you out early and you definitely learn and are entertained in her class.
Greg Humphreys - computer science - actually Greg quit his job here at UVA but he is very funny which always made going to class worthwhile. I can give opinions on any other CS professors too. Aaron Bloomfield is an excellent professor if you get to take a class with him.
Dalia Rosenfeld - she took over for Hedda Harari for Hebrew one semester (Hedda is also great, but works you to the bone) and doesn’t require practically any work at all, if you see her name come up take a class with her. Her husband is Asher Biemann and he teaches in the religious studies department.</p>
<p>sorry I listed so many…
Also here is a list of professors I would avoid:
-Patterson (Psych) - insists on a bell curve, though she is friendly
-Grujic (math) - doesn’t prepare for class, but the tests were easy
-Sonkin (math) - he’s left (for now) and everyone I know had horrible experiences with him
-Hale (history) - maybe I just dislike history classes, but she made us write a paper on how music caused poverty or something and lectured about it for 3 hours once…</p>
<p>I’m sure there are more… I’m sure you just wanted one professor but hopefully this will help someone somehow…</p>
<p>Let me start with who I would avoid…</p>
<p>Dan Keenan (Statistics) – Boring and incredibly rigid. He reads straight from power points and does not actually explain the material, be prepared to self-teach most of the material. Tests are miserable (same tests are used for all Stat 212 classes).</p>
<p>Jeff Legro (Gov’t/FA) – He’s not really a bad guy, but his classes can be incredibly dry and he tends to repeat certain catch phrases over-and-over. </p>
<p>Vivian Thomson (Environmental Science) – There’s a definite “liberal” vibe in many parts of UVA, but she’s a step beyond that. The material is for the most part very interesting (we read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” which opened my eyes to food politics in the US) but she gets off on so many tangents.</p>
<p>And my favorites:</p>
<p>Stephen Fuchs (Sociology) – Dry lectures interspersed with even dryer humor in a thick German accent. He’s very much into social-philosophy with an affinity for German philosophers (Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, etc.) He’s a very nice guy, the coursework is generally light and he usually finishes early. One con is that he does not use email, like ever…but he’s very much available for office hours.</p>
<p>Paul Freedman (Government) – Very cool professor that specializes in political communication/media. He works for ABC New York as an election analyst part-time. He frequently incorporates You-Tube and other media into his lectures/discussions. It is best if you can get into a small section with him as the class is 10x better. Course work is moderate, but he’s pretty clear on his expectations and very willing to help.</p>
<p>Gordon Stewart (German) – He doesn’t teach at the language level (101-202 stuff) but he knows so much about German history, architecture and cultural history. I went to Berlin with him on a J-term class and it was an amazing experience! He’s also one of the College’s associate Deans.</p>
<p>David O’Brien (Government) – Supreme Court guru! His courses are very demanding, but very rewarding. He knows his stuff and knows how to crack a joke or two. He’s met justices, and if you are considering law school and are a gov’t major, he’s probably the best guy to get to know.</p>
<p>Paul Kingston (Sociology) – Very knowledgeable, approachable and he really encourages discussion.</p>
<p>Dean Stewart taught a class on Goethe a few semesters ago which looked interesting, I bet it would have been wonderful!</p>
<p>some of the best teachers I’ve had so far:</p>
<p>Fatton (Comparative Politics): very clear lecturer. His class was REALLY interesting and it was pretty straightforward, not a terrible amount of work. </p>
<p>Coppock (Economics): I really liked his econ202 class. I’m sure you’ve heard about econ201 with Elzinga, but I enjoyed 202 with Coppock even more. His grading is definitely more strict than Elzinga’s, but you learn a lot and he’s very knowledgeable. people say his final was awful but there wasn’t anything unexpected on it (at least in my opinion)</p>
<p>Childress (Ethics): if you sit too far back during lecture, you might get bored because his voice isn’t the loudest. but he’s very knowledgeable and the topics he teaches are always really interesting. he’s very fair when it comes to grading. plus he’s really nice if you talk to him one on one. </p>
<p>Affron (Art History): he’s a great lecturer and always enthusiastic about what he teaches. he’s demanding but very approachable and easy to talk to, and an awesome professor. </p>
<p>Wilson (Psychology) is also good too. There are many more I could think of (I fortunately haven’t had any horrible teachers while at UVA yet) but that’s enough for now.</p>
<p>Achilles (German and History), Haberly (Portuguese), Vickerman (Sociology), Tejedo (Spanish), Bargach (French Lit and Middle Eastern Lit)</p>
<p>If you do take bioethics with Childress, he offers a special discussion section that he himself leads for Brown College residents, but you can usually get in anyways if you just show up to the section.</p>
<p>Is Murphy better for astronomy than Whittle? Whittle has a reputation for really tough and time consuming labs</p>
<p>I don’t know who Whittle is but there weren’t any labs in the classes Murphy teaches. There was one night time observation lab thing which everyone in intro astronomy takes.</p>
<p>Can you please remind me how to get a course action form so I can change? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>You can get them in Garret, many departments have them in their offices and I’m not sure about this but can you print them online?</p>
<p>sure you can; [Course</a> Action Form: University Registrar at the University of Virginia](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/registrar/courseactionform.html]Course”>http://www.virginia.edu/registrar/courseactionform.html)</p>
<p>Thought so! Thanks Shirker, it’s been about two years now since I’ve needed to get one signed so I forgot :)</p>
<p>It’s been negative one week for me; I’ve yet to start my first year :P</p>
<p>Dean Harman (Chemistry): the most enthusiastic science lecturer I ever saw, and a really kind guy!</p>
<ul>
<li>Grujic has easy tests</li>
<li>Dan Keenan will put you to sleep - avoid him at all costs. Also avoid Leonard Scott if he’s still teaching.</li>
<li>Richard Handler is my favorite professor; his class (Racism, Multiculturalism and Nationalism) is eye-opening.</li>
</ul>
<p>hmm lots of classics and randoms up in here.</p>
<p>Sabato (PLAP)
Freedman (PLAP)
Coppock (ECON)
Wilson (PSYC)
^^all pretty standard favs that i also enjoyed</p>
<p>Sekhri (ECON)
Pugh (SOC)
Kisliuk (MUSI)
^^ other (randoms)favs of mine. </p>
<p>I also saw someone mentioned Gordon Stewart. While I did not take any course with him, he was my academic dean and I was fortunate enough to develop a great relationship with him in my time at UVa and he has got the be the COOLEST person in the world to talk to. he has so much interest in his students, more wisdom than imaginable, and is a brilliant conversationalist.</p>
<p>oh and for the black list. John James (ECON)
DO NOT TAKE A COURSE WITH JOHN JAMES. <<<<<avoid>>>>>
no syllabus, no coursework, no text, two exams and the most painful lectures ever.<br>
- i was actually sharing this information with a friend as i was walking past newcomb one day and a student who was walking past us(stranger, neither of us knew her) stopped us and told my friend that what i was saying about J.J. was the best advise she’d ever heard, lol.</avoid></p>