Professor dean was by far more than organized, prepared, and helpful in his role as an instructor for writing 2. Flexibility, creativeness, and his ability to engage the class is crucial to this course; he does all that and more. This class felt more of a potential work environment rather than a classroom environment.
My favorite professor at UCSB. Im not a Comparative lit major, but I got a ton out of the course. Donelan is funny, makes lectures interesting and fun, very fair grader, midterms are easy if you study and go to lecture. It was my second class with him and will always recommend his classes to anyone.
Great professor! He had us read literature pieces from different lit areas, from epic poetry to geology. Overall, I learned a lot about both writing and the chosen areas of literature, including historical context and etc. I also really enjoyed the class discussions and a 5-minute coffee break each class! Surprised that i liked writing!
Best writing professor you could ask for. He is really passionate about what he does. Taking this class was a great way to start my freshman year at UCSB.
Wonderful teacher, very clear and has a sense of humor. Very easy grading because it is an intro course, just put effort into your work and you'll do fine. Very impressed with his teaching. Very interesting class.
Prof. Donelan's class is not tremendously difficult and he's not bad guy. That being said, I have a hard time convincing myself to attend lecture because I feel like he doesn't give any insights into the text - just context. Also, he received a Ph.D. from Yale and mentions it often. Fair prof., but nothing outstanding by any means.
Cool guy, nice, easy, sense of humor, brought us candy to help us stay awake. I really had fun taking writing 2 with him. Our theme was music, which helped me to enjoy the class even more.
Great professor. You could tell he was vvery passionate about what he was saying when he lectured. Class wasn't the best subject but by the end of the class, you'll find it enjoyable... at least I did. I'd recommend taking it.
He really cares about his students and their writing
Chris is the man!
Great professor. One of my favorites at UCSB. Very interesting, has lots of engaging stories. Was very fair on essays and tests.
cool teacher.. 2 hours is a long time to be in any class , but he keeps you doing something so it is pretty chill. ince this a class u have to take.. i would suggest you take it with him... essays are usually 5 pages but with the topics given, its not hard to get to the page requirement. he is also very open minded and likes when you participate
Tends to deviate from syllabus after half a quarter. Keep up on assignments and he'll be happy. Peer reviewing is the most helpful/important part of the class. No final, but oral recitation of any chosen work required during last class. Funny guy, accepting of almost any idea as long as you try. Come to class prepared with things to say.
Donelan loves to hear his own voice. If he asks you a question, he might interrupt you and answer it himself. Also tries to be funny yet just comes off as awkward. He also takes forever to grade things and doesn't have any comments when he does finally give the assignment back. Definitely not the best class I've ever taken.
Great teacher, read the material, and its pretty easy to figure out what the test essay questions will be on, so you can think about them before hand. Also, use of the TA's office hours helps a lot.
Although easy-going, he is not an easy A. He does not test on anything outside of the lectures, so if you attend class regularly and take notes, you have a chance. There is a lot of work in this class, from papers on uninteresting topics to closed-book short answer/essay tests that requiring a sharp memory. Good sense of humor.
He's in my top 3 professors at UCSB and I've graduated (i.e. had a lot of professors). He is so interested in the material and takes a new spin on material we've read since high school; very refreshing. Do the reading and you'll get an A!
Very intelligent and passionate professor, one of the best! His lectures will make you want to do the reading and go to class.
Donelan is a very nice professor, honestly wants to assist and articulate. The class was not really useful if you have any real experience writing papers for academic stuff (if you have used the JOSTOR for research you basically have nothing else for him to teach). Class was boring but easy, he assigned a lot of reading but none of it was relevant.
Awesome professor! Makes the class really fun and interesting. Take his class!
really helpful. engages the class as much as possible for the subject matter. grades fair and gives the student a lot of chances to re-write essays.
fair enough but likes his own style. he is a fair grader but is still set in his ways. he docks for word choice if he doesn't agree with it. webworks -ugh. it is a major pain to post everything and its strange read your graded comments online. but he tries really hard to get to know the class and make it fun.
A very enthusiastic teacher that wants to help the students. Awesome guy who even cracks jokes every once in a while. I only took the class because I have to, but glad I got him as a teacher.
Absolutely one of the best teachers I've had at UCSB. He's incredibly well spoken, enthusiastic, intelligent, and even funny. The tests are challenging yet very fair. Highly recommended for any class!
