Luis Ruedas - Portland State University, Portland, OR

Professor: Luis Ruedas

Department: Biology

College: Portland State University, Portland, OR

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: BI415
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr Ruedas is a good professor to take. The class is a 6 credit course so you expect to have to read excessively do a lot of work but the class is not all that difficult. You should plan on taking good notes and understanding the concepts because its very conceptual heavy. So memorize material but don't just regurgitate definitions.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: BI415
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He was super funny and, more importantly, he was passionate about the subject. He was very knowledgeable and kept us up to date on the latest discoveries in mammalogy. It was one of my favorite classes so far. He cares and is very fair!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: BI415
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I loved Professor Ruedas! He is funny, motivational and has a true passion for mammalogy. He is so excited about the subject it makes it hard not to feel the same. I would highly recommend taking his course!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: BI473
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Ruedas is an abundant source of knowledge and he provides great advice for junior scientists who are just getting their feet wet in field research. This is not a class for couch potatoes or anyone that is not truly interested in fieldwork, especially in the Northwest. Some trekking and inclement weather are involved.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: BI473
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

If you ever get the chance to take field sampling, do it! Lots of good hands on experience being out in the field, you learn about data collection, statistics, and representation of data. Plus you get to contribute to a continuing study, so exiting! Ruedas is a great teacher, knowledgeable and approachable!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: BI357
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I think Dr. Ruedas gets a bad rap. Yes, he is intentionally vague about paper topics but if you do a reasonable good job and turn it in on time he'll give you 100%. His tests are a little convoluted but not unmanageable. He's a good guy and his class is decent.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: BI357
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Awesome teacher, very passionate, wonderful guy, fun to be around. He has so much field experience and is really quite a fascinating guy to talk to. He has so much experience in a dynamic field that really much better learned hands on than through a book or lecture. great class, great guy, great time.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: BIO429
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

If you get a chance, take Conservation Biology with Luis. A wide variety of subject matter is covered and he is a very knowledgeable (and hilarious) lecturer. Exams and exercises are short, but this is biology and brevity is highly valued, so make your words count! You are given a lot of freedom as far as open-ended exam questions are concerned.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: BI357
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

It was so frustrating to get this man to email me back. I was on the verge of harassing him and he still wouldn't email. A quick "ok" would suffice. Not to mention he said, "I want you guys to struggle through the homework." He gave no guidance or instructions or criteria for doing our homework. Which turned out to be a project..... Not happy.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: BI415
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Most/all of these complaints are for non-majors classes. Guess what, guys, science is hard. Dr. Ruedas is articulate, super knowledgeable, and hilarious. He's willing to help anyone who helps themselves. Go to lecture, read the book, study. His exams test your ability to APPLY knowledge as much as recall. Excellent educator and scientist.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: BI202
• 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:

This was literally the worst class I've taken over the span of the time I've been in college (almost 5 years). He's a nice person but his voice is quiet and slightly monotone. I really couldn't stand going because of the couple of really annoying people who like to ask question every 5 min. and the lack of excitement he puts into his lectures.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: BIO202
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I really like this class but you really have to study the powerpoint slides and notes he puts online before the test. He's very inteligent and funny as well. I would recommend this class to anyone who is willing to show up to all the lectures he makes biology interesting! Also he put the main chapters online on D2L so I didn't buy the book.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: BI202
• 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:

His voice put me to sleep. Can skip all classes and show up for tests and do fine as long as you read. Horrible teacher. Hated the class.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: BIO357
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Nice guy and all, but a low quality teacher. Gets way off topic all the time. On our midterm the highest grade was an 88% and he said (not even kidding), "A curve would be impossible". Yeah, it is impossible to give everyone a couple points because your test sucked.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ECO357
• 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:

Ruedas was a clever and funny guy but class time was spent mostly about completely irrelevant topics and maybe a page or two from the book? Lectures and test and book material really did not synch up and was rather disappointing to have wasted money on what could have been an enjoyable class.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: BI360
• 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:

Not an easy class. Professor was more interested in talking about his own studies and awesome research than he was about preparing us for exams. He did not explain concepts well. Exams were long and did not always line up with lectures. HE says blah blah, yackity yack. allot, doesn't want to explain.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: BIO357
• 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:

By far the worst professor Ive had. Class time is filled with his tangents that have nothing relevant to the material. The tests are filled with material never covered or even slightly mentioned. I believe he is a very intelligent person and knows what hes doing. But he has no idea how to relate this knowledge to a class. Avoid him.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ECOLO123
• 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:

If there's one thing I would believe from this site, it is about this professor. Seriously, the man is NOT made for teaching. Nice guy, just not a good professor. His exams are like mini novels and expects you to know what is in the book even if he did not mentioned it in the slightest bit in lecture. Wont give back exams; can only go to office hrs

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: BIO400
• 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:

I've taken several courses with this professor, and I think the people here are complaining. You're not supposed to learn from lectures. You're supposed to educate yourself. Professor's are there to answer questions. This guy has more than a touch of genius. Amazing teacher.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: BI102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The class average was real low. The concepts were hard to understand because text book and lecture seem to go different directions.