Flora Davidson

Prof. Davidson is very nice, and her class was very bearable and pretty easy. There was definitely a little bit more fluff than I expected. The first half of the course ended up being a rundown of urban history--and while I do find that pretty interesting, it was nothing that I couldn't have acquired from reading a good book or even a series of thorough wikipedia articles. Sometimes her lectures felt like very good high school history lectures in that they largely presented a series of simple dates, names, and events, and I often found myself reverting to my high school note-taking method--passive listening that was largely sufficient to get all the information needed. The second half of the course was much more in depth and satisfying. It felt like a good survey of recent urban issues and concluded with an interesting and current note on contemporary cities and the future. Professor Davidson provides ample supplementary material to the syllabus, often from that day's issue of the Times, and is genuinely enthusiastic about students' feedback. That said, it still wasn't very challenging. I didn't strictly need this class for my poli sci major, but am very interested in everything urban. This class kind of met my expectations, mainly the second half. But sometimes I wonder if I could have better used that spot to explore another concentration or something. If you're looking for…

I loved this class, and it's a great colloquium option for anyone interested in American Politics. The class explores Political Leadership from many different angles, opening with a fascinating analysis of Woodrow Wilson that sets the tone for the entire course. Each week, the readings either focus on a typology (Barber, Greenstein) or an aspect of leadership (minority, women, groupthink). There were also several readings about Obama (including his book). The readings were very applicable to the papers, especially the typologies, which Davidson emphasized that we should use. If you chose a woman or black politician, those readings were useful as well. My favorite part about the class, though, was how easy Davidson made it to write the research paper. The department requires junior colloquiums to include a 25 page research paper, and Davidson broke this down into pieces in a way that made writing the final paper SO easy. Each person picked a politician to explore. Our topic statement was due the 3rd week of class, annotated bibliography in about the middle of October, and a detailed outline after fall break. A rough draft was due one of three weeks around the time of Thanksgiving, depending on when your presentation was scheduled. I used fall break to read some books on my topic and the outline made writing the paper incredibly easy, especially after discussing it with her. She…

Professor Davidson is a great professor. She gives great notes which basically summarizes the lonnnggg readings. In addition, she gives extra credit papers which can be very helpful. The class itself was fairly interesting and a great class for a poli sci or urban studies major. The reading increased as the semester progressed but her lectures usually cover the readings fairly well. Grading largely depends on TAs. Some TAs are more competent than others and give more feedbacks on papers.

This class is great for any poli sci major or just for anyone into current events. You learn about the way that the personalities of political leaders affect their decision making, as well as issues of race and gender and how they intersect with the behavior of elected officials. Barack Obama and the 2008 election came up a lot in the class discussions. Despite Prof Davidson's clear bias in favor of Obama and the Democratic party, we were still able to get to the heart of real, interesting issues. Professor Davidson was extremely knowledgeable, lively, and a great facilitator of student participation. She was responsive to our ideas and always had something insightful to say. She was friendly and made us all feel at ease. It was clear that Prof Davidson had put a lot of thought into the organization of the course, and there was a very logical progression to the ideas introduced. The heavy participation was very interesting and I loved the exchange of ideas. There was a lot of comfort in our group setting and a lot of lively discussion that wasn't forced. Definitely take this course if you can.

Professor Davidson is a mostly engaging professor who has a passion for her course material and her students. She approaches the broad topic of American Urban Politics by organizing her syllabus chronologically, and then discussing certain reoccurring themes. Pretty much material she presents is all very interesting, and her assignments are, to paraphrase her, meant to engage you intellectually and conceptually and not function as busywork. Bad things about her class are that lectures can be pretty boring and/or repetitive as, yes, Professor Davidson does often regurgitate the reading (including whole quotes at times), which can be good in moderation but not to excess. This is not to say that reviewing the assigned reading is all bad, as she knows well that many people cannot keep up with reading and that not discussing homework can make the class seem disjointed. It's just that Professor Davidson probably reviews too much. At the very least, she definitely relies on crutch words (e.g. um, uh) a lot. Also, the course has a rather transparent "liberal/leftward" bent. It would have been nice to incorporate a few opposing viewpoints that present, say, arguments *for* reduced federal help to cities. I'm not sure if legitimate research on such a viewpoint exists, but since Professor Davidson and one's textbook are constantly ragging on conservatives, if you're totally allergic to l…

Typical for the department standards, maybe slightly more. About a book or some long articles per week for reading. Questions about the reading every week which can be done from only skimming. Each week a group of 2-3 students lead the discussion and opened with a presentation about the readings. When it is your week you prepare for the presentation and also write a ~6 page paper. The final department standard 25 page research paper, which is helpfully broken into pieces by Professor Davidson. Mine ended up being 35 including appendixes and bibliography. There is a required rough draft and ~15 minute presentation in class on your paper.

Take American Urban Politics. Seriously. JUST DO IT. The class changed everything I've ever thought about anything. I've changed my major to urban studies because of it. Flora is wonderful--the sweetest, most understanding professor I've encountered in the past three years. The mandatory discussions sections really complement the class material nicely. Flora interweaves current events into the class subject matter nicely. Her knowledge about NYC politics and development is particularly intriguing. Flora makes herself very available to her students. All in all, a wonderful experience.

Moderate/heavy weekly reading, sometimes a book & a few articles. Weekly reading responses are easy. One 'midterm' 4 pg paper on a reading of your choice + presentation One long final 25 pg paper + 15 minute presentation. No exams.

I really like Prof. Davidson. I'll admit that the criticisms below are pretty true, but other than that, she is very kind and well-meaning. She is clearly very passionate about urban politics, and she often incorporates articles about current events that are fun to hear about. Her lectures can be a bit dry since she basically regurgitates the textbook, but that means you don't have to read the book on your own (really, you don't!). I'd say that there are two ways to do well in this class. The first, which is what I did, is go to class, skim the textbook every couple of weeks, and do the supplementary readings that aren't discussed in as much depth during her lectures. Go to your discussion sections, say one or two things, and work hard on the take-home midterm and book review. That's one way. The other way is to hardly ever go to class (though you do have to go to discussion section), but keep up with reading the textbook/articles on your own. Some students already acquainted with urban politics did this, and I'd say it was just as effective. It's really not hard to do well in this class. I don't really know what an easy A class is (I'm convinced none exists at Columbia), but my hunch tells me that this is close to it. Enjoy how sweet and non-threatening Prof. Davidson and her TAs are. If you're looking for more than that, you can try to challenge yourself here, but I'm sure t…

THIS IS THE MOST BORING CLASS WITH THE MOST BORING PROFESSOR. Every single day, when I went to class I'd sit and think "It was such a mistake to get out of my bed for this." Professor Davidson is the most infuriatingly boring professor I have ever taken a class with. She reads straight from the book (count the number of times per class she says "don't worry, don't write this down, it's straight from the book..."), takes long pauses, speaks very slowly, and constantly falls behind the syllabus. It didn't help that the entire class was uninspired and lethargic, of course, but she injected no energy into the classroom. The actual course is interesting, with a lot of fun facts about New York. I urge you to take this class with someone else however. While Davidson is obviously very interested in the material (frequently offering extra credit opportunities to encourage her students to go out into the city and experience things), she doesn't seem to care for her undergrads. She loves her TAs but is cold towards the students actually taking her class.