Recommended Professors

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Davis
1

<p>Since I’ve taken a lot of classes at UC Davis in a variety of areas, I thought I’d post some of my recommended professors for the incoming freshman. It can be a much more pleasurable experience if your Fall quarter profs are good ones, so here is my list divided by area. I’ll add to this list as I remember more profs.</p>

<p>Political Science
Dr. Stuart Hill - American National Government</p>

<p>History
Dr. Alice Harris - World History (HIS 10B)
Dr. Erika Quinn - World History (HIS 10C)</p>

<p>English
Dr. Karen Walker - Intro. to Lit (ENL 003) (Awesome, awesome, awesome!)
Chris Schaberg</p>

<p>Economics
Jay Helms (Best Econ prof)
Brian Rosario - Microeconomics (ECN 001A)
Dr. Miyanishi - Macroeconomics (ECN 001B)</p>

<p>Computer Science
Dr. Dan Gusfield - ECS 30
Sean Davis - ECS 15,40,60
Dr. Nina Amenta - ECS 10</p>

<p>Mathematics
Dr. Janko Gravner - MAT 16A
Dr. Lawrence Marx - MAT 16B (Tough, but very helpful)
Dr. Duane Kouba - MAT 21B (The best math professor at Davis)
Dr. Sabalka
Dr. Chuchel</p>

<p>Neurology, Biology, and Physiology
Dr. Erwin Bautista - NPB 10,68</p>

<p>Biology
Dr. Susan Keen - BIS 1B
Dr. Pat Randolph - BIS 1B (I had him as a TA, but he’s awesome and teaches the class sometimes)
Dr. Terrence Murphy - BIS 1A
Dr. Martin Wilson - BIS 20Q</p>

<p>Chemistry
Dr. Brian Enderle - CHE 2A,2B,2C (Explains stuff in very simple terms)</p>

<p>Textiles & Clothing
Ryan Looysen - TXC 7
Dr. Susan Keiser - TXC 7</p>

<p>Physics
Andreas Albright (PHY 10)</p>

<p>Women’s Studies
Gayatri Gopinath</p>

<p>Sociology
Dr. Ellis Jones</p>

<p>fooshy</p>

2

<p>Thanks fooshy.
I know UCLA has Bruinwalk where they rate their professors--does Davis have a similar website or do they rely on third party sites like ratemyprofessor.com ?</p>

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<p>Awesome! Thanks fooshy. :]</p>

4

<p>Wow thanks fooshy! I'll definitely try to get Enderle for the Chem series :3</p>

<p>By the way, the MPR states that a 25 or more on the test gives you a placement on MAT12, what is the MRP's holistic score?</p>

5

<p>When do we pick our profs.?</p>

<p>Are these teachers easy or just nice?</p>

6

<p>@alansda: we rely on ratemyprofessor.com and word of mouth.
@weirdhobo: i'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but the MPR is a 60-question exam. you need to place 25+ to get into precalc and 30+ to get into short calculus/bio calculus. 35+ is for advanced calculus. you can also fulfill the requirement by doing well on the SAT or AP exams.</p>

<p>Learning</a> Skills Center Website</p>

<p>@dmission: the professors are not necessarily easy, but will teach the material well and be available to be helpful. for example, sean davis for computer science is considered the hardest professor, but he really is helpful and makes you learn your stuff-- you don't regret taking him down the line. you pick your profs during summer advising, when you have your first pass to choose your classes. i'm not guaranteeing that all these profs will be teaching, but just look out for those names as they're a safe bet.</p>

<p>fooshy</p>

7

<p>Yes, i meant how much it was out of (sry for confusion), thanks for the answer. Thats pretty good then though :o It should be pretty easy getting at least 60%+</p>

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<p>i passed the math one no problem, failed chem the first time (i hadn't taken chem in 3 years), studied a bit, took it again, passed no problem.</p>

<p>it seemed that 75% of the chem exam dealt with moles and mole conversions, and balancing chemical reactions.</p>

<ul>
<li>fooshy</li>
</ul>

9

<p>god no...i hate moles xD its not that hard though luckily</p>

<p>im guessing reviewing over the summer is recommended?</p>

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<p>forgot to mention you can use daviswiki.org to find some professor advice. they usually have reviews of the major courses for each major.</p>

<p>fooshy</p>

11

<p>niceee. </p>

<p>thanks, fooshy.</p>

12

<p>What does Jay Helms teach? Which specific econ? You said the others taught micro and macro.</p>

<p>Are there any teachers to be avoided?</p>

13

<p>If you want to get ahead and start planning what you want to take, you can download the course catalog at:
<a href="http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/upload/CSRG2008Fall.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://registrar.ucdavis.edu/upload/CSRG2008Fall.pdf&lt;/a>
go to Siscast.com</a> - Select your school and choose UC Davis and type in the course numbers to see what your schedule will look like... be aware that because you guys are going to be first-years, many classes will probably be full (but they DO reserve spots in certain classes like general chem) so any schedule you make will probably need modification =]</p>

14

<p>@glueeater: the teachers alternate econ a lot so they'll teach ecn 1a or 1b, it varies from quarter to quarter. i know people who had the same prof for both 1a and 1b.</p>

<p>fooshy</p>

15

<p>If there're any literature/creative writing people out there, I highly recommend Greg Dobbins and Joe Wenderoth.</p>

16

<p>Rauchway is basically the best history teacher at Davis and he is teaching
HIS 17B (US history from reconstruction to present) in the fall. HIGHLY recommended for everyone.</p>

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<p>fooshy, i like most your choices except for Master Davis, so far from what I've seen of him through my friends is that (besides being one of the toughest professors on campus) his coding style focuses too much on being concise (and at times hard to understand) instead of being functional and having easy readability, but that's just coming from an engineer's son, who's used to applied programming instead of CS programming :D haha</p>

<p>i would highly recommend
pol150, 151, 152, 196A with John Gates
His111A, B and C with Stylianos V Spyridakis (pretty much amazing, arguably one of the best profs Davis has to offer)</p>

<p>Animal Science 1 with Famula - absolutely HILARIOUS prof, and relatively easy</p>

<p>Plant Science 1 with Tom Gradziel - 3units once a week, real friendly, informal, easy A</p>

<p>i can't think of any others right now, but there are many other excellent profs</p>

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<p>"Animal Science 1 with Famula - absolutely HILARIOUS prof, and relatively easy"</p>

<p>barfdog17 Prof. Famula spoke to the parents at my d's orientation. He was amazing!</p>

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<p>master davis might be hard, but if you can't live through a class with him, you'll have a much harder time during the rest of the major. also the only 2 classes i took with him i got As-- i think people just procrastinate too much, don't go to lecture enough. also, he lets you correct your homework once youve submitted it if you found out whats wrong with it. pretty solid deal i'd say.</p>

<p>fooshy</p>

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<p>How hard are all these professors? Any easy A's?</p>