Glenn Gordon

As far as learning the thought process and practice of writing is concerned, I cannot recommend Professor Gordon enough. The readings are varied yet focused, and the discussions will change the way you think without question. He is also highly accessible during office hours, which is a resource all should use. Your GPA will take a hit, but what you learn here will prove more than sufficient to compensate. Take this class.

Taking Glenn's class was one of the best experiences I had at Columbia yet. Especially for someone who has just arrived here, this class is a perfect entryway into the academic community at Columbia. Not only does Glenn make you feel extremely welcomed, he also teaches you things that are going to be useful for the rest of your time here. One thing that I loved about this class was that, with the help of Glenn's charismatic and caring approach to teaching, everyone became really close to one another in the end. I ended up having a special form of kinship for all of my classmates, and I think that says a lot about how much the class meant for us and about Glenn's incredible teaching skills. Gender studies is a such a difficult topic, because it means deconstructing a lot of the most basic norms that structure our lives, to a point where we generally don't even notice them. It really takes a very skillful teacher like Glenn to walk students from such diverse backgrounds through this very thorny field of studies. I remember sitting at the first few classes and being just amazed at how Glenn managed to smoothly and gradually go over topics in feminist theory with this really heterogenous crew of students — international people, JTS students, a muslim girl, army veterans, proud straight guys and equally proud gay students. As someone who had a little knowledge in gender before, it…

The professor engages in friendly conversations to perpetuate the facade of friendship. He also appears to encourage the free flow of ideas during class discussions and interjects light-hearted comments. This type of communication suggests that he is your friend and there is a mutuality or an equivalent relationship between a student and the professor. In actuality, such communication belies his regard for students and their opinions. There is only one way to do things in this class - his way or the highway. He is very rigid in his approach to writing and he's unwilling to consider alternative ideas. This leads to surprises when he reviews your papers since his verbal feedback is often quite different than his written reviews of students' work.

Professor Gordon is an *excellent* teacher. Not only has he transformed my writing dramatically, but I have also come to regard my time in his class as the most valuable learning experience at Columbia. What I learned in UW has traveled with me and impacted my every writing assignment, personal essay, even down to simple reading experiences such as the daily newspaper. I came to Columbia having already completed 2 rigorous "honors" writing classes at my previous school. I have also been studying gender and sexuality for the past ten years. I saw I was placed in the UW Gender class, and I thought "no sweat." Wrong. Start sweating. This is no easy ride, but it was hands-down worth the blood, sweat, and tears. The readings are brilliantly curated, each speaking to the last and unfolding a conversation that spans multiple decades and discourses. The writing assignments expect you to converse with distinguished writers who are articulating deeply complex social ideas. If you participate and follow his direction, you will be able to do just that. This is one of the most valuable skills you can get from this class. At the end of the course, it seemed like the material we covered in Prof. Gordon's class connected with everything around me... I could not only SEE the larger conversation taking place in every newspaper, every casual conversation, and inside all of my other class reading…

This man is the best professor you could ever hope for. It's well over a year since I took UW and we have since then developed a relationship that I really value. I think some kids from his classes even went to his wedding, which shows you how much he really values his students. I did work I read now that I am really proud of in this class, put the time in and you'll be rewarded by the writing you produce.

As a clueless straight guy who had zero interest in feminist studies, I would've probably picked another section if I had known about the "Women and Gender" theme of Glenn's UW class beforehand. It would've been the biggest mistake ever. Contrary to the completely misnamed section title, at least half the readings we've done in class are about men, and all of them are about how gender expectations shape our identity in ways that many of us aren't even conscious of before taking a class like this. Take this course and prepare to have your mind blown. For instance, we spent one class discussing an article where super hardcore, ultra bad ass US Marines confessed that their biggest fear in combat wasn't being killed, or losing a limb - it was having their manhood blown off by an IED. Does it sound ridiculous? Hell yeah it does, but only because this is true stuff that people are often too embarrassed to talk about, which is why it's important. In Glenn's class, you will talk about stuff like this all the time, and it'll relate to your own life in ways that you never could've imagined. My fellow bros, have you ever noticed that women seem to constantly read more into your actions than you ever intended? Take this class and find out why. Ladies, do you ever wonder why your boyfriend is the most sensitive guy ever when you're together, but then turns into a complete douchebag when he…

Ask most anyone at Columbia, they'll tell you that the best professors are the ones who care about what they do and are happily willing to match the effort that the students put in to the class. By these standards, Glenn is the best professor you could ever ask for. For every hour of work a student puts into his class, Glenn will probably put in three. He is always accessible, whether that entails e-mails or meeting in his office. What's more, Glenn is very adept at developing strong writers. He always seems to know the best and most tangible ways to turn a B essay into something brilliant. He understands his students well, and is easily-relatable. The class is an absolute pleasure, especially if you decide to make it one. Write about things you care about, put in work outside the class, and be sure to turn in something your proud of. I can promise that Glenn will make it well worth your effort.

Glenn Gordon is a combination of everything you would want in a teacher. He is hardworking, dedicated, focused, and personable. In all our meetings in and out of class he astounded me with the care and effort he gave to each of his students. It was clearly important to him that each of us learned and improved our writing skills. Glenn managed to be an extremely helpful and focused instructor while still remaining fun and approachable. Glenn facilitates an environment that allows students to learn not only from him but themselves and their peers. After many meetings and classes with Glenn it was clear how much everyone had grown. I remember hearing all of the theses from everyone at the table at the second to last UWriting class and marveling at the progress we had made. One of my peers who started off the year a little shaky because of the language barrier articulated a point extremely well and made me proud of him. I can honestly say, I haven't experienced such growth in a while. Glenn is one of the best instructors that I've ever had.

Let me start this entry off by saying that I am a CULPA free rider….I am the last person you would ever expect to spend the time and effort to submit an entry to CULPA. That being said, the entry submitted by the previous member of the Westboro baptist church last October was disgusting and pushed me to write something. As you can see from the majority of the entries (minus the one from our oh so progressive friend Adolf), caring is a word everyone used to describe Glenn. I certainly am not the best writer and I was looking forward to UW about as much as I look forward to dental surgery, but I was very lucky to have Glenn as my teacher. Glenn goes above and beyond to make sure his students get something out of the course. He conferences with students throughout the draft process, challenges students to think critically about their writing, and genuinely inspires his students to submit their best work. Glenn cares so much about your success in this course that it motivates you to care about the class and improving your writing. Glenn is also a very fair grader. Now lets talk about the curriculum…Yeah, there were a few readings about gender. But what Adolf Eichmann failed to mention is that all of the readings are social commentary dealing with the taboo topics: race, gender, religion, class, etc. Maybe our progressive friend would have rather written about high school topics th…

Glenn's class was hands down the best I've taken so far in college. Every assignment was exciting and occupied my thoughts long after class was let out. He is a great discussion leader and manages to keep things light while orchestrating really substantive classroom conversations. If you want to learn how to write and think analytically, take his class - he's awesome. And funny. And his in between essay assignments are genius you begin to pick ideas apart in a really effective way without even realizing it.