Willard Rusch - University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Professor: Willard Rusch

Department: English

College: University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ENG100C
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Worst professor I've ever had in my life. Passed in all his essays and papers, requested several emails for grading clarity, never returned, got a D- for doing all my work. Completely blind to his students and could care less about your grades. Don't take him; you won't learn anything and your GPA will only suffer like hell.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ENG100C
• 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:

This man shows a general lack of understanding, caring, and general classroom behavior. He has insulted several students (myself included), and even after the midterm had passed, not a single student had received any grades. Overall, probably the worst teacher I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENG9999
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This man needs to be reevaluated in his position. He is condescending, mean-spirited and unapproachable. We took 3-4 ten minute breaks during each class so he could chain smoke cigarettes, and we were required to buy over 70$ worth of textbooks, only to use one book for one paper. FIRE THIS MAN!!!!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ENG317
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

His lectures are disjointed and nearly impossible to follow. He has a bad attitude and talks down to students. He calls on someone, then as soon as the student starts to speak, Rusch interrupts with something irrelevant like, "it feels good to sit down". All in all, one of the worst professors I've ever had. Avoid at all costs.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENG340
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is the worst professor I ever had- I had great grades until I took him. He is condescending, bordering on downright evil- made me cry just asking a question- he really has no business teaching.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ENG120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

terrible at teaching.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ENG100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Where to start..still taking his class but its not too soon to say this guy is completely incompetent at his job. We have a set syllabus with due dates and he is yet to post links where we can submit them online (how he insists we submit them) on time. Very disorganized and forgetful.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ENG101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Had a sub 4 first 1/2 of the term, got A/B's on work.Rusch came back he demanded all work to b resub'ed so HE could grade it.Claimed he nvr received any of my work, tho I emailed it in front of him, said that I never sub'd work.Academic dean was so disgusted she had the college reimburse me so I could retake the class

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ENG330
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hmm...maybe Dr. Rusch just isn't for beginners? I've really enjoyed History of the English Language. It is HARD, so if you want to sleep your way to an A, take something else, but it's great if you want to be challenged. It is true that he's profoundly disorganized, so if that bothers you a lot, you might want look elsewhere.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ENG245
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

English is my major and I had to drop his class. He was rude and terribly disorganized. Made students feel stupid and several dropped, as well. He would also send us millions of emails, yet never reply to any that we sent him. No one had a clue what exactly we were supposed to be learning. I definitely would NOT recommend taking his class.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ENG150H
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Really bad teacher. Don't take him if you don't have to!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ENG150H
• 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:

Everything you read is true. Mind-numblingly disorganized, never returns papers on time. Spends half the class photocopying material as he NEVER makes enough copies. So disorganized it makes you hate the course; but so does his teaching. Avoid at all costs! I thought the reviews here were harsh, then I took his class. They're on the money, sadly...

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ENG330
• 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:

I'm told he is brilliant, but he jumps between subjects during class lectures with little continuity. The syllabus and grading rubric were not made available until halfway through the semester and were needlessly complicated. Believes himself more correct than the assigned text. Bristles when challenged. I still do not know what he expects of us.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ENG330
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you pay attention you'll actually learn something in his classes. It's not his fault that no one has entered college with any writing skills

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ENG120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Worst Professor I have ever had. Even worse than Bonita Daly in the USM School of Business. Nobody knew what was going on, including Rusch.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ENG100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Pretentious, huge ego, rude, takes everything extremely personally, knowledgeable with grammer, clueless with human beings, never responds to emails, grades to harsh, extremely disorganized, I didn't recieve one essay back of the many I wrote.. now how am I supposed to learn? Being right, combative, pethetic, probably really lonely sad man inside.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ENG100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

If you're not a good writer, take English with someone else--it will be your ruin if you take it with Rusch. To everyone who is, he's nowhere near as bad as people make him out to be. He's extremely disorganized and all over the place, so it's up to you to stay on top of things.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ENG3
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I do not for a moment believe that any of the positive comments found here are given by students. This man is a travesty, he hates humanity and should not be teaching!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ENG120H
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's terrible. USM should be embarrassed to have him representing the school. Unorganized, unprofessional, condescending, combative and abusive of students.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ENG330
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He's definitely an acquired taste, but, in the end, I'm glad I took a class with him. You've just got to make an effort to open up the lines of communication, work hard and never give up. I almost dropped his class because I thought it was ridiculous. I ended up with an A and a lot of confidence.