This class would be amazing if another instructor teaches. Prof Mendez is very disorganized, unsympathetic, and a terrible instructor. Always tripping over herself lecture, guilt-tripping students, patrolling around about phones rather than actually lecturing, etc. Made me dread coming to class. TAs carry. Avoid this class (her) if possible!

I think the ratings are very harsh; I honestly thought this class was extremely interesting and mattered deeply to the current happenings of our world right now. Very reading heavy, but it was important for your midterm and final take-home projects. I suggest you engage and think about the material deeply to do well and get lucky with a nice TA

Some of these reviews are harsh but rooted in honesty. Your experience and grade will depend entirely on your TA. Prof Mendez is extremely passionate and knowledgeable but struggles with organization. Lectures can be rough and she LOVES to cold call. A fine GE class but very unstructured and content heavy. Not a hard class but your TA is everything

The class is not that bad. It was pretty easy to do the assignments, it is just weekly quizzes (easy) and 2 opinion based responses on canvas. She is VERY strict about attendance, lecture and sections, and quite unorganized with the actual lecture content. She was very confusing, honestly the TAs carried, but depends on which one you get.

The class is actually really easy, I would suggest taking it for your GE. Just never show up to the lectures, and you'll be fine by doing the reading. All grading is based on papers so there is no need to show up for lectures. By far the worst lecturer I've ever had, please don't take this class if you don't like doing reading.

I honestly should have listened to the reviews :(

so so so baddddddd

Worthless presence in the classroom and earth in general. Shouldn't be allowed to respirate. Makes you wish a hero would do a service to everyone else at this university.

Very disorganized. This was probably the most chaotic course I have ever taken at UCSB. She did not necessarily teach as she had guest professors do a lecture once a week and when she did lecture the material she would go over was in tangents as she would get off topic. Assigned reading with 80+ pages and did not clearly lecture her own research.

Professor Mendez is very knowledgeable about Latin American history, however, her methods in teaching are a bit disorganized. The TAs carried the class, filling in the context of the week's lectures (and explaining more than Mendez). We had weekly quizzes, weekly discussion posts, and 2 papers. Overall, it is manageable but become close to your TA!

Professor Mendez is the absolute worst professor to teach history. Her lack of fu''ing showing up to class on time shows that. 30 minutes late lol. she never helps at all! Got my section switched and emailed TA and prof, numerous times. No response to any of my emails!! Prof Mendez is the perfect example of being the worst teacher!!! TA, no bueno!!

Avoid this class. Lectures are confusing/hard to follow and she doesn't grade any assignments. UCSB should improve its hiring process because being a professor does not ensure good teaching. It is unacceptable to receive substandard education given the high cost of tuition. I took this class Winter quarter 2023. GRADES HAVE NOT BEEN SUBMITTED YET.

This professor is not prepared for her courses. She did not release her syllabus until the fourth week of the quarter and misled students countless times on assignment information. Moreover, she was a hard grader and expected much while not providing any useful information in the class. There were two weekly assignments and one final paper.

Never take this Professor she is awful, gives feedback too late and doesn’t post grades. She is so disorganized.

At first I thought that this course would be interesting and don’t get me wrong, it is. However, she did not give us the syllabus until week 5, expected a lot from us while providing vague instructions for assignments, and she assigned many of us to read about two whole books in the span of one week for our final paper. Please avoid her classes.

She is a well respected professor. She is also a talented historian. She can be intimidating because she had high expectations for her students. Assigned readings included a full dissertation, an entire book, and a series of articles and book chapters. She takes a while to grade work. Her grading is tough but fair. Not got the faint of heart.

Horrendous.. I'm sorry she seems very passionate during her lectures. But is a mess when it comes to grading, the last project she made us do for the first time in her class. I understand she wanted to give us freedom in writing but also very difficult in her expectations. too many "books" she deems as necessary

I respect Prof. Mendez, she obviously has extensive knowledge about the course. But her lectures were so so unorganized, they were hard to follow at times. The assignments were usually vague, and if you don't have a good TA, start digging your grave because you might not make it out.

This was such a weird quarter. Professor Mendez was disorganized with her work and timeliness to lectures. Sometimes, I genuinely questioned the credibility of what she says in lectures or if its just a translation error. However, I can say that she is very respectful of students opinions in class. The TAs were amazing and made up for all of it.

This was the first GE class I took my first quarter of my freshmen year. A ton of reading. Most of it really isn't necessary. Lectures are disorganized and she is a spitfire to say the least. I thought she was funny. I did the work and cared and got an A- . If you are a hard worker then take this class if not then don't lol

She's horrible. Walked up and down the aisles in class wanting to take students' phones away like we were high schoolers. Course material was interesting but she really frustrated most students with her actions.

Too much reading that isn't really required. Lectures aren't organized and will not cover everything needed so I had to research things myself. I personally wouldn't read everything she gave us weekly and would research the topic myself because it was too much and I would still get a good score. I did pass/no pass and ended up Passing.

When I look back at this class, I can't help but feel so disappointed. I came in eager to learn about LA History and willing to read, but this class was too much. Readings were overwhelmingly long to a point that I would regard as inconsiderate to the well being of the student. Lectures were often very messy. I like prof Mendez but hated the class

Worst class I've taken at UCSB and I've taken some pretty bad classes. She is very unorganized and has even showed up to class 20 minutes late. Her lectures are weak and she assumes people understand her point when they really don't. If you don't need the class don't bother, I wouldn't even recommend it for those who need it, there are other ways.