Susan Tananbaum - Bowdoin College

Professor: Susan Tananbaum

Department: History

College: Bowdoin College

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HIST1010
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She is very accessible through email and will even offer to Skype you if you need help and can't get her in her office. She also is very nice and offers to have people come over for Thanksgiving/ we had a class dinner at her house. Long, boring assigned papers though and even more boring, long readings. Encourages class discussion.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HIST224
• 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:

There's good and bad. Lectures are sometimes boring. Articles assigned are mostly interesting. Essay grading is harsh but fair, and she makes good suggestions. She's easy to get in touch with and nicer in person than during lectures. You need to read the articles, the textbooks are decent but can be skimmed.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HIST211
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Asks you to cite everything in essays leaves no room for your own interpretations. Never taking another class with her

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HIST211
• 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:

Bad experience

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HIST224
• 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:

Always willing to help and explain. Will help you improve as a historian if you want to. Clear expectations, clear grading. A tad scattered at times, but always willing to explain things till they are clear.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HIST224
• 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:

There is no questioning that she is a smart cookie. She really does know her stuff. However, her lecture format is severly lacking. It is very hard to follow what she is saying and the points that she is trying to make. Yet at the same time, she is extremely approachable and probably the nicest teacher I have had at Bowdoin.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HIST224
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

IDK what people are talking about. I almost didn't take Israeli-Palestinian Conflict because of these reviews, but she sends you the notes she takes in class, she's on email all the time, and the only annoying thing that she does is she makes you respond out loud to Y/N questions when everyone is tired and just wants to grunt. She knows her stuff.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: HISTORY
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

No Comments

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: HST020
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Worst teacher ever. She gives more homework then all of my other classes combined, and has something due 4 out of the 5 days of the week. She does not understand if you have other commitments and cannot complete other work because in her mind, her class is the most important thing. On top of that the material is dull and the class is unexciting.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: HST224
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

worst prof ive ever had at bowdoin. avoid at all costs. poor lecture format involves her speaking way to fast and at an unbearably high pitch. papers aren't good as she gives little help, only criticisms and expects you to know how to resolve the 'problems' to suit her pre-conceived ideas

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: HIST220
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The class did not fit the course description at all, was supposed to cover the history of anti-semitism and was 90% focused on the holocaust. Journal assignment with partner was elementary and boring. Classes were also boring and extremely repetitive. Most of the reading was uninteresting as well. Grades made no sense.

Rating # 12

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

If you are interested in a subject, do not take Tananbaum's class on it, because it will quell any interest you ever had. Class entails Tananbaum typing student discussion in a word document in front of the class. You'll probably learn more from the smart kid sitting behind you.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: HIST220
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Don't take Tananbaum. Classes are really boaring. She speeds through lectures, then asks students to discuss the rest. Everything I learned in that class was from the readings. She is helpful with papers, but it wasn't worth sitting through a semester of her class just to get extra writing pointers.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: HIS225
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

annoying, talks way too much (and too fast), and is unclear with instructions on papers.

Rating # 15

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

If not for her incompetence I would have majored in Hist. She does not know her subject and she is afraid of her students. Really the worst. When a gang of ****en frat-boys are correcting the prof's facts you know it ain't good. She is terrible.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: HIST125
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She is very approachable and friendly. Helpful when approached about papers. My first teacher who has invited the class to her house for ice cream. Great teacher.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: HIST224
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

If you like learning through having the prof. ask questions, and the class answering them, then go for her. Pretty easy grader, but classes are boring and dry

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: HIS22424
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Comes off as being a tough professor but once you get to know her she is an incredibly nice lady. Very understanding and willing to help.