Professor: Chris Connery
Department: Literature
College: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
Rating # 1
Overview:
- Course: LIT0000
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 5.0
- Course Difficulty: 5.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: No
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
No exaggeration, the guy changed my life ( I graduated). He is a true scholar and what you expect from a college professor, but rarely receive.
Rating # 2
Overview:
- Course: LIT135
- Grade Received: A
- Overall Rating: 5.0
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Midterm and Final are both open notes. He gives detailed study guides that have almost all test answers. I learned more in this class than any other I've taken in China. Lots of reading but much is optional, he goes over it in class extensively.
Rating # 3
Overview:
- Course: LIT149
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 3.0
- Course Difficulty: 2.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Connery super cool and he makes a note to discusses many relevant issues we as students face, but his analysis of literary texts fall short. He gives great reading material (I liked 90% of the reading he assigned) but his lectures tend to be a little messy.
Rating # 4
Overview:
- Course: LIT149H
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 4.0
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: No
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Once you get past the crotchety old man schtick, Connery is an informative and opinionated professor. Lots of reading assigned, but it's mostly optional, he summarizes what he wants in class anyway. The overarching group project of creating your own utopian future is a cool idea and leads for a lot of interesting discussion. Open-note tests!
Rating # 5
Overview:
- Course: LIT149H
- Grade Received: A
- Overall Rating: 5.0
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: No
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Great lectures, lots of reading. Grading criteria is clear and final and midterm are both open notes. Chris wants his students to learn rather than memorize and regurgitate information. He was an advocatedof keeping the old narrative grading that UCSC used to have instead of grades. Best professor I've had at UCSC.
Rating # 6
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: B+
- Overall Rating: 4.5
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: Yes
- Attendance: Not Mandatory
Comment:
He likes a discussion setting, and although he can seem a little intimidating, you will get the most out of the class by asking questions and volunteering comments. Creative and free environment. Great readings and essay topics! I got a B+ even thought I didn't do all the readings. If you can justify why you deserve a certain grade he'll give it.
Rating # 7
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 2.5
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
Dull, dull, dull. He is obviously very passionate about his subject, but I would recommend only taking his class if you have an interest in the subject. If not, take your Lit 101 class with someone else. That said, if you wrote decent papers and showed up to every class, passing was a cinch.
Rating # 8
Overview:
- Course: LTWL1
- Grade Received: A
- Overall Rating: 3.0
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: Yes
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: Mandatory
Comment:
He's very intelligent, but like what many have observed of his classes, he goes out of his way to preach his personal philosophy to students. Most of what you learn in the class isn't from him but just from the books he assigns. He also argues with his students if they disagree with him, despite encouraging the students to question authority
Rating # 9
Overview:
- Course: LTWL132
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 4.5
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I had him for my last quarter at UCSC for Global Cities: Shanghai. He was amazing. I sort of agree with the dense reading part, but he's very knowledgeable, helpful at office hours. Pretty large workload, but it's easily manageable. I got an A. Midterm/Final are very straightforward, no trick questions. If you read there's no reason to not get an A
Rating # 10
Overview:
- Course: ENG101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 4.0
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
ONE OF THE BEST PROFESSORS I EVER HAD IN MY LIFE! In our modern world of declining literacy, short attention spans, as well as immature college students, I understand the comments here. Did I think his class was challenging and had a lot of readings? Heck yes, but he was one of the most inspiring teachers ever, and is an expert on his stuff.
Rating # 11
Overview:
- Course: LIT0000
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 2.0
- Course Difficulty: 5.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: No
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
His interest in the subject and in my understanding of it is what led me to pursue a grad school career and eventually a career as a professor. So was the hard course work worth it?
Rating # 12
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 4.0
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Took his Marxism class. He is very good at making things very clear. Ultimately, he is not a very interesting thinker. He's somewhat of a traditional marxist and little too nostalgic for the 60's for my taste. He calls Walter Benjamin (pronounced BEN-ya-meen) "Benjamin" (pronouncing it ben-JUH-min) bc he thinks the former is pretentious...
Rating # 13
Overview:
- Course: LTWL136
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 1.0
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining. Class is rigorous but not too hard.
Rating # 14
Overview:
- Course: LTWL135
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 5.0
- Course Difficulty: 2.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Amazing class, I was unsure about this class, but it got progressively more interesting. Funny and entertaining plus the philosophy is really enlightening
Rating # 15
Overview:
- Course: LTWL123
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 1.5
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
The huge amount of reading he assigns would be possible... if you were only taking this class and didn't have other classes/obligations. The reading is (to top it off) extremely dense and confusing. He's a smart guy but his lectures are very, very long, and his explanations only serve to confuse you more. Expect the urge to lob tomatoes at him.
Rating # 16
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 3.5
- Course Difficulty: 5.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Dense reading but VERY interesting. He knows his stuff and if you have a good command of the english language, you'll learn a lot from his lectures (provided you even go). the section was fun, except I was one of the only people who ever had an opinion on the readings. I think because no body else did the readings or they just didn't get it.
Rating # 17
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 4.5
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
The workload for Lit 101 was substantial but it's 101 so what do you expect? I learned a lot from Connery, he's an incredibly intelligent, witty and inspiring professor.
Rating # 18
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 3.0
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
He's a pretty smart guy. Slightly boring, but that may have been due to the 8 AM scheduling. Don't take his class unless you are prepared to do A LOT of dense reading. He's a hardcore Marxist. Overall, he's a pretty good professor, but definitely expects students to work hard. He welcomes all questions.
Rating # 19
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 2.5
- Course Difficulty: 4.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
Yes, Chris is a very intelligent man. He speaks God knows how many languages and knows his stuff about marxism. However, this was not what I was expecting out of a LIT class. This was much more like Philosophy 101 than LIT 101. It would be more bearable if he made more connections to literature throughout, but they were few and far between.
Rating # 20
Overview:
- Course: LIT101
- Grade Received: N/A
- Overall Rating: 1.0
- Course Difficulty: 3.0
- For Credit: N/A
- Textbook Used: Yes
- Would Take Again: N/A
- Attendance: N/A
Comment:
I don't understand how anyone can condsider this professor to be anything greater than overly idealistic and boring. Yes it is true that he is smart, but his smarts are to such an extent that his explanations and definitions confuse further rather than clarify. I would say avoid this professor
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