Pulitano, Elvira  

She is really nice but does expect you to step into the class and become a indigineous rights activist. She likes to have open discussions but often shoots down other opinions. Class is pretty easy and fun. Just ask questions and comment on things and she will like you as long as you kind of tell her what she wants to hear. Take home final...very nice. Dont take this class if you are ultra conservative or have a hard time sympathizing with indigenious peoples. You will hate it.

Dr. Pulitano is very sweet, but does not understand that students take more than just her class during a quarter. 5 novels for a GE? I don't think so, especially when one is 450 pages or so. The funny thing is, though, that the class was completely do-able without ever cracking open the pages of any book at all. No quizzes, no calling on students for their thoughts, no situations during which one would have to recall information from a book off the top of their heads. So I guarantee you that about 2 people in the class actually read all of the books. The class would have been completely unbearable had we not watched movies constantly that took up class time.

Definitely not my favorite professor, but a fairly easy class. She assigns readings for you to do before each class, but you'll quickly learn that you don't need to do them. 2 Take home tests, 1 group project, and a 1500 word paper are the only assignments you really need to worry about. All of the material we cover is extremely biased towards the Native Americans, but it's actually interesting to see their perspective for once.

An excellent example of a self centered, self righteous, arrogant, pompous blabbermouth. Listen to what she says and repeat it right back to her. If you offer a different view she will get mad and ridicule you (often with false information). Avoid if possible.

Do not expect to learn anything useful. This class is extremely dull with a lot of irrelevant discussion. There are daily readings, an oral presentation, a take home midterm, and a research paper. The readings are long and unnecessary. The oral presentations are boring. The take home midterm seems fair until you realize how she grades (make sure to pretty much rewrite the articles because missing a single detail will cost you half your grade). Don't expect her to tell you anything about the research paper in class. Also do not expect to be allowed to have an opinion that disagrees with hers, because you will be wrong! She's close-minded and arrogant. Basically AVOID THIS CLASS unless you like sitting through hours of boring material and being told what to think.

Pulitano is one of the nicest, if not the most bigoted, professors I have had. She wants you to understand the material and do the reading, but honestly almost none of it is required. Once you discover a few key themes to the class (among them that Native Americans are the good guys and that capitalist America is slowly destroying the world), you can just restate and regurgitate those phrases over and over to pass the class. She assigns a lot of reading, but after maybe week three none of it is really necessary to participate in class discussions (with participation being a quarter of your grade). An easy class that rustled my cultural jimmies from time to time.

This lady has a strong accent so its hard to understand anything she says. You kind of get used to it after a while. This class is a joke. You don't really learn anything. You just have to go to class and sit there because there is a participation grade. I didn't really read any of the books because it was a take home midterm and a final paper only. The other grades are a group presentation and participation. The only good part of this class was watching people disagree with her because she would freak out on people. Very entertaining. I didn't try to hard in this class and got a C.

Dr. Pulitano is the most closed minded professor it has been my displeasure to have at cal poly. I would go so far as to say that after taking her class has made me less sensitive about the plight of native peoples. She is completely closed for discussion on anything. The only way to make this horrid professor tolerate you and give you a passing grade is to regurgitate the broad generalizations that she gives you and agree with her in every way. Don't expect to learn anything but if you have no other options its not that bad a class you will pass you will just lose any sense of pride or academic discussion.

Grades on attendance and I showed up to all of the classes and she still only gave me a C in participation which is 25% of your grade. She tries to make her class hard by grading hard. Midterm was completely random and its all fill in the blank and she will basically screw you over even if you put the right answer. She assigns a ton of reading and expects you to know it really well. I would highly recommend taking a different class.

Pulitano is one of the best professors I have come across at my time at Cal Poly. I have to be honest when I say I wasn't expecting much from this course, but she blew all my expectations out of the what. This woman literally has a PhD in indigenous studies, and has a true passion for the subject, so for anyone to say she can't teach effectively or provides false information is clearly mistaken. Her class is fairly easily; go to class, pay attention and review your notes and you'll end up with an A, it's really not that hard. I'll be honest she doesn't put up with any bullshit, so be on your A game. Additionally, I think it's pretty fucked up to see comments saying she is closed mined, self-serving, and doesn't want to hear opposing opinions. Clearly y'all are just use to "playing devil's advocate" in class saying ignorant/racist shit and your teachers just let you. Pulitano isn't that type of professor, and she's not going to let you waste her time. She is one of the most understanding, intelligent, and open minded individuals I have come across. If you can't handle America and Capitalism be criticized, and within good reason, then don't enroll in this course and take up a seat for a student who is willing to learn. Also the comments about her accent are ignorant as fuck, she's literally Italian and can speak perfect English so I don't see the problem; y'all so uncultured. If you are willing to rethinking America's history, have an open mind, and put a descent amount of work you'll literally get a good grade.

There is a lot of reading in this class. She gives pop quizzes once in a while but overall they are only worth 5 points the whole quarter. She gives you one two page midterm response, a group project, and about an 8 page essay as a final. It's hard to keep up on the reading so if you don't have time to read don't take the class because the final essay will be hard. Also, she gives an optional trip to a museum in San Francisco which she basically wants everyone to go to. You have to go to class because there is participation points but she is a fairly easy grader on the essays. Nice lady, lots of work.

Do not take this course. I am not one to grade a professor so harshly and I typically get along with people easily, but this class was bad. It was an Africana Studies class so naturally there were some African Americans in it. Unfortunately, the class was segregated. They sat on one side, the white people sat on another. It was like this for a whole quarter and she saw no need to improve things. Most classes just turned into rants, complaining on how African Americans have been discriminated against and just want an apology for all the tough stuff they have faced. The truth is even with an apology they would still complain. The worst part was I got humiliated during class because I was a Theatre Major and a group that I'm not associated with in the Theatre Dept. put up a minstrel photo for advertisement. During our presentation my group of (white) people was accused of using Wikepedia as a source, yet we were all very good students and know this is a bad idea. In short she discriminated against us and I guess if that was what she was going after she accomplished that. However, that should not have been her goal at all. Horrible, horrible course. The worst one I've ever experienced at Cal Poly.

There's a lot of work in the class, and she's not the fairest professor, but the class is interesting. In order to get an A: Participate, read the books, show up to class, and a. if you're ethnic, use it to your advantage. b. if you're white, always say white people are wrong. After that, easy stuff. If she likes you, you'll ace it for sure. If not, I'd get out of that class quick.

Pulitano was an ok teacher and as long as you stayed on her good side you were bound to get a good grade. The class was ridiculously easy but a lot of reading for a GE. There was one essay midterm in class, a group project and a take home final. She offers 5% of your grade in extra credit too.

Not that bad of a teacher. ES 242 requires some reading and writing since the GE category requires that. Did not feel at all special for being what some would call ethnic, exotic, different or what have you. Had to work my butt off like everyone else. She definitely shares a passion for what she does. Very nice woman overall with a foreign accent. Could see how people could get on her bad side, I felt that way but then I just went to her office hours, was friendly to her, and things just worked out. This GE might be a little more work than some would like but it might just be the GE category.

Not a bad professor, not a great professor. Took her last Spring for African Studies and it really wasn\'t that hard of a class. Fairly easy to bullshit through the thing if you get too lazy to read all the books. What really matters is the group presentations (we went first so we weren\'t graded too harshly). Pulitano is a cool lady but a little closed minded. Once she pin pointed who the kinda ignorant white kids were (and obviously there are plenty at cal poly) she kinda disregards their input (I\'m kinda glad she did haha). Not bad for GE fulfillment and if you\'re interested in the subject matter there\'s potential to learn alot.

Professor Pulitano was nice, funny, and helpful throughout the quarter. I didn't do much of the reading but managed to make it through by nodding and looking things up on the internet. There is a take home midterm, group project, take home final and take home final two-page paper. Overall, the class is pretty simple and if you are willing to take the time with the midterm and final it's a pretty easy A! Definetely recommend for a GE... not to mention, there are some interesting topics and movies in class!

Literally easiest class that one can take to fulfill a GE course. All you have to do is take a strong stand on whatever side she takes or the material she presents. Never bought 1 book or read any of them. Even for the presentation you can bullcrap it. 100 point class. 1 midterm (15 question quiz and 15 point essay) and 1 take home final. All papers are 2 pages, maybe 3. She is extremely close minded but it makes funny in a way. I mean bring your laptop so you have something to do in class, otherwise you'll be bored all the time. EASY class, enough said.

Africana Studies with Pulitano is a great class to take as a GE. She is a kind, sweet, approachable woman. I feel like I am leaving the class a more knowledgable and grateful person. She is an easy grader and all assignments and tests are all very reasonable. This is what a college GE should be about--keeping up with simple assignments, leaving a good grade, and more importantly, leaving with knowledge that is actually relatable to the real world.

Pulitano is a really nice lady, with some really twisted views on the world. I really enjoyed this class, and felt like I was learning a lot about race relations and African history. Until about midway through the quarter, when during a discussion about sexism, she flat out told me that I was wrong, and that sexism does not exist in African society. From then on, it was hard to take her seriously. Overall, she's a nice lady who has an incredible passion for the subject. Do the readings, come to class, and always support her ideas, and you'll get an A.

very self centered teacher. Heard it was an easy A, but she will give you her grade based upon how she likes you.

Elvira is a nice woman who means well, but she blatantly lacks the ability to explicitly and effectively communicate what she expects from us and the course requirements. If you're interested in learning about African culture and history, enroll! You'll have some eye opening times. If you're looking for an easy GE, this isn't it. There's loads of PolyLearn PDF reading, in addition to 4 novels for the quarter. Also, she DOES NOT post her powerpoints to PolyLearn, so take good notes. I respect her a lot though because you can tell she knows what shes talking about and is incredibly passionate about it, she just needs to work on spreading that passion to her students. She's also Italian so she's got a fairly thick accent but it's not impossible to deal with. She's also got a killer sense of fashion! Gotta love the Italians.

She's one of those teachers who expects you to read every word of the assigned reading AND be able to get every important point AND be able to discuss without having ANY guidance from the teacher. For how much reading she assigns (a shit ton), she fails at being able to clarify it to her students. She will literally stand there waiting for an answer when its obvious no one has any idea what she's talking about. If you're reading this professor, you should know that those awkward silences that you make painfully long are not helping us learn. Fill the time we're paying you for with helpful material or at least some reading guidelines.

She's not as bad as everyone says. But, you do never get used to her weird accent and she's not very understanding. She uses her students to get her point across- if she calls on you to answer a question, good luck finishing your sentence. She'll cut you off and continue saying what you were about to say. Rude. If issues come up and you try to explain them to her, good luck. She doesn't care. Also, I'm going to Africa winter quarter and was hoping she'd have some resources and advice for me- she didn't care at all. Like, me telling her about going to Africa was a waste of her time. She didn't know anything about where I was going and had absolutely nothing to offer. Thanks.

You'll Learn alot, and its an easy class. Come into the class ready to learn. Poly is full of so many aggie racists who dont like any other ethnicity of whites so they dont like this class. But its an easy A. Go to her office hours and just get to know her. Shell get you that A since the grade basically relys on i she likes you and if you participate.

This class excepts more than it should for a normal GE course. Dr. Pulitano starts out the quarter warning you that she does not treat this course as a GE....which is completely true. She assigns about 4 hours of reading a week...for a GE. Basically each class you have a group discussion about the readings from each week, so technically you don't have to read anything, but don't plan on getting a good score for participation if you never talk. The midterm was easy and the group project wasn't too hard either, but you have to do a perfect job of presenting if you even want to get an A. The final project was also easy, but she grades off of whether or not she likes you. Overall she was a nice lady, but at times I felt judged/belittled by her whenever I said anything. I would take a different class than this one in order to fulfill your GE.

She said the n-word 6 times today in class. SIX!!! With the R. And it wasn't from a reading. She chose those words and repeated it 6 times in the span of like 3 minutes. While good intentioned, no white woman should feel that comfortable saying the n word that comfortably especially when there are black students in your class. YIKES!!! This is an ES class, DO BETTER SIS!!

This has been one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly. She is a very sweet lady and VERY knowledgeable about the Caribbean, its history, African diaspora, etc. I was NOT looking forward to this class (it ended up just being the one that fit my schedule for a GE requirement) and it actually ended up being really interesting. Her lectures are easy to follow. Her grading is about 20-25% attendance so make sure you go to class! Midterm was 15 questions MAINLY from lecture so take good notes (there were about 5 questions from course readings & presentations). There is no textbook for this class, just 3 short novels (No writing assignments on them, just read them). There is 1 group project which is a 30-40 min presentation about a pre-selected topic. She loves answering questions anyone has. Take her!

I definitely recommend taking this course. Dr. Pulitano is precious!! She has a beautiful Italian accent and a lot of life experience. There is a lot of assigned reading, but most of it is actually pretty interesting! THERE ARE NOT ANY EXAMS. There are 3 sets of typed out reading notes (easy), 2 papers, and a group project. She's a generous grader and really does care about what each student has to say. She lectures for less than half the class, and the rest of the time is filled with comments from students. She asks us to arrange our desks in a circle so we feel like a family. As long as you are generally compassionate, especially in the realm of race/ethnicity, you will get a good grade.

I am taking this class right now, Winter 2012. When I am done, it's up for sale. Book for sale 805-215-8467 Crtical Race Theory

Rice Race Rice Race! This was a class of controversees. This onesided Italian medallion is critical as roast eggplant Sausage with that dank sauce. Nummy. Commin' at it. I didn't learn any tits in this.

She isn't a half-bad professor. I had her Spring of 2016. She just believes what she believes and isn't too open minded. After the first midterm, I stopped doing the readings (there's no reason to because the final is an essay on a topic of your choice). Can't sleep in this class, and also you're expected to discuss the readings from the night before. LOTS LOTS of readings. She'll ask specific irrelevant questions sometimes. Don't really recommend her class for an easy A, but I got an A- because my group did well on the presentation and I'm a good writer

I loved Elvira! You do need to do the readings in order to be successful in the class, but if you do the readings and come to class you can plan to do well!

This is not the class to take if you are trying to take an easy upper-division GE. Class was boring and we had anywhere from 40-80 pages to read by each class with a one page write up. She was not clear on the course outline and when I went to ask questions she confused me even more. She was very vague when I asked how I could prepare for the midterm so it made it stressful to prepare for tests in this class.