William Menke

William Menke is not that great of a teacher, but he's not bad either. His grading is very vague though, since he doesn't assign concrete points to homeworks or discussions and just gives you a final letter in the end. He said something the first day about standing out in class, and part of it is how well you participate to discussion and how thorough your homework answers are, as well as grades on your midterm/final/final paper. He has you hand in your homework for the week on the mondays of the week after, which gives you an extra weekend since all the other classes hand them in on fridays. For each discussion, he gives you some pre-discussion questions and readings. Then he questions you on the articles by drawing names randomly. He's a little bit quiet and awkward and he makes you go up to the front of the class sometimes when answering questions. There's some group activities involved too. In the end, Frontiers of Science is just a pretty easy course. Sure, you could probably find a more engaging teacher, but the readings and the homework are the same for everyone. When people say they didn't like FoS, it's more about the way the course is set up, rather than how their discussion professor was. As an upperclassman told me once, "It tries to be everything, but ends up being nothing." Still, you do learn a bit and the readings can be interesting sometimes.

This class was horrible! Prof. Menke and Klaus ruined such interesting subject matter..... their lectures (ppt. presentations) were dull, and put you to sleep right away. I would not recommend taking this class.

This class must be designed to make students want to jump off of prominent geomorphological features to their doom.

Do the readings beforehand, start the problem sets early! Work with classmates if you are stuck 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: EESCGR6908_001_2023_3-QUANTMETHODSOFDATAANALYSIS : EESCGR6908_001_2023_3 - QUANT METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS Instructor: Alberto Malinverno

This class was a really good introduction to the basic principles of geology. After taking this class, when I go outside, I see the rocks and landscape around me with new eyes!

Professor Menke is very knowledgeable about what he teaches, and when stumped by a question will look up a topic between classes. He schedules ample time for pre-exam review, and is always happy to answer questions outside of class. However, he's not a very engaging teacher. In fact, he's rather boring. To be fair, it's not all his fault--Frontiers is a difficult class to teach--but if you want a fulfilling Frontiers experience, you're probably better off in another section. If you don't, stick with Bill; he only assigns every other problem set.

Class is more work than expected, expect the same from climate and life. Labs havent been edited in about 10 years or so...so mistakes and unclarity still exist. Bill Menke has a weird system of grading based on a list of requirements he deems fit. But, he doesn't tell you what he wants. Doesn't really answer questions directly, would stray from lectures at times...very strange man. Nicknamed "Wild Bill".

Would recommend if you have a decently strong math background 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2021 Course: EESCGR6908_001_2021_3-QUANTMETHODSOFDATAANALYSIS : EESCGR6908_001_2021_3 - QUANT METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS Instructor: Alberto Malinverno

Lots of great info on geology from formation of the earth to rocks and minerals to geology natural disasters and water management. Good for people with or without a geology background.

The frontiers of science class still has many bugs to be worked out. The friday lectures were fascinating, but the homework was silly. However, Menke cannot be blamed for the class as a whole. He was disarmingly nice at all times and really tried to get our class talking. Often times, he failed spark a good discussion. Though with a class that was randomly chosen and who had very little real interest in the subjects, Menke cannot be completely blamed for the apathy of the class either. He is a wonderful and nice person who I would love go out and have coffee with, but he was unable to make the discussion sections into good discussions- rendering the class into a waste of my time.