Marcellus Andrews

Intro to Economic Reasoning was a fantastic course, and I'm sorry to hear that Marcellus is leaving after this semester, because I would have loved to take another class with him. Marcellus made economics so interesting by relating the numbers and principles to real-life problems, including some of his own experiences. I am an Econ major, and know Econ classes can be dry (see Math Methods for Economics), but this has been the most interesting class I have taken at Barnard by far. If you pay attention in lecture and take good notes, there is no reason to have difficulty with the midterms or final.

This is a GREAT class. Prof. Andrews is a great professor who really cares about his students unlike some other professors I had this past semester. He wants to know all of his students (and that is why he often "complained" about the class size) - he wanted to be able to hear everyone - which is certainly very tough to do when you have 100+ class (eventually it shrank, but still was not a seminar type class) One thing that I found many students complained about was the non-clearenes of the assignments, but this was changed - only b/c professor Andrews really cared about our progress and asked the class what was wrong (the first midterm was not that great on average while 2nd midterm was much better). Overall, professor Andrews is a caring professor. Sure, he has his own point of view (as we all do), but he never let that affect the judgment of the exams. One thing that would definitely make the course more exciting is attendance of his OH. He is amazing at supporting conversation and helping out during the OH - that is when he has more time to get to know you and to really understand what is the missing part that makes you struggle. Moreover, professor helped me with my other class by providing me with the list of readings and by talking to me about the topic. So he was a true professor for me not only for MB class but for my other course as well. My conclusion is that if you…

Easily the most interesting, engaging lecturer I've had for Economics. He is extremely knowledgeable about basically anything relating to economics and social justice. He manages to command your respect while being very approachable. The texts that we covered were very useful in discussion (even though they were sometimes poorly-written). He has a great sense of humor, too, which is often self-deprecating. He keeps it pretty real, often using coarse language to get a point across. But we're all big kids now, so this shouldn't be problem. The only part of the course that sniffed turds was a few of the other students. Because he's such an engaging lecturer there are those students who always have something to say, but when they speak they manage to say nothing at all. Andrews does do a good job of redirecting the class in these situations, and does so somehow with out belittling the classmates that like the sound of their own voice.

I took Professor Andrew's senior seminar with only five other students. I would definitely recommend him. Seminar's aren't his forte but he knows how to make you think and how to make you ask questions. He's very well informed so if you have any questions he can either answer them or point you in the right direction. He would send out readings by email and we would try to read them but most of the time, if you haven't read them, you can still talk (of course, it should be relevant) and he appreciates that. The course tends to go toward a lecture unless you ask questions. but given all this, he recognizes you and appreciates what you have to say. Would definitely recommend this class. He's a very easy-going, well-read, and great prof.

Although sometimes distracted, Andrews managed to keep an econ lecture to full capacity throughout the semester due to his charisma and a constant flow of fascinating and useful information. He is passionate, knowledgeable and genuinely cares that his students receive a quality education. His lectures always include a social/racial/gender/historical perspective and current political and economic situations are given time for speculation in lecture.

This guy is very very frank with his words, and his personality's pretty awesome. The workload for this class depends on whether or not you are on the team. Preparation for the competition can be brutal, especially since all the other schools have been preparing for way longer, but you learn a lot in this class about day-to-day indicators of the economic system that you don't learn about in other more theoretical economics classes. It's up to you, though, to take the initiative and get what you want out of it.

Such an AMAZING professor. If you are going to take economics, I highly recommend Marcellus. He has such a passion for economics, and it rubs off on everyone who takes his class. He does such a great job of reviewing the material. While basic microeconomics can get a little dry, Marcellus used examples to keep the class engaged. Like the previous reviews have stated, Marcellus has been going through a tough couple months. However, his teaching, I felt, never suffered because of it. He really does care about his students and made an effort to get to know everyone before the end of the semester. Overall, Marcellus is one of the best professors I have had at Columbia/Barnard. He is the professor who convinced me to become an Econ major. Please take his class. You will not regret it.

You may not be able to take good notes from what he writes on the board, but if you just listen to him and try and understand what is being said, you'll see how great of a lecturer he is. He also cares about his students so definitely go to his office hours and talk to him if you're feeling lost or have a question. His tests are reasonable. The first may have been too technical and he realized that, so the second was purely short answer and very conceptual. The final was also very focused on basic concepts -- the course is all about basics, which he constantly repeats. He also stresses that he only cares about what you know at the end of the course, which means you can make up for poor past performance on the final. It saddens me to hear that a professor like Marcellus is not getting tenure. Yes, this semester's class may have been a little hectic due to (1) the class being oversubscribed past the point he was comfortable and (2) him having personal issues, including being diagnosed with cancer again. He's not a perfect human, but he is always the first one to admit his flaws and apologize to for letting his personal life interfere with the class. He clearly cares a lot about his students and is very dedicated to running a high-quality course. That's more than you can say for the majority of professors.

Its a senior seminar so do the readings but if you can't, talk and participate. One paper 12-16 pages long on a topic of your choice.

Professor Andrews made economics interesting by telling stories and giving real life examples to explain the basics of macroeconomics. It was always a pleasure to come to lecture, and Andrews has a unique way of inspiring people. I came to class just to hear him talk, and it seems like everyone in the class went to each and every lecture, as the classroom was always full. He also didn't move too fast and always made sure that everyone was following along. Overall, he's just a really, really great guy. He's completely understanding and he goes out of his way to help his students. He also conducts review sessions, tells us what we need to know for the exams, and is very generous with grading/curving grades.