Sosna, Marvin  

I enjoyed Professor Sosna's class very much. I gained valuable information about the field and always found his lectures to be interesting and informative (which can be difficult to accomplish). Over the years, I've also enjoyed reading his articles in various newspapers and magazines. In fact, now that he is retired, my public relations firm is going to be utilizing him as a freelance writer. We feel very fortunate to have a writer of Sosna's experience, skills and talent, joining our team. I wouldn't enlist his help if I didn't believe he was an excellent journalist!

Professor Sosna is the best teacher I've had so far at Cal Poly. I learned so much from him about the intricacies of print, broadcast, and pr writing. He was always well prepared for class, and met with us individually throughout the quarter to guide our progress. He is a tough grader, but even if you don't do well on the first midterm (I made a factual error, dropping my grade to a D), there are still opportunities to improve your grade via news quizzes and various extra credit opportunities. In addition, he invited journalists into the classroom to share their real life experiences with us. I would take him again for any class.

J203 was a difficult class. I enjoyed it but had to work very hard. The class is based mosly on one final paper. It's a paper written in three different ways-- you pick the topic. If it werent for the extra credit he allows I would not have passed. My biggest advice would be to do as much of the extra credit assignments as possible. They are to write three versions of articles on events you attend. Sosna is a sweet man. He is strict and doesnt show any grace but work hard and he'll reward you.

Great teacher. I learned all I now today from him. He is an amazing writer. I wish all my teachers were as good as him. Thanks. Jeff Dean: Nitro-Net.Com

My first quarter in Poly this class was my favorite. Pretty much every class Marvin had some professional journalsit come in and talk to us wich was great. By no means am I a class standout, I barley even made in into class but once a week. I got 60% on all three segment tests he gave. What I did was simply talk to the guy through e-mails, office hours and after class, really about nothing to do with the course just small talk so I guess he grew a liking to me. I did all extra credit available, a must. The finale, which was essay format, is really the time to show him you can write and is very braod. Well I must have done good becasue he gave me an A when I was worried I wouldnt pass. What I lerned from this class is make your presence noticed. All my journalism professors gave me higher grades then I deserved because I took the time to talk with them.

He's an okay professor. I wouldn't really know, because he never lectured in class. He had a different guest lecturer EVERY SESSION. I didn't really learn much in this class, but it was easy. The only reason I gave Sosna such a high rating was because the class was SO easy. I never cracked the book, and ended up with a solid A. This was the first class I'd ever actually fallen asleep in - you can see how boring it was. He knows it's boring, too, because he won't let anyone have a pencil out to take notes for fear that they'll doodle. He really is a nice man, but I'm not sure he belongs in the classroom. On the other hand, this is a great class for slackers.

Marvin Sosna is, perhaps, the worst professor I've ever had at Cal Poly. Sometimes I found myself feeling sorry for him... as if his heart was in the right place. Then he would say something totally off the wall and you realize he's truly just one of the most abrasive teachers on campus! His quizzes were impossible, whether you read the text or not. His lectures were incredibly bias... A couple of times I even found that he was giving incorrect information or statistics!!! And to top it off, this is a multi-cultural journalism class... he used the word "negro" twice!! He also insists that journalists should "advocate" religion!!! Anybody who has taken ethics will know this guy is full of it... Don't take him, if you can avoid it!

sosna's not a bad guy at all, but he's not the best teacher. like the person before me said, his heart was in the right place, but why is a 60 year old white guy teaching a multicultural journalism class?? his justification was that when he was an editor, he employed a black guy, and asian guy, a mexican guy and a gay guy. wow. anyway, the class isn't hard at all...we had a little crossword club in the back, never studied, and did just fine. best day of class was watching the mel gibson south park episode...he was quite disturbed that the class thought it was more comedic than racist. don't expect to be intellectually stimulated, but then, who wants that anyway??

Poor Sosna. He really is a very nice man, he can be a great resource and mentor for story writing and his heart is in the right place. However, his 290 class was not factually sound, it was incredibly biased and his curriculum derived from his personal experience. The class was generally apathetic and annoyed by his lectures, which were usually unvalidated perceptions about the topic. I couldn't believe he argued that a paper should advocate minority religions (this was even a test question). Someone more qualified (ahem...someone multicultural) should've taught the class. Sosna's value to the students should be in a writing class.

Probably the worst teacher I have had at Cal Poly. I had to fight for my grade at the end of the quarter and hated dealing with him. He is not understanding to anyone and is so proud of himself. Try and avoid him at all costs!!!!

I didn't have Sosna for multicultural journalism so I can't speak to his abilities there. Additionally, I recognize that he's old, at least 75 (not 60). Regardless, I enjoyed having him as a professor. It was partly due to the fact that we had only five people in our class, which allowed for some intimacy. Additionally, I found that Sosna went out of his way to review the writing I was doing for the Mustang Daily and offered better critiques of my stories than anyone affiliated with the Daily class. I hope Sosna is this way with every good writer he meets, and heck, I've heard stories from other people he's touched. Ultimately, Sosna struck me as sagacious, witty and kind, somehow who's spent a lifetime in journalism and genuinely loves it still. Sure, his actual lectures for Journalism 385 got a bit muddled and boring at times, but Sosna's got a unique personality and is a valuabe asset to our department. I still send him my writing from time to time.