Lucy Goodhart

Before giving a review of Lucy, let me give a review of my class performance, so everyone can review any potential biases on my part. I got an A- in this class with a majority grad students. The A- would have been an A if I had managed my time better at the end of the semester, as I screwed up on the final. Of the 30 or so class meetings I probably attended 15, and made about 2 of the 10 weekly TA meetings. So overall, I was one of those students that the professor quickly realized knew the material well but was clearly not giving a full effort in the course. I was the guy most profs love to hate. Despite my above behavior, Lucy Goodhart treated me like I was just another student, and for Lucy, that means enthusiastic and eager support for any possible question you may ever have. I wrote my term paper on a subject she is quite knowledgeable on, and to which I never attended lecture, and she still took the time to discuss the relevant subject matter with me and was always offering praise for my work. In my columbia experience, most professors essentially ask you to romance them (By this I mean showing up to all the classes, going to office hours, basically pretended like their class is the reason for your existence). Lucy does not care. She treats the class as a learning experience for herself as well, so she is quite forgiving and open with the course. In summation, Take any c…

Professor Goodhart is a remarkable professor who deserves every bit of her silver nugget, if not a gold one. She is energetic, witty, engaging, passionate, and extremely knowledgable about everything she teaches. She also has a British accent which makes everything cooler. This class is all about fiscal policy, which I'll admit is pretty darn boring, but if you put even the smallest ounce of effort forward, she will lure you in and help you actually learn something useful. Her grading is very fair and she really wants to see all of her students succeed. Goodhart is always available to meet with you and really will work with you until you understand whatever it is you need. She is a true gem on the PoliSci staff (which is a solid crew to begin with) and definitely worth a try if you can muster up the courage to deal with the intricacies of welfare and economics (but no significant prior econ knowledge is necessary).

Professor Goodhart is a very engaging lecturer. She clearly loves the material, and the lectures are organized and very clear. Some of the readings are dry as dust, but she usually goes over the main points in lecture, so you don't necessarily have to read them.

I enjoyed this class. Professor Goodhart starts every session with a short introduction about what is significant about the week's readings and what they tell us about political parties. She asks probing questions about the text but also opens up discussion to much broader topics. That said, even though this is a comparative politics seminar, there were plenty of kids who ONLY knew about American politics and thus the conversation usually revolved around American political parties, which is something most compartive people don't want to talk about because it's retarded. Other than that, very interesting.

Manageable. A couple of info summaries, a midterm, a paper, and a final. Sounds worse than it is. Tough grading, but not unfairly so

One 5-7 page policy memo, ideas for a question and data set (really short) for your term paper, followed by a paper proposal and then the final 20-30 page seminar term paper. Participation is somewhere in there too. You also will need to lead the discussion one week.

For material as dry and complicated as the EU, Lucy Goodhart does a good job. Her lectures are clear and organized and she is clearly fascinated by the material although her class might not be. The class gets more interesting after the midterm. Very accessible.

Not-too-much reading, all very interesting, 4 page country report, 3-5 page paper proposal, 25-30 page paper.

Professor Goodhart is a good lecturer who cares deeply about the subject material. Overall, I enjoyed the class and found the material interesting and Prof. Goodhart engaging. The only problem I had with the class was that we repeated the same material several times throughout the semester. Workload: One short policy memo, one long (10-12 page) research paper, midterm, final

Overall a great class. Yes, the grading is sometimes harsh (but not anymore so than other Poli Sci classes) and yes the theory is limited to about 4 major strands of ideas. However, for those who don't have a solid understanding of the EU and who are studying international politics this class is an absolute must. Moreover, those who said this is a history class neglect the fundamental element of political science (and this class). Goodhart places a strong emphasis on analysis, prediction and causality. Goodhart is funny and wonderfuly sarcastic. I read some of the reviews below. And yes, there were a few people who managed to sleep through the lectures. However, I would say these people (who asked horribly asinine questions) were the largest detraction from the class.