Professor
Joan Waugh
1 of 2
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - To be frank, if you need to take a 97 seminar, I would suggest picking a different professor. Waugh assigns one page single spaced papers, which is essentially three to four pages double spaced, every single week. You have to read hundreds of pages for these one page papers every week, and it gets exhausting. When she grades these papers she is very nit-picky and grades very hard on them. Even if you hit all the points and understand the themes of the reading, and give a good analysis she will find something to dock points off your essay, such as word choice or very minor grammatical issues. I've never gotten an A or A- on any of the papers and she never gives you clear guidelines on the grading criteria. If you want to go to graduate school or law school, and need to keep a high GPA, I would suggest another professor.
Fall 2017 - To be frank, if you need to take a 97 seminar, I would suggest picking a different professor. Waugh assigns one page single spaced papers, which is essentially three to four pages double spaced, every single week. You have to read hundreds of pages for these one page papers every week, and it gets exhausting. When she grades these papers she is very nit-picky and grades very hard on them. Even if you hit all the points and understand the themes of the reading, and give a good analysis she will find something to dock points off your essay, such as word choice or very minor grammatical issues. I've never gotten an A or A- on any of the papers and she never gives you clear guidelines on the grading criteria. If you want to go to graduate school or law school, and need to keep a high GPA, I would suggest another professor.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2023 - Took this class in winter 2023, and it was Prof Waugh's first class back after taking a hiatus over the pandemic. I thought she was a really engaging lecturer, and even brought some civil war garb for students to try on one day in class. Class was 45% midterm and 55% final (I believe), and thought both exams were pretty straightforward — I got an A on both, ended with an A in the course. Hoping to take another class from her in the future!
Winter 2023 - Took this class in winter 2023, and it was Prof Waugh's first class back after taking a hiatus over the pandemic. I thought she was a really engaging lecturer, and even brought some civil war garb for students to try on one day in class. Class was 45% midterm and 55% final (I believe), and thought both exams were pretty straightforward — I got an A on both, ended with an A in the course. Hoping to take another class from her in the future!
AD
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2024 - I enjoyed her lectures but she often included information that wasn’t necessary for tests and papers, such as birthdates, birthplaces and other boring background info. She also doesn’t record her lectures or provide slides so you need to show up to class to get the notes. She seemed friendly at first but when emailing with her I found her to be of little to no help when asking for clarification on something. There’s a midterm, book review, and final paper (3 different prompts, 10 pages total). I think she grades rather harshly for the book review but she was more lenient on the final. Our midterm was cancelled, thankfully. My main issue with her is her indifference in helping students. She is NOT a caring professor. Protests were happening right outside our class in Royce and she never once mentioned what was happening. I understand not bringing up her personal beliefs, I don’t mind that. My issue is she didn’t address the impact it had on her students and offer resources, support, or accommodations. Some of us felt uncomfortable coming on campus during this time and asked for some kind of accommodation whether it be notes or a recorded lecture or moving to online but she refused because she wanted classes to continue in person. She LOVES having an audience and she seemed extremely annoyed when the protests interrupted her lectures. She knows her stuff but she is not a caring or flexible professor. I wouldn’t take her again.
Spring 2024 - I enjoyed her lectures but she often included information that wasn’t necessary for tests and papers, such as birthdates, birthplaces and other boring background info. She also doesn’t record her lectures or provide slides so you need to show up to class to get the notes. She seemed friendly at first but when emailing with her I found her to be of little to no help when asking for clarification on something. There’s a midterm, book review, and final paper (3 different prompts, 10 pages total). I think she grades rather harshly for the book review but she was more lenient on the final. Our midterm was cancelled, thankfully. My main issue with her is her indifference in helping students. She is NOT a caring professor. Protests were happening right outside our class in Royce and she never once mentioned what was happening. I understand not bringing up her personal beliefs, I don’t mind that. My issue is she didn’t address the impact it had on her students and offer resources, support, or accommodations. Some of us felt uncomfortable coming on campus during this time and asked for some kind of accommodation whether it be notes or a recorded lecture or moving to online but she refused because she wanted classes to continue in person. She LOVES having an audience and she seemed extremely annoyed when the protests interrupted her lectures. She knows her stuff but she is not a caring or flexible professor. I wouldn’t take her again.
Most Helpful Review
Professor Waugh is simply amazing. Her lectures, with few exceptions, were outstanding; especially the lecture on baseball. That they are always full (unlike most history lectures) is indicative of their quality. She is one of the few professors to successfully integrate outside media into her lectures, possibly because her ego is not so large as to preclude admitting the validity of outside sources. I would definitely recommend her.
Professor Waugh is simply amazing. Her lectures, with few exceptions, were outstanding; especially the lecture on baseball. That they are always full (unlike most history lectures) is indicative of their quality. She is one of the few professors to successfully integrate outside media into her lectures, possibly because her ego is not so large as to preclude admitting the validity of outside sources. I would definitely recommend her.
AD
1 of 2
