Fred Chernoff - Colgate University

Professor: Fred Chernoff

Department: TBD

College: Colgate University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: POSC353
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Freddie is the absolute man. His lectures are a work of art, and his goal for the class is not just to help us understand national security, but give it depth by connecting it to history, arts, culture. Grading criteria very clear, and your final grade is bumped up with strong attendance and participation in class. Also gotta love the corgis.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He is a very nice person, very understanding and obviously cares about his students. He gets to know everyone in class generally well and I respect that. He is also very lenient on the whole attendance thing (he understands if you have to miss class). His lectures are very hard to follow and you need to do the reading for the tests.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Cool guy and obviously very smart, but his class was very unorganized. No rhyme or reason to his lectures. Vague essay prompts, but lets you write about what you want to. Make sure to read his book, Theory and Metatheory.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Pretty tough grader and lectures can be long and boring.

Rating # 5

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

I took Fundmntl', National Security, Extended Study, and seminar with Prof Chernoff. He also advised me on my honors thesis. Needless to say, he made a huge impact on my experience at Colgate. He's brilliant and changed the way that I think. I highly recommend that you take a class with him. His technological mishaps are a part of the experience.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Chernoff. 2 PhD's. 2 adorable dogs. Couldn't ask for a better IR professor.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Chernoff's class bored me a lot because he kept going off on tangents and then repeating himself when we got to the actual material. He's a nice guy, but I felt like I didn't learn anything the entire semester. He's also a very harsh grader and unclear on what he wants out of paper and project assignments, which he grades harshly.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• 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:

I had Prof Chernoff for the fundamentals of IR and loved him!! Such a genuinely warm person and a fantastic professor, though a bit tangential and we didn't always get through the outline he put on the board in class. His book is super helpful for sorting out theory and metatheory, reading it definitely makes the course 100x easier.

Rating # 9

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Chernoff is a little all over the place, which makes his lectures difficult to follow. His office hours often lead to endless tangents. But, he is brilliant and will change the way you think about thinking, among other things. He also has fluffy dogs that he sometimes brings in.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• 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:

Terrible. Clearly did not care about our class and gave an unreasonable amount of reading (which you need to do for tests). His tests are hard and graded only out of 10 points. Office hours are impossible to get into. Does not give any outline of what tests will cover.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• 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:

I also had Chernoff for POSC 355. Difficult but no regrets in taking his courses. Majority of classes are lectures. Some class presentations. One big paper and a number of tests throughout. Not easy. Attention in class and reading is VERY necessary. Challenged and learned a lot. Very intelligibly, difficult to get into office hours though.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• 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:

He's brilliant. Couldn't have asked for a better class or professor. Would definitely take him again. Favourite professor so far. Lenient grading though feedback is critical and constructive. Perfect grasp of material, amazing class presence, erudite, engaging and funny. His corgis are ADORABLE too.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: POSC232
• 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:

His intelligence is as legendary as is his unconditional love of corgies and Cuban cigars. Although increasingly disorganized, he's only incomprehensible if you have no idea about (Greek) philosophy and no interest in international affairs. Testing based almost exclusively on lectures. Will go out of his way to help, esp. if you show promise ;)

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: POSC151
• 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:

A great professor, knows just about everything about IR - especially metatheory - people on this site complain about his lectures being unorganized and sometimes dull but throughout two courses with him i never found this to be the case. Easily one of the best professors at gate.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: POSC450A
• 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:

Professor Chernoff is one of the better professors at Colgate. I never had a professor with a better command of the course material. He was very friendly and made himself accessible for outside help. He is a bit disorganized at times, and can also go off on tangents during lectures. Overall, he is a very valuable member of the Colgate faculty.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: POSC450
• 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:

I took 3 classes with Chernoff over my 4 years at Colgate. I thought his seminar, although dense, was one of the most interesting classes I took at Colgate. Some of the material was hard to comprehend, but that is the nature of the philosophy, not poor teaching. If you need help, he is more than willing to sit down. Must be willing to work hard.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: POSC450
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I took all of his classes at Colgate, so I knew I like this professor. Very, clear, helpful and interesting. Biggest weakness: could be more organized and make better use of technology. Email mess-ups are legendary. Highly recommend. Classes are lots of fun, especially if you like theory of IR (which I clearly do).

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: SEMA
• 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:

Prof. Chernoff was a great Prof. He is extremely accessible and definately cares a lot about his students. Every I.R. major should take a class with him. My favorite Prof. at Colgate!!!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: POSC4
• 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:

He was my favorite college professor. By far... So much so, that I`m writing this review 4 years removed from college.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: IR200
• 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:

Prof Chernoff is super helpful and smokin hot!