Jose Moya

I honesty don't understand the hype at all about Professor Moya. His lectures were okay, but it seemed like he was trying to put as little effort into teaching the course as possible. The exams were take-home, open-note, entirely multiple choice and graded automatically on Courseworks. There was a research paper at the end of the year, and I'm pretty sure he grades them without reading them - I got my returned 11 hours after I turned it in, with a 95 and no comments. It was frustrating and I worked really hard on my paper, so I wanted some actual proof that he'd read it. He also doesn't take attendance at his lectures, and because it's so easy to look up the answers to the take-home exams, almost nobody actually went to lectures. He's clearly knowledgeable about the topic, but the topic of "World Migration" was way too huge to cover in a single class, so I found that the class lacked any clear aim. Also, his exams are ridiculously hard, even being open-note.

Jose Moya is the goat. Great guy all around, loves to go on tangents, yap about some very fascinating topics like inherited cultural appropriation, assimilation via culinary fusion, and literally so many more. 8:40 is kind of a drag, but if you have the grit to make it to all the lectures, boy oh boy will you be in for some of the greatest day starters since the discovery of caffeine. This guy has stories for days, years even. Only sad thing is that my class was a bit boring and no one ever really asked questions, either because they perceived his yappiness as tyrannical or they were too sleepy, but he actually loves when students interrupt and ask questions during his yapas (yap sagas), and have made for some of my fondest learning experiences. I'm in SEAS so it was a fun non-tech to take the edge off, but exams were indeed a little cheeks -- tried to do the first 100 mc legit and ended up with the low (82) vs a 91 average (std was like 1, will let you infer why that might be lmao). Did the second mc using the same strat as everyone else and the mean was somehow lower LMAO. Final paper was pretty chill and would certainly suggest bringing 3+ potential topics to probe his brain with to add some Moya flavor. Overall, despite the cooked exam format, would recommend (still a little tinged about the A- but very much so a get out what you put in sorta class and I felt very full aft…

Professor Moya is an exceptional academic who exhibits a profound understanding of the interconnected dimensions of gender and migration. Their vast knowledge, crystal-clear explanations, and compassionate teaching approach make learning from them a truly transformative experience. What distinguishes Professor Moya from many others in academia is their unique blend of scholarly erudition, practical experience, and commitment to student growth. They ensure their lectures are not simply theoretical explorations but are rooted in real-world examples and case studies, thus making the material highly accessible and relatable.

Dr. Moya is a funny engaging professor. His course is basically a lecture based course where he goes over the powerpoints until the class time runs out. During his lectures he will have tangents that exemplify Latin American politics, social structure, and mainly culture (UNESCO world heritage sites). His lectures can be dry at the details/years/history- as a pre-med I found economics portion to be difficult to understand. He is very well receiving in office hours and clarifies many doubts you may have in the course. That said, the TA I had Schwartz was hard. He does do his best to keep the discussions going but overall the TA was a very hard grader. So discussions are huge portion of this class (20%) and basically they go over readings for the week. Mind you that the readings are almost never tested on the exam- even if they are, they would be very broad concept to make sure you have done the reading. So, my only regret is that the discussion sections should have a review on the lectures covered that week/previous week. The TA grades the essays harsh- I mean literally the max he gave for the essays (25%) was an A- because he "doesn't believe in As." I don't know how he graded the discussion class in general but generally everyone did well in A-range. Now the elephant in the room. The multiple choice based midterm and final....... The midterm is (25%) and is 100 Multiple choic…

The previous reviews for this class (or what seems to have been a similar version to this class) remark on how Moya is an incredible professor but you shouldn't take the class because of another professor who co-taught it. Thankfully, that professor is no longer teaching this course with Moya, but I still can't say I enjoyed my time in this class. Moya himself is a wonderful, charming man with an interesting life story and a fondness for going off on tangents. I was at first in love with the class, but I realized it was only because I enjoyed hearing him speak so much. Also, because there was literally no homework. No readings, no textbook, all the PowerPoints online. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, not so much. Without readings and a textbook, the classes was incredibly unfocused. The lectures consisted of a series of statistics on immigration to Latin America. This country was the top destination for the Chinese. This country was the second-top destination for the Chinese. Or, there was a slave revolt in this year, and another one in this year. Seems like the kind of stuff that you usually avoid writing in your notes because it's not the big picture. Or if you do write it down, you don't write down every single number, just the main ideas (e.g. these three countries sent a lot of people to Brazil). Well, then the 100-question, multiple-choice midterm arrived, and I had n…

I LOVED this class. Professor Moya is so, so nice and incredibly funny! Some of his jokes didn't land or were a little strange, but you can tell that part of that was a language barrier issue (English is not his first language) and not meant to be offensive. He was also always very open to criticism, which I appreciated. He is very knowledgeable and super responsive via email and office hours. I reached out regarding the topic for my final essay, and he gave me three long paragraphs in response on ideas and his comments on the subject! Professor Moya is easily one of the smartest professors I have taken at this university. However, his exams are HARD. The midterm and final were very long (I believe around 100 questions each, multiple choice but on very obscure subjects within our broader lecture topics -- not the type of things you could study). Although they were open-book, open-internet, and open-notes (including his lecture slides), the class average was still a C on both tests, which made up a big chunk of your final grade. I barely passed the final; Professor Moya allowed me to retake the midterm with no points taken off when I failed it, which I really appreciated. His final essay is super open-topic so you can pick basically anything, which I really loved writing and I received a near 100% on. If you're willing to focus a lot of time to doing all of the long readings an…

Assignments and projects designed by the professor are equally impressive, tailored to foster critical thinking and independent research skills. They take a genuine interest in the works of students, providing constructive feedback and guidance that's invaluable in intellectual growth. Assignments are designed not just to test knowledge and comprehension, but to expand critical thinking skills and to stimulate original thought, there is about 4-5 hours of work a week. With his adept guidance, each lecture feels like a thought-provoking journey. With each class, the professor unpacks the intricacies of the subject, weaving together the histories, contemporary realities, and potential futures of gender and migration with commendable ease. Their passion for the subject is infectious, stimulating our own curiosity and inspiring us to dive deeper. Professor Moya encourages open discussions and debates, making their classes lively, interactive, and engaging. It's a learning environment where every perspective is respected, a space where we can challenge our biases and broaden our horizons.

started out as a good class - lots of history especially when we covered individual latin america countries' revolutionary wars. but after the first midterm, things went downhill. i expected, at the very least, for prof. moya to cover true history/politics of the last 40/50 years, and at the very least che, castro, and peron. at the very, very least. he didn't cover those, just barely mentioned them. 2nd half ended up being more demographics and statistics than history which was very disappointing.

No readings, except two books that we never discussed. Certainly no nightly/weekly readings. 1 midterm (30%), 100 multiple-choice questions, based entirely on lectures 1 5-7 paper (30%), on a topic of your choosing, graded by an invisible TA (who was actually quite fair in the grading, but still—it's nice to know who's grading your paper) 1 final (40%), 100 multiple-choice questions, once again based entirely on lectures, plus 1 essay (topics ahead of time)

Professor Moya is the best! As previously mentioned, his powerpoint are super easy to follow and he also puts them on Courseworks. His exams are not easy, and you will need to work and go to the lecture (during which he gives many additional details). The extra credits I received from going to the Forum of Migration helped my grade a lot, which is useful since he doesn't curve the exams grades.. I definitely recommend taking his class, you will learn a lot and Prof. Moya is really funny!!