Suzanne Menghraj

Suzanne is very good at what she does. She makes you write a lot and her grading is tough, but you end up growing as a writer and--as my class did--having a good time while you're at it. Her sensibilities are down to earth and practical rather than doctrinaire or overly academic, which is good because it enables her to cut through a lot of bullshit and make you (or the class) get to the point. And for the most part, she's very personable about it so you don't really feel like she's being a bitch or too hard on anyone. I, for one, found her approach refreshing. I imagine other instructors are less helpful. Alas, Suzanne is not perfect. She is a little quirky outside of class and has a slightly odd sense of boundaries. But that, as a friend of mine likes to say, is "picking the fly shit out of the pepper." Suzanne is good. You'll have fun. Trust me.

Suzanne is a great teacher! The classes were fun and the essays were interesting to write. Suzanne is even greater outside the classroom. Office hours really help to realize why our essays do not work after the 1st draft. Overall awesome teacher who managed to turn a boring class into fun. The only drawback was the amount of work - too much to do besides writing essays. But otherwise I would love to take a class with her again.

Suzanne is one of the kindest, most personable instructors you could hope to have. Grading is tough though she is flexible on deadlines to some extent. Written feedback is tailored to the writer's level of expertise. A professor with liberal and compassionate political views. Suzanne could make an excellent class even better by putting a lid on the overly talkative students in class who add little to discussions. Off-topic debates in class were an annoyance, but there is no reason to think Suzanne can't quash these better going forward. A very capable, likeable instructor with a gift for writing.

Suzanne is a wonderful teacher of English. She leads discussions with insightful questions and stays respectful of her students the entire time. She is very down-to-earth and humble - always willing to take time to help, and even willing to play ultimate frisbee with everyone on the last day of classes. She doesn't do a fantastic job of keeping discussions on topic and quieting down the eager beavers who might monopolize the talking, but she always tries to drive the discussions towards some point or conclusion. As a corrector of essays, she is far and away the best I've seen. Her suggestions are tuned towards the writer's skill level, focusing on what they most need to improve on. She can come up with both general and explicit suggestions that will impress even the most confident essay writer (she certainly impressed me, at any rate). Fairly flexible on deadlines, attendance & workload, though not a pushover. Grading is fair, tilting slightly towards the easy side judging by how anal most L&R profs are. Would take a class by her again.

Lots of it. Suzanne is a hard grader, but she's fair about it and she is very good at offering extensions and extra feedback if she sees you are really trying to do a good job. Expect 1-2 writing assginments a week in the beginning, which eases up halfway through the semester as the bigger essays take precendence. More than anything, come to class with good ideas for discussion, because that's pretty much what the class is about, and Suzanne makes it clear that it is the student's job to discuss the material and not her job to summarize anything you were too lazy/busy to read. Like I said: hard, but fair.

4 major essays that can be revised once - at first seemed hard but under Suzanne's supervision everything went smoothly. Grading is tough.

Be prepared to radically rewrite your papers, or face the consequences of not doing so. Grading is tough.

reading followed by ~5pg essay, 4 times. Second half of semester devoted to long (~8-10pg) research paper. No midterm or final. Total is probably about 4 hrs a week outside of class.