Kimberley Johnson

I took Professor Kimberley Johnson for URBS V1515, Introduction to Urban Studies. Professor Johnson is the chair of the interdisciplinary Urban Studies program (hosted at Barnard, but open to all Columbia College and General Studies undergrads as well), and is very knowledgeable on the subject. She kept lectures interesting with multimedia presentations, guest speakers, and a personal interest in the topic. At times the reading seemed overwhelming, but some of the readings were removed as the course progressed. Also, Professor Johnson was very good at succinctly reviewing the readings, so if there is something you didn't understand or get to, the lecture will fill in the blanks. There were around 50 students in the class, so the discussion was limited, but Professor Johnson was always available after class or during office hours to discuss anything from the coursework to what other classes to take to pursuing Urban Studies as a major. Professor Johnson is not an easy grader (she apologized to the class for making the midterm more difficult than she had planned, then gave a final which was just as difficult), but there were opportunities for extra credit.

***This is also counted as a political science class under the Barnard Political Science curriculum fyi. This class was great. I learned a lot about urban theory, policy and practice. There is a lot of reading, but you don't have to read all of it because she goes through the readings in her lecture.There's no participation, it's mostly Prof. Johnson talking. Of course you can input questions or thoughts, but she covers pretty much everything. You start off learning about prominent urban theorists (The Chicago School), brief history of urban development in the U.S. and you also focus on suburban development. Additionally, you address multiple regions in the U.S. and look at different patters of cause and effect of urban/suburban development. All of this is to prepare you for your final project at the end of the semester and ensure you have great background knowledge to help ground your urban studies degree tract. It can be a bit boring at times, but for the most part, it's eye opening.

I took Power, Politics, and Policymaking with Kimberley Johnson and she is one of the worst professors I've ever had. Avoid her class at all costs. I never like writing scathing evaluations of professors because they are people too, but she was horrendous. She assigned a lot of reading that literally nobody did. She is completely inarticulate and the lectures are word-for-word definitions of terms from the readings. She is incredibly boring and I struggled to stay awake in her class. Her assignments are unclear and she will not be around to help you with them or answer any questions. I learned absolutely nothing--as it is now, this class should not exist. She turned me away from PoliSci forever. Really, do a favor for yourself and don't take her class.

Johnson is a fair, intelligent professor who makes her expectation clear and grades in a transparent, straightforward manner. Although she is bumbling at times and struggles with spelling, she teaches the material clearly and picks good readings. You may not look forward to lecture everyday, but she is a competent instructor who does her job well given the dull subject matter. She is also very kind and interested in the students. Getting a good TA helps so try to be placed well.

I actually found Professor Johnson to be a great professor. She is definitely a really busy woman, but she was always willing to speak with me about anything after classtime. She was also a great resource, giving me suggestions for summer internships based on my interests. The class wasn't that difficult, but it's an intro class, so what are you expecting? And I thought she did more elaboration of the power points than reading straight from them. I actually really liked how she used the power points; I think they kept her on target and prevented her from going on rampages like other professors tend to do. It's definitely a class for the self-motivated; you get out of it what you put into it. I definitely recommend taking this class, I really enjoyed the class!

This class was incredibly disappointing. If you can take it with another professor, do so. I really enjoy urban studies yet this class was an absolute chore. She started nodding off during students' presentations of their final projects. I am not kidding. She does little if anything to stimulate discussions. Stay away.

One group project which included a group presentation and a 4-page individual report, one 4-page paper, in-class midterm, and in-class final, both of which will take the entire time to complete. 100-200 pages of reading per week.

It varies by year/semester depending on class size, but for us we had 2 papers (that vary in length depending on your analysis) that were worth 25% each and a 10-paper/presentation that was worth the remaining 50%. It seems daunting, but it's all analysis of the text/policies and she gives you a lot of time so there's no reason you should get anything below a B-, even if you procrastinate.

Kimberly Johnson is one of the least articulate, boring, repetitive professors I have ever had. She cannot function without her power points and the majority of the class just does their other coursework during lecture. 15% of your grade is participation but the questions she asks are typically one-word, too-obvious-to-be-real responses. She assigns an unbelievable, impossible amount of reading--I gave up half way through the semester. That being said, her standards are unbelievably high for not explaining her prompts or the format of most of the papers. I was really disappointed in her teaching. Like another review before me, let me just say, this class should be called The American Bureaucracy. Even the interesting sections on crime and obesity politics are made boring by the long-winded, static lectures.

If you're debating taking Intro to American Politics and you see that Kim Johnson is the teacher, DON'T -- wait until a later semester to take the class. Put bluntly, she is the worst lecturer I've had in three years at Columbia. Her lectures have no overall organization other than the fact that she reductively summarizes the readings for that day, despite the fact that a.) the readings are so long they're almost impossible to do, b.) the TAs do the same thing during discussion section, and c.) it's evident that she hasn't read the readings in months -- she flat out gets things wrong much of the time. That being said, you're not going to get a bad grade from the class, and if you do the readings independently, you will learn enough to take any higher-level American Politics poli-sci course. But I'd hate to see anyone who's debating poli-sci or wanting to check it out take this as his or her first class.