Professor Tsouna is brilliant. She is competent (not only in Greek philosophy, but also history and culture), accessible, and accommodating. The content was philosophically rigorous, so I recommend attending lecture. Also, there was a good amount of reading, which one may want to tackle strategically.
Great professor for an upper div. class. She assigns a lot of primary source reading which can be overwhelming and dense, but lectures help break it down. Her lectures are very interesting and well done and I ended up enjoying the subject more than I thought! 10 ish prompts, choose 1 for paper, and 6 prompts choose 2 essay questions for final.
Professor Tsouna is so sweet and kind to her students (if you read and know whats going on) if not she can be dismissive and seem cold. Lectures can be circular so you need to ask questions.
Simply excellent!
Incredibly intelligent, very helpful and friendly, very interesting, great great class
Best professor I have ever had. Ever.
great teacher!hot too
Prof Tsouna is a lovely person, and I think her upper divs would be fun-- but her lectures for this class were dull/hard to follow. She does attendance w/ iClicker, but you can log it from home. If you read the textbook, go to section, and send your essays to the TA before submitting it's an easy A. Evan Green is a great TA if you can get him.
Tsouna gave us study questions for the midterm and final (both 40%) that basically covered everything that was on them. Going to class was very enjoyable for me because she is so clearly knowledgeable about what she teaches. Her accent is not bad at all. Read the book and write out answers to study guide questions and you will do well.
Second time taking a class by this professor and it's always engaging and interesting. There are a lot of readings but I mostly attended lecture instead of reading everything.
I'm an alumnus of UCSB and Voula Tsouna is hands down the most inspirational and brilliant professor I've ever had. You will not succeed if you don't read. She will not be happy if you ask a question whose answer is obvious from the reading. Come to every class prepared to ask questions and raise objections, and you'll be duly rewarded.2 classes
Tsouna is a incredibly knowledgeable of her field and holds students to a high standard because of that. However, she recognizes the difficulty of her class and offers a lot of grade bumps, too. The graded assignments are really just some essays and a final, so make sure you start those in advance and you're fine.
Tsouna teaches the tougher subjects of philosophy, but that doesn't make her a hard prof. She is an Athens native, and despite the thick accent, she teaches with passion and is the leading expert in her field, so its definitely worth taking a class with her. If you go to office hours she is more than helpful and only wants to see you do well.
This professor is insanely interesting and she is why I switched from a history major to a philosophy major. Really interesting lectures. Sit at the front to be sure you can hear and go to her office hours. She only teaches in the fall I think so get a class first quarter! I heavily recommend this class for anyone if reading isn't a chore.
Very passionate about philosophy and has lectures well ordered. she is engaging and allows people to ask question in class despite the large size of the class. The papers were tough, but the grades really depended on the TA. The average on the first paper was a C+ and the second a C-. I love philosophy so I've done well so far, but Voula helped.
Tsouna was a nice lady and meant well, but it just didn't work out. Lectures always seem disorganized, dry, and it was almost impossible to take notes because she'd just talk in circles. You can find all the textbooks online for free, and the final is open book. I didn't go to lecture or read at all in the second half of the course and got an A-.
She made the coursework very interesting but she is a very slow talker (that can be a good thing and a bad thing, I guess). I learned a lot more in section because we broke down the larger concepts she goes through in class.
Two major essays regarding themes and ideas from readings, so don't forget to read. She's very sweet but can sometimes have hard-to-read handwriting. Don't be scared to ask questions, she's very nice.
The class is pretty confusing and even the TA's don't know what is going on at times. Tsouna's accent is thick and takes a while to get used to and she just talks in circles sometimes. It's not a ridiculously hard class, but is not a great one nonetheless. If you want a semi-easy class this one is, but I don't really recommend it.
You can pass without going to lecture and just reading the book. Your grade is based off of two essays and a final so you are at the mercy of your TA. Only go to section if you have a good TA otherwise you can do everything on your own. Easy class but it is so boring and not very interactive.
She is perfect for Upper Division Phil class. She is engaging, interested in what you have to say, and is willing to explain things in different ways should you get confused. Her accent is somewhat strong but you’ll get used to it. Go to her office hours, she will like you more...
Grade is entirely based on three essays, so you're at the mercy of your TA as to what you'll end up with in the class. I found the material interesting, and most of the lectures weren't necessary.
Really easy class. Not the most entertaining, but you don't need to read or to attend lecture really. You can get a good grade just by going to section. Even the TA's have no idea what is going on so they grade pretty easily. She has an accent but she is still easier to understand than most.
This is a terrible professor, super thick accent and very confusing arguments. She is not clear in what she is talking about. Your grade is based on essays.
