Kevin Leonard - Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Professor: Kevin Leonard

Department: History

College: Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HIS391
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Leonard is an interesting teacher... his assignments are often difficult to understand and his grading scale makes you feel like you are doing worse than you are. However he is great at helping when you ask for it, go to his office hours often and have him read your paper before turning it in. It will make all the difference!

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HIS391
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Leonard has a great sense of humor, and its easy to be engaged in his classes. Participation is important, so be willing to speak up in his classes.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Leonard's grading scale is a little daunting at first, but he tries hard to work with the class if they seem like they are struggling. His lectures and readings are interesting. You will work hard in the class, but you'll be ok if you are careful to stick to the rubric for each assignment. Overall, a good professor.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HIS104
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This is my LEAST favorite professor at WWU. He is terrible at teaching, horrible at grading, ridiculous at assigning papers, and unclear on expectations. He has a huge ego, and laughs at students when he thinks they are wrong.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Leonard has a huge ego. He is a terrible teacher, he will teach you nothing. He grades you on unclear content. Makes his classroom feel like a high school class. Syllabus and assignments are unhelpful and graded harshly.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Just got our first papers back, over 50% of the students got a C, D, or F, only 1-3 people got an A. He is very unclear on what he is looking for, and expects the world of you. Assigns boring texts, and in all honestly should not be in the profession of teaching. Avoid!!!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This professor and class does not have much useful content. I was very disappointed with the set up of the class. He had weird expectations for assignments, even though I had a strong feeling that he didn't prepare much for lecture what so ever, and didn't put much into grading. Nice guy, but waste of time.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HIS391
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This class was extremely boring, the books we had to read were boring, and the professor is incredibly boring. First day of class he spent the whole two hours talking about the syllabus. Attendance required even though you learn nothing in class. The things he teaches in class are so selective and just bizarre, talks about meaningless details.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are required and are filled with lots of rambling. He is funny and entertaining, but it didn't feel like I gained much knowledge from the class. No tests was nice, but he has a bunch of long research papers. You have to read a TON!!!!!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HIS391
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

AVOID IF YOU CAN. I generally get good grades, like 3.5 ish, but I received horrible marks in 391. So for the last assignment of the year I cheated. I paid a professional writer with a recent PHD IN HISTORY to write my paper. Still received below 50 percent. He plays favorites. Also didn't grade papers until the last few weeks. What an awful class.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: HIST265
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Every day would be a group discussion about assigned reading, whether with one other person, a couple other people, or a class discussion. There is a lot of reading. Often I wish we were analyzing key sections, because we would really only discuss key sections. Pay attention to and answer all questions asked for his papers. He wants clear responses

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: HIST265
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The content of this class was interesting, however it wasnt executed well. 4 essays about few of the many assigned articles. The class discussions about assigned readings were pointless & didnt make any real conclusions, just summarized. Required to go to class b/c he collects notecards for attendance. Would have had same grade w/o required class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HIST265
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

It is A LOT of reading but somehow manageable. He gets off topic and can be super funny, I really enjoyed the class thanks to him. If it had been taught by a different professor I don't know if I would have liked it as much.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: 391
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I think Leonard was one of the best professors I've taken, and definitely one of the best history professors. Yes, you do a LOT of reading, but if you're a history major that's old news. I appreciated that Leonard included topics in history I hadn't learned before, so it wasn't your run oft he mill typical U.S. history class.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: HIST391
• 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:

While it wasn't "easy", this class wasn't hard. He is very knowledgeable, helpful, and wants to see you do your best. He offers 2-3 page supplementary essays which helped out my grade a lot. Attendance is mandatory. He takes roll every class.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HIST263
• 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:

This is not an "easy" class. You have to be willing to do the reading and work outside of class and come prepared to discuss because discussion is a huge component of this class.As far as professors go he is really top notch and he is always incredibly understanding and very easy to get in contact with. I would absolutely recommend his class!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HIST263
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

WOW! this class was more work than my other 3 classes combined last qtr. -- it's not hard, it's just non-stop. I learned a lot and it was very interesting, but graded harshly. While I was maintaining an A in the class, I ended up with a B+final grade. Apparently my last papers weren't good? super frustrating, all my classes suffered for a B+

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HIST263
• 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:

If you want a GUR I would highly recommend NOT taking 263 from him. He assigns 70-100 pages every 2 days along with at least a page of writing about it. His essays are controlling. He requires you to use 16 examples and they have to be a certain number from each chapter of books. We probably read over 1000 pages and wrote 30-40. Also a harsh grader

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: HIST265
• 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:

The course work isn't too difficult or even that time consuming (if you manage your time well) but Kevin is a tough grader. If you didn't read the text EXTREMELY closely, good luck getting above a C on papers.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: HIS391
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I'm not sure why people have said Leonard is so hard on grading. He allows you to write short 2-3 page supplementary essays to earn back points, and his grade assignment is skewed in your favor. Sometimes he gets off topic, and his answers to questions are somewhat unclear. Overall good class, would probably take him again for other classes.