Extremely challenging course. Too bad it's practically required. Otherwise I would not have taken it. Knowledgable guy but the lectures are bland.

he does not teach this

Professor Huppin was recommended to me by a senior and I'm so glad I took this course. I am interested in law school and this class helped to solidify that interest. The only required readings are online articles (fairly short) and the course reader. The course reader isn't too expensive, but it is necessary since a decent amount of multiple choice questions and a few short answer questions come directly from the reading.

Huppin is really funny and keeps the lectures interesting and engaging. If you're interested in law, you'll love this class - if not, still a really awesome class with a professor who cares about his students and will do everything he can to make sure you understand the material and can apply it well.

There is a midterm, a final, and two short papers throughout the quarter. The papers are "thought papers" based on a handful of readings or a film you watch in class. They are fun to write and easy to do well on. The midterm might be a little tough if you are taking this as one of your first upper division classes, but if you are used to upper divs it's quite manageable in terms of what he expects you to know. The final is a little trickier and requires more outside application than memorization, but I personally did better on the final since the material in the second half of the class was very interesting to me. The final is not cumulative.

**This review is for Communications 184, not Communications 113. Prof Huppins listing on bruin walk does not show Communications 184 even though he taught it this summer.**

A class named Abortion, Gun Control, and Death Penalty: Arguing Contemporary Social Issues sounds like it would be fun, right? Especially in todays political world.

The problem is that this class title is misleading. We spent extremely little time on gun control or death penalty. A little on abortion, but the rest was just Huppin trying to squeeze his first amendment knowledge and other research interests into a class where they really didn't belong. Why did we have to endure a powerpoint on Compelled Speech? The Suicide Texting Case? Affirmative Action? Tbf, affirmative action i guess is a contemporary issue (really, though, it was an issue of 10 years ago). But he chose and focused on topics NOT in the description at the expense of those in the description.

This class is great if you're a lightweight. Everyone gets an A! But the substance is a major disappointment. Not the class that was advertised. It seemed as if Huppin chose to teach this class at the last minute even though he wasn't qualified - at least thats what i could infer from the several messages I got from random people in the department before the course began. The class felt like it was being made up on -the-fly.

Verdict: My GPA thanks me. But my pocketbook and appetite for learning do not. Sort of a waste for a summer. Wish i followed my friends advice and took a diff class instead

I think this class is pretty easy as an elective up div class. no heavy readings, basically just go online and search case summaries that you will be fine. I organized the notes ahead of time and started studying 2-3 days before midterm and final. two short responses, 10 pts each, you would able to get almost full pts for the responses. midterm was 35 pts and final was 40 pts.

This class is based off of 2 short papers (10% each), 1 midterm (40%) and 1 final (40%). No textbooks needed. The midterm and final have a pretty heavy studying load, however; if you attend lecture and set aside time to study, you will be fine.

Professor Huppin is my favorite professor at UCLA! He is incredibly smart and can answer all of your weird hypothetical questions (or will find you an answer!) The class is super manageable – just show up and skim the short online readings. There are two short thought papers that are basically impossible to get less than a B on, a midterm and a final. The multiple choice questions are from reading details and lecture details – very easy to get right if you pay a little bit of attention in class. The short answer questions are fun and focus on expanding ideas we discussed in class. Overall, he's a great guy who will let you complain about your life and aspirations, while also providing you with great insight into the First Amendment.

I'm fairly certain that there is one student in particular that is posting the same negative reviews on Huppin (8/28)... she posted something similarly negative about Professor Johnson in the Comm department as well. I had her in several of my classes as we were both Communication majors, and it was clear from the beginning that she hates evolutionary psychology and anyone that incorporates it into their lessons. Considering how many UCLA professors refer to it and how much evidence there is for the theory, it's shocking that she is still so ignorant about the subject. She consistently freaked out about sexism and racism and other -isms despite Huppin's very clear explanations about the studies that yielded these supposedly offensive results. So I would disregard her remarks, mostly she came off as a crazy.

As for Huppin himself, he’s a good professor who is very interested in building relationships with his students. I think I went to office hours with a total of 3 professors, and Huppin was one of them because he was so approachable. Tests weren’t super easy though. They’re multiple-multiple choice and get a little dicey, but he’s fair with any written assignments and curves generously at the end.

** Courses Taken with Huppin: Communications 146 and Communications 171

As previous reviewers have said, Huppin can have a monotone voice during his lectures. However, he is actually a good lecturer and knows his information pretty well. I've taken him for 2 different Communication courses and I would choose to take him again for a different course.

Communications 146: This was my first class taken from him and it was interesting because it involved a more thorough view into mass media images. The kind of annoying part of the class was that he had a monotone voice and went through lecture slides fast so it might be best to use a laptop to take notes. The topics were interesting - pornography, why men are attracted to certain women, the smell of men as an indicator of mate selection for women, etc. Pretty good stuff! The downside to this class were the exams. Both the midterm and final were quite tricky! He puts tricky questions on the exams so be warned! Read each question carefully and at least a few times. Overall, the class was enjoyable. The viewer below that mentioned that he was pro-abortion and rape of women is absolutely NUTS. She was in my class and she just wanted to have conflict with him because she was a troublemaker. It is NOT wise to take her review seriously.

Communications 171: This class is a law class around theories of freedom of speech. It's kind of an extension of Communications 101, so if you've taken 101 it might be a little easier to understand the concepts. I liked this class a little more than 146 because the exams (a midterm and a final) were essay-based and not tricky, multiple choice questions. There are a lot of cases that he goes over, but he goes over them in depth and you actually understand the material. His monotone voice is still there but at least the cases are interesting! There were some cases about pornography and school speeches that were kind of funny. I would recommend this class over Comm 146 but that's because law classes interest me.

First off, I have to address the rating made by a fellow student on Feb 4 that begins "do not take this class." I know who the student is who wrote this review, as I am currently in both Huppin's and Von Blum's class (the class she suggests you take instead of Huppin's) with her, and I can honestly say that her view does not reflect the view of the vast majority of students in Mark Huppin's 146 class. She is a student who has taken some of Huppin's lecture material completely out of its scientific context and turn it around on him, calling him a sexist, etc. While this class does deal with some delicate issues such as rape and sexualization of women in the media, Huppin is very careful to always surround the information that he gives his students with a scientific background and empirical studies. Furthermore, he never suggests that evolutionary psychology directly determines any aspect of human communication/interaction, and someone who thinks this should pay more attention in class. His lectures balance both the roles of nature (evolutionary) and nurture (environmental) in determining the topics we discuss in class.

Now for an evaluation of the course-- I'm a graduating senior in the Comm Studies department and can honestly say that this has been one of my favorite classes I've taken thus far. The material is interesting and applicable to everyday life and I find myself discussing it with my friends even outside of class.

Course work is completely manageable. There are two multiple-choice exams, a midterm and a final. To some I know the midterm seemed tricky but honestly, if you just attend lecture and do the readings you'll get what he's asking (the readings are interesting, too, so that's a plus). He doesn't try to trick you and he is really concerned about his students and how well they grasp the material. There are also two short papers throughout the quarter that are unlike any I've had in any other classes. I really like the essay questions he asks because they allow you to synthesize the material in the class and apply it to a movie we watch in class (not a really lame academic one, either). It's helpful because the papers are kind of like a review of the material for the exams. Each takes less than a day to complete.

If you want a comm studies course that is both interesting and manageable, take this course. The professor is awesome! You won't regret it.