Michael Urban - University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Professor: Michael Urban

Department: Political Science

College: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: POL140B
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I am 2 years graduated but Professor Urban was the best I had during my undergrad studies. He is hard, make no mistake. But he is incredibly fair and always willing to be a resource. I took 2 of his classes and received A's in both. I took drafts of my essays to him, etc. Don't skip reading and definitely don't skip class. Very worth it.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POLI43
• 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:

Michael Urban is a horrible professor. His lectures are boring and he hardly even makes sense. If you have no prior knowledge of Eurasian Politics you will be far behind. He expects you to know Russian history from the beginning. Don't take this class unless you want to suffer and most likely fail.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POLI43
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Tough class because the concepts are foreign, and there is a lot of reading. However, Urban is a really good teacher, his lectures are supported by his personal accounts. His lectures are their to clarify the reading so I strongly suggest to go to everyone. Don't slack on the readings because they are very essential.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POLI190
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor urban can be intimidating because he is so tall. However, he is a nice guy and an excellent professor. Readings were huge 300 page books every week but the subject revolution was amazingly fascinating. It was excellent being in this man's class and I really enjoyed it.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• 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:

AMAZING professor. Lecture style is dry, but Urban can back up almost every theory or concept with really interesting stories about the decades he's spent in Russia. Tough course and reading assignments are literally unmanageable, but take notes on everything he says in lecture and you'll be fine. One of the best classes I've taken at UCSC.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• 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:

While admittedly Urban's lectures can be vague and key points difficult to distinguish, this is so far my FAVORITE course I have taken, and I absolutely love Urban. Readings can be dense, but if you attend every lecture and take careful notes there is a lot of forgiveness. Class is challenging, but rewarding. Go to office hours for clarity. LOVED!!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• 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:

Horrible lecturer. Spends most of the time telling irrelevant stories that have nothing to do with the subject matter. Also, the readings are long and ridiculously boring. The tests cover up to 600+ pages of reading with no study guide, and then the test will have fill-ins asking for random facts. Teacher is unyielding and won't curve either.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• 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:

Just an overall Badass, his stories make the class and his experiences living in the Soviet Union make the class way more exciting. reading assignments are insane but if you keep up he lectures on the reading. He has great TA's to make up for that fact he doesnt give alot of one on one time to his students. two thumbs up tho, if you can take him!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: POLI113
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Urban is bad-ass. Awesome guy. Really worth listening to. Some readings are a bit dry, but others are great. He tells Russian jokes to illustrate anthropological/political points. Gotta love that.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: POLI43
• 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:

Urban is the best professor I had in this school! I made the mistake of not taking one of his classes this quarter and I won't make that mistake again!! I wish he taught more classes so I wouldn't have to take classes with other lecturers.. Take lots of notes and enjoy the class!

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Urban is very knowledgeable with tons of first hand experience in Russia. His class was very difficult, however, and required a huge amount of reading that was also very dense. I would recommend learning EVERYTHING covered in the class (lectures, reading etc.) for the midterm. That is the only way you'll get an A. Learn every single fact possible.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: POLI43
• 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:

fantastic teacher. extremely interesting, with real life experience to contribute. very humorous as well. attendence is essential and you have to do the reading, but not too much and all his tests are very fair. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. urban is a ****ing g.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• 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:

Ridiculous amounts of reading, but extremely engaging lectures and a very interesting class altogether. Know personally many of the people discussed in lecture. Hard but worth it.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: POLI60
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT TAKE URBAN! First, he is unable to think and speak logically. If you are intelligent, you will find his neanderthal utterances a total waste of time. Secondly, he has no intellectual integrity and is very biased - don't dare to question his beliefs! Lastly, he literally whispers in class. IF YOU CARE ABOUT LEARNING, DON'T TAKE HIM!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: POL140B
• 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:

I found him boring, tended to talk on about stuff that seemed off topic, LOTS of reading that was dull. despite that some friends loved him, i found him knowledgable but not great at conveying things to the class in intersting ways, found myself gradually ditching as quarter went on, one of the harder class but more cause its boring than difficult

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: POLI142
• 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:

Urban is a good story teller. The only problem is figuring out which of his stories are relevant to the class and which ones he just tells for fun. There was a bunch of really hard readings and his lectures rambled and made little sense. You either love him or hated him. My advice: stay away.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: POL140B
• 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:

He knew his stuff, but it was hard to distinguish the key points from everything else. LOTS of reading; hard grader. He seemed to know his info on a firsthand basis, but argued with most alternative ideas and claimed they were wrong. Midterm: know your KEY TERMS! Final was easy. Make sure you have a creative thesis for term paper, which is long.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: POLI190
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Urban is a nice guy. He is vague at times which makes it very difficult to comprehend some lectures and course material. Be prepared to dedicate yourself to his class.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: POLI140B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

There was a lot of reading required. I basically didn't know where I stood by the end of the final, but I passed. As long as you do the reading and have an idea of what's going on you'll do good. This was however an interesting class and his insight to the subject was obvious.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: POL110
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is interesting, but he jumps from topic to topic. It is hard to tell what is important, what to write in your notes, and what you should simply listen to. He is great one on one, but on the whole his lectures or draining and or confusing.