If you need an easy upper div class, this is a great one! Ruiz is very nice and lenient on grading. If you do the readings and watch the lectures the essays aren't too hard!

I liked this class. Your grade depends entirely on your TA and how they grade your papers. I was extremely behind in lectures and only ended up watching the ones that pertained to the paper topics i chose. Lots of freedom of choice on paper topics and there is ample time to write each paper. I procrastinated a LOT on every paper and still got an A on each one. I had a great TA (elizabeth landers) who gave great feedback on papers.

Teo Ruiz is a great gift to the campus, if you get a chance to study with him for history and you're a history major, def take him! If you're not a history major or don't have an ability of knowing how to manage hundreds of pages of history reading, maybe not. Best way to take Ruiz is DO NOT READ AHEAD as he'll adjust the syllabi on ya and take away 20k pages on the fly, like hmm, maybe only read this about Dante. Cool beans but if you already bought all the books and then find out you only need to choose one book, you might feel like you wasted some money. So take it slow and easy and listen to the lectures, or read the transcription to find your focus for the reading. The papers are based on the readings too so you'll find your footing but take care with the TA's who I've found only gave their grading rubrics after papers were in, didn't take much care if any to interact with students and were kinda harsh. You get the feeling that because Ruiz is a big deal, the TA really isn't there for the students, but at least Teo is. Dude is cool, and he can lecture like no one's business. If everyone took a Teo Ruiz in college, history would be a very different field. He has you read his book, which is real similar to his lectures but the differences are what they want you to address and engage with while developing your own historical analysis. Not an easy A but a very interesting one. 1 one of our 3 required papers could be turned into a group or individual media project/presentation which was pretty cool too. Not a lot of participation points or finals; just writing papers based on readings/lectures.

I'm so happy I took this class with Teo! He is an amazing professor and really cares about his students. The exams (3 essays) were manageable and he also offers extra credit. If you have the chance to take this class just do it you won't regret it!

For my first upper division history class, I loved being taught by Teo. Although his lectures would have been much more engaging in person, his online podcasts still made me laugh quite a bit. The content is interesting and the class material isnt that hard to understand. Read what he hands out!

Teo was a very kind professor. His class was very doable. If you go to his office hours and ask him questions, you will do very well on the papers assigned.

Teo is a fantastic teacher. he is very passionate in what he does and to me, one of the best in the business. He is caring and wants students to succeed. Don't take this course because you want a good grade, take his courses because you want to enrich your life.

GREAT class.
I learned so much. The material is not "easy" but the book and Teo explains it real well.
He's such an understanding professor.
This class is a MUST TAKE!