She pretty much just gets up there and talks about whatever comes to mind for the entire lecture and Im not kidding. The student panels that happen later in the quarter are valuable. The grading is non existent and they give you whatever grade they think you deserve and dont expect her to show up for office hours or respond to emails ever. AWFUL

Weekly essays called SWAPAs which she will not explain nor will she give guidance on until later in the quarter. She goes on long tangents and uses academic jargon that makes absolutely no sense. She will frequently interrupt you when you're speaking, so be prepared to never speak a full sentence in this class without her having an opinion about it

Have to turn in 2 one-paged papers a week called SWAPA's. Chela as a professor is eh at best. She goes on long rants about nothing and does not like to be challenged. For everything that she preaches, she doesn't really actually practice it in real life. This class is just exhausting, but it was a great learning experience so I recommend it.

Chela is wonderful. In this Decolonizing Feminism class she really has you think about what counts as knowledges and gets you to tap into parts of yourself you never thought mattered. Wonderful class that makes you rethink a lot of things you have been taught. Great atmosphere and definitely memorable.

Mental, physical, emotional roller coaster of a course that will leave you shaken in the best way possible. Don't be scared to begin the decolonization process.

He is very passionate about what he teaches which is great and even tries to get you involved in things outside of class which is amazing! Definitely just have to read and study to make sure you know IDs, the readings and films well and understand all the important concepts they try to get across for the midterm and final. Great at connecting.

Amazing professor. You can tell he really cares about his lessons and students. He trys to get to know. each of his students and listen to them. As long as you do the readings and know definitions to specific words you cannot fail. Would take his class again!

CHST1A is an easy class to pass. You literally cannot fail this class. If you show up to class, do the readings and attend your sections then you're basically set. I didn't do the readings until the last minute and still passed. Profe Ralph is super easy to talk to and is very passionate about what he teaches. You'll be fine.

Professor Ralph conducts lectures in a way that leaves you entertained and smarter regarding Chicano Studies. The class itself requires lots of reading and memorizing. Luckily, the Professor provides a study guide for both exams and the half of your grade comes from your section, so participate and attend your sections if you wish to pass.

i love him. he is so passionate and knowledgeable, and his class is genuinely worth your while. pretty reading-heavy, there are books to read on your own time. pay attention and take good notes! grading depends heavily on your ta, make sure you know what your specific ta is looking for. make use of office hours and outside of lecture sessions.

I love him so much. He cares about his students to the point where he'll come up to you to say hello. has such a big heart and provides countless opportunities for u to get involved with the content that ur learning about. as long as u ACTUALLY do all the required readings and make flashcards for the key terms, you'll ace the midterm and final.

Professor Armbruster-Sandoval made it clear how to succeed, and his passion for his students, what he teaches, and creating a positive learning environment was evident. Attendance wasn't required but I WANTED to come to lecture each week. Truly one of the best professors I've ever had at UCSB.

One of the most passionate professors I've ever had!

I took this class two quarters ago and I miss it. He was a great professor overall & very inspiring & easy to talk to. Go to his office hours, he is very passionate about his job and helping his students! Class was very interesting, loved it! He brings special guests sometimes, we got to talk to Dolores Huerta!

Took him fall quarter for CHST1A and I loved the class so much. He is very passionate about what he teaches and sometimes gets emotional during class about certain topics which makes the class feel special and inspirational. There are readings and some are long but they are very interesting.

Professor Ralph is a very honest, down-to-earth professor who takes the time out of his day to connect with each one of his students. I took Chicano Studies 1A over the summer and it while it was a bit reading-heavy, the assignments and "exams" had clear expectations. He also provides amazing feedback.

This class was so interesting and included awareness of important topics such as immigration, politics, the wars in Gaza, Lgbtq+, and women. I felt inspired and left this class feeling more educated. The professor is amazing and really tries to connect with his students on a deeper level.

Great topics and lectures. Readings weren't difficult but could be long, definitely do them if you want to pass they'll likely be on the midterm or final. Professor was very genuine and cared for this topic which made lectures super interesting. He'd get emotional which was slightly awkward, but showed his passion and would definitely retake.

Very passionate about what he does, great lectures except the class is VERY centered around his perspectives/opinions even if he does acknowledge others at times. Inspirational at times but loves to talk about himself...Lots of reading, suggest you do all of it. Just go to lectures and you'll be mostly prepared for the two exams and the one paper.

Definitely one of my most favorite professors. He's very passionate about what he teaches (gets emotional pretty often) and works diligently to engage with all his students. Heavy topics so don't take if you're not interested in actually learning and doing work outside of class. There's no graded homework but said material can be put on the exams.

Vastly knowledgable on CHST, making Ralph a great prof- speaks from his huge heart. Covers harsh realities, goes above & beyond by including the similar experiences of other marginalized groups & how they are all intertwined + why u should care. Life changing. If u can shrug off the mistreatment of other humans and want easy A: THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.

Professor Armbruster's Chicano Studies 1A is one of the best classes I've ever taken. He is so passionate about what he teaches and his lectures as well as guest speakers have been so powerful. I am an engineering student so this class was so eye opening--I even spoke to my family about his lecture.

He is just the most kind, caring, inspirational professor I have ever had. We as a class, including him, cried atleast once each week because of the beauitful, sad, and inspriring stories we delved into. It's hard for me to open up about my feelings but with him it's so easy because he's so caring and I recommend everyone visit his office hours.

very down to earth