Mr. Alagona is a professor you wish you could have for every class. He is very inspirational and the way he uses lectures, the discussions and the information itself, is truly a beautiful learning experience. There is no textbook so you primarily read articles of real world events and relate those scenarios to key topics learned in class.
Pete is a great prof, very knowledgeable and has a very calm demeanor. He seems like he cares a lot for his students. He supplemented his materials with different articles which were relevant to what we learned in class and where we (our current society and loc) are situated. I enjoyed attending lecture and reading the different materials.
Amazing teacher genuinely if you get the chance to have him take it. He gives great feedback in office hours and the class was easy. He's so smart and well prepared, go see him outside of lecture if you can!
I adored my time in this class. He used a combination of readings, books, and podcasts to explore a lot of interesting topics and really listened to student feedback. He worked really closely the TAs (who are also wonderful), and forced us to broaden our perspectives. The honors section was just as fantastic and I really learned so much from him.
Dr Alaona sets clear expectations, and is a very fair grader. do the work, you'll get a good grade.
Pete is a passionate teacher, but gives so much reading its kind of frustrating considering he puts it out a couple days before its due. The material was hard for me to get into, but if you like Environmental stuff I'm sure the material would be very engaging.
this class had a crazy workload, so do not go into it thinking it is going to be a brainless class. felt like drowning in coursework, but if you keep up with the work, you'll be ok. there is a midterm that he says is low stakes, but isn't, there's also a bunch of weekly assignments and a final. i can't say i enjoyed my time
Workload is insanely heavy for an intro class. So many reading a week about 4+ and 30-40 pages each. Weekly quizzes as well as group assignment. Doesn't prepare you for midterm, 100+ terms to memorize. Do not let the reviews fool you.
Had to drop this class bc of all the busy work he assigned. It was way too much for an easy GE class. I was taking 4 other UD classes as well and found myself spending more time doing the work for this class. If you have a lighter workload, this class is easy, but if not, good luck
Super easy class with a really good prof. You can tell that prof Alagona really loves teaching, which makes the class enjoyable
Professor Pete is awesome! Lectures were interesting, and he really cares about his students. The class has easy assignments and exams, but don't slack off - unstuck study can help with study prep.
Super great professor, very passionate. Understanding and material was interesting. Would definitely recommend taking!
My course was affected by the Fall 2022 strike. Finals were cancelled. He is technology adverse. Do not expect any electronic communication with him, he uses that as a last resort (and yes, I do mean he will find literally any other way to contact the class!). Great person but needs to be taught to use technology more.
Chill guy, had weekly readings used for group and individual assignments. The group assignments took place during lecture. The individual assignments were during sections, and they were the hardest part since you only had 10 minutes to answer the question. No midterm. Final was multiple choice and not too difficult if you reread his posted slides.
The class itself is very easy, all writing exercises, and the final is basically a Quizlet. Lectures often boring bc a lot of the stuff was common sense, but prep materials were interesting. Really great course laying the foundations/basics for the rest of ENVS. Prof. Pete is the absolute goat, you can tell he cares about his students and field.
Interesting lecturer with extremely easy assignments that are essentially for completion. He had a single pop quiz that was pushed back to the very last lecture. Homework is relatively minimal and exams are very trivial as well.
Professor Alagona is so awesome!! He is so passionate about environmental studies and lecture was always interesting. You can tell he really cares about his students. I am an ES major and was expecting ES1 to be pretty boring review for me. However, I ended up learning so much in this class and really enjoyed it!! The grading was also very fair.
Took this course as non ES major for my GEs, absolutely loved it! Professor Pete is an all around amazing professor with profound insight. His lectures can drag a bit, but you can tell he really cares about what he teaches. The group work and preps were not difficult, just time consuming. The final was a breeze. Cannot recommend this course enough!
He is a professor who not only makes the information fun to learn but also makes you think about how the subject translates to life outside of school. He is by far one of the best professors I have ever had. I would 100% take this class again.
Most boring ES class I've ever taken, but an easy enough class. Honestly expected a lot from an extry level ES 1, but easy to pass if you do the work. Weekly readings, weekly timed writing assignments, and weekly group assignments. If your group works well, everything should go smoothly and you can get an A easily.
Prof. Alagona is a great guy and laid out the course in a way that was easy to understand. There are many readings and group projects but overall, it is not a difficult course. He is not the most captivating speaker, but he does seem to care about the topic which I found nice.
Amazing professor! My first quarter humbled me but this class got me through it. I absolutely loved attending this course and definitely will take this professor in the future if I get the opportunity. There are weekly preps which take about 4 hours but he makes them accessible by incorporating readings, videos and podcasts. Take this course!
Such a great profesor! So passionate and inspiring, a great class with an even better profesor.
INT 84ZX was definitely one of the best courses I've ever taken at UCSB. The five-day field trip to the Sierra Nevada was so much fun. Pete was kind and caring, and we were given so many opportunities to learn about the High Sierra. It was such a nice trip that I want to take this course again. I would recommend the course to any other student.