John Huber

Ngl reading some of these CULPA reviews had me nervous to take this class, but I think Professor Huber deserves more credit. Is he the most entertaining and passionate lecturer? Not really- he tends to speak more quietly and in a monotone voice. I found myself falling asleep a couple of times in his lectures, but that might also be due to my lack of sleep and lack of caffeine, so I wouldn't really blame Professor Huber for that. It's clear that he is very knowledgeable about the subject. I really enjoyed the content of this class and I think it is a great introduction to comparative politics. Before, I was thinking about making my primary subfield American Politics, but after taking this class I want to do comparative politics instead. It covers a lot of different topics quickly and does not go super in-depth about them, but also it is an intro class so that makes sense. The different topics we covered have helped me choose future classes based on what I found interesting or boring. Some of the topics were cut out because we fell behind schedule, but they were just removed from the final exam. I know some people dropped the class during add/drop period because he was "cold-calling" but that really never happened again after the first few lectures. He does ask questions, but people mostly raise their hands, and he only cold-calls if no one raises their hand (which is pretty rar…

Professor Huber is a kind man. Friendly and approachable. His TAs are a bit arrogant but helpful. HOWEVER, the disorganization and inability to maintain consistency cripple his effectiveness. This crippling was noted by Professor Huber a few times, stating that the results of quizzes and assignments are how he knows he has failed as an instructor. We started with being told we would have up to 12, two of which would drop(15%). We had 7. We were told we would have 6 assignments, we had 5, last one due the final day of class and an optional 6th due during reading week(40%). The first 4 favored heavily the knowledge of Stata, not statistics. A midterm(20%) and a final (25%). The final was held the last day of class, regardless of heavy end of semester work loads. The final was extremely complex and like the quizzes was loaded with trick questions. That would not be an issue if early in the semester Huber and TAs had not explicitly and repeatedly expressed their intention not to trick students and to be looking for what you know, not what you don't. During the quizzes it was common place for the professor to admit multiple answers were correct, or that the question itself was poorly written or wrong all together. During the second to last week of class we were informed that that structure of the grading was going to change, still unclear of exactly how that went. The professor exp…

Professor Huber presents an institutional approach to understanding European politics. He is an engaging professor who really seems to care about the material. You get the sense that he has you read articles written exclusively either by himself, or by his friends. Huber's research is elegant and his teaching style is great. I would recommend the class

We learned how to set up a research project, find data, and write a literature review.

I think it’s high time we did good old Huber some justice. He may not be the most polished or the most competent professor, but he’s certainly not as bad as some make him out to be. He genuinely tries to make his lectures engaging and frequently asks questions to keep students involved. He clearly cares about his students and is flexible when it comes to grading—he even adjusted the grade distribution this semester so that more students could succeed. That said, his lectures can be somewhat disorganized, and he did end up cutting some material due to falling behind schedule. Still, the class is very manageable overall, and you come away with a solid foundation in key theories and concepts in comparative politics.

6~ assignments that require 4-7 hours of work. 7~12 quizzes require PRECISE knowledge of course material regardless if it was taught in class Midterm was Stata heavy Final was nearly all concept and interpretation (taught rushed in final week)

Two six-page-maximum research papers, Midterm, Final, moderate reading.

I have already built a lot of skills in conducting my own research, including building testable hypotheses, conducting literature review, collecting and analyzing data, and drafting a thesis.

John is a good professor. This class isn't the best or the worst, but a very fair and doable intro political science course. His lectures are easy to space out in, but he isn't monotonous and uploads all his slides. He is passionate and loves hearing from students, isn't afraid to ask controversial questions, and at times will do larger discussions or simulations with students. He doesn't cold call. Sometimes he does short online quizzes in class, but often gives you the answers before you submit, it's nothing to stress about. This course isn't like AP Comp Gov at all, but if you took it you can def apply some of what you've learned. He does give a fair amount of reading, but you can definitely skim and it's more dependent on your TA how much you should do. Workload is very doable and assessments are fair.

This is an amazing opportunity to conduct my own research on a topic that fascinates me, with the support of fantastic advisors. I've learned a lot already and look forward to continuing my thesis.