Professor
Katherine Burke
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - Dr. Burke is an extremely thorough professor, perhaps a little to the detriment of actually engaging her students with the material. I enrolled in her class as someone already extremely interested in religious studies, archaeology, the history of the middle east, and with a strong tolerance for dense readings and writing critique. I still had a hard time with some of the readings she handed out, and I found her critique of the papers so heavy-handed it was baffling to me. I was really, really interested and excited by her lectures but her grading quickly beat that out of me. I spent more time combing every single reading to ensure I didn't accidentally miss a reference somewhere (and therefore get demoted points) than I did actually engaging with any of the course material or synthesizing information. Initially, I read each paper thoroughly and thought about how I could integrate them together, but after being marked down for not including small things, like single-sentence lines in certain papers, I quickly changed strategies to just CTRL+Fing through the readings for shared vocabulary and then forcing myself to talk about whatever words I could find in every single paper. I don't think her course is HARD, it's just that she cares so much about the small details that it sucks the joy out of learning about the subject matter. Her slides are so thoughtful and she covers the material with what is clearly a lifetime of love and dedication. I came away from the class with a fascination about so many things I had never considered before going into it. Yet, the grading stressed me out so much that I found myself dreading coming into class and losing sleep over the next reading assignments. I understand it's on me as a student for caring so much about my grades, but for those of us here on merit scholarships and planning on pursuing graduate school, such exacting grading is the fastest way to sour the learning experience.
Winter 2024 - Dr. Burke is an extremely thorough professor, perhaps a little to the detriment of actually engaging her students with the material. I enrolled in her class as someone already extremely interested in religious studies, archaeology, the history of the middle east, and with a strong tolerance for dense readings and writing critique. I still had a hard time with some of the readings she handed out, and I found her critique of the papers so heavy-handed it was baffling to me. I was really, really interested and excited by her lectures but her grading quickly beat that out of me. I spent more time combing every single reading to ensure I didn't accidentally miss a reference somewhere (and therefore get demoted points) than I did actually engaging with any of the course material or synthesizing information. Initially, I read each paper thoroughly and thought about how I could integrate them together, but after being marked down for not including small things, like single-sentence lines in certain papers, I quickly changed strategies to just CTRL+Fing through the readings for shared vocabulary and then forcing myself to talk about whatever words I could find in every single paper. I don't think her course is HARD, it's just that she cares so much about the small details that it sucks the joy out of learning about the subject matter. Her slides are so thoughtful and she covers the material with what is clearly a lifetime of love and dedication. I came away from the class with a fascination about so many things I had never considered before going into it. Yet, the grading stressed me out so much that I found myself dreading coming into class and losing sleep over the next reading assignments. I understand it's on me as a student for caring so much about my grades, but for those of us here on merit scholarships and planning on pursuing graduate school, such exacting grading is the fastest way to sour the learning experience.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - So far, this is one of my favourite classes that I've taken. The class is interesting if you like archaeology and history. There are a lot of readings but you can skim through it and the lecture goes over the important things. The midterm is a short essay and short answer questions, so if you don't like writing, maybe the class is not for you. There is also a final research paper (8 pages) and she helps you through it. I think this is one of those classes that prepare you for grad school. I have taken all the classes that Professor Burke teaches at this school and if she opens a new class, I would be first in line.
Spring 2020 - So far, this is one of my favourite classes that I've taken. The class is interesting if you like archaeology and history. There are a lot of readings but you can skim through it and the lecture goes over the important things. The midterm is a short essay and short answer questions, so if you don't like writing, maybe the class is not for you. There is also a final research paper (8 pages) and she helps you through it. I think this is one of those classes that prepare you for grad school. I have taken all the classes that Professor Burke teaches at this school and if she opens a new class, I would be first in line.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Shocked by the negativity of reviews for this class. One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA, by far the best art history class I've taken. Postives: - Professor Burke is friendly, approachable, and very happy to answer questions about course content or assignments - Grading is generous -- provided that you complete most of the assignments, you will get an A easily - Assignments consist of four term definition lists and a research paper, spread across the quarter so you get at least a week or more per assignment - Course covers a broad cross-section of Islamic art and culture in the Middle East, mostly around the Early Islamic period in Arabia and Greater Syria - Concepts introduced and explained in a way that is very accessible to someone not familiar with Islamic history and Islam - Final and midterm exam both based on term definitions and short written answers, minimal studying required if you finish the assignments and pay attention in lecture. Terms will all be the same as homework and essay topics all heavily emphasized in lecture Negatives: - Lectures almost always ran overtime - Lectures were fairly dense, run through pretty quickly, and not recorded - Term lists are deceptively difficult due to fairly rigorous sourcing requirements. I spent easily around 6-8 hours on each and often submitted them unfinished (but Professor Burke still gave me 85-90%). This has since been changed after student feedback to be more lenient, more like 4 hours per term list now Overall an excellent class. Cannot recommend Professor Burke enough, whether you are interested in art history, Islam, Arab culture, or are just lazy and want a GPA booster.
Winter 2025 - Shocked by the negativity of reviews for this class. One of the best classes I've taken at UCLA, by far the best art history class I've taken. Postives: - Professor Burke is friendly, approachable, and very happy to answer questions about course content or assignments - Grading is generous -- provided that you complete most of the assignments, you will get an A easily - Assignments consist of four term definition lists and a research paper, spread across the quarter so you get at least a week or more per assignment - Course covers a broad cross-section of Islamic art and culture in the Middle East, mostly around the Early Islamic period in Arabia and Greater Syria - Concepts introduced and explained in a way that is very accessible to someone not familiar with Islamic history and Islam - Final and midterm exam both based on term definitions and short written answers, minimal studying required if you finish the assignments and pay attention in lecture. Terms will all be the same as homework and essay topics all heavily emphasized in lecture Negatives: - Lectures almost always ran overtime - Lectures were fairly dense, run through pretty quickly, and not recorded - Term lists are deceptively difficult due to fairly rigorous sourcing requirements. I spent easily around 6-8 hours on each and often submitted them unfinished (but Professor Burke still gave me 85-90%). This has since been changed after student feedback to be more lenient, more like 4 hours per term list now Overall an excellent class. Cannot recommend Professor Burke enough, whether you are interested in art history, Islam, Arab culture, or are just lazy and want a GPA booster.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2025 - I have no clue why this class is graded so poorly. Professor Burke is a great teacher and you can tell she really cares about what she's teaching. This is a cool and really niche subject that you won't be able to learn about easily elsewhere. My only tips are to definitely go to class and make sure you do the term lists both on time, and well! The term lists and the midterm basically make or break your grade, but the actual workload for the class is very manageable. You'll be ok if you don't do any of the readings but make sure to at least skim a couple so you understand what's happening in the class. Overall, I really recc this class, esp if you have a soft spot for Egyptology! :)
Spring 2025 - I have no clue why this class is graded so poorly. Professor Burke is a great teacher and you can tell she really cares about what she's teaching. This is a cool and really niche subject that you won't be able to learn about easily elsewhere. My only tips are to definitely go to class and make sure you do the term lists both on time, and well! The term lists and the midterm basically make or break your grade, but the actual workload for the class is very manageable. You'll be ok if you don't do any of the readings but make sure to at least skim a couple so you understand what's happening in the class. Overall, I really recc this class, esp if you have a soft spot for Egyptology! :)
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