Kranzdorf, Richard  

I had Kranzdorf for the winter 2004 quater, we spent nearly the whole quater going over primaries and caucuses. This class requires little to no reading, if you show up to class you can easily pass the class, participate and he might just add 7 percentage points to your overall grade. If you want to learn a lot I wouldnt reccomend this class, if you just need to get through the class and are willing to show up, its easy to pass.

Kranzdorf looks like a homeless man. Every class period I was just waiting for a bug to jump out of his hair. He knows a lot about what he is teaching, he just has no idea how to teach it. His grading makes no sense, so be prepared to fail the midterm, no matter how well you think you did. He encourages class participation, so make sure you keep up with the reading and assigned "New York Times" articles. I definitely do not recommend taking the course from him. Avoid him if possible!

An extremely closed minded sorry excuse for an old man. The first day of class he got mad when people walked in late, and the second class period he was late himself, what a hypocrite. If you don't agree with him he hates you, I saw plenty of people crash and burn trying to voice their own opinions. Do not, under any circumstances take this man for ANY class he teaches. A few alternate choices are George or Huff. To summ it up this man is a DICK.

Although he may not dress impecably this doesn't effect his teaching ability. he is enthusiatic about the material and has genuine interest in most of it. It was nice taking this class while the 2000 elections were going on. He went over a lot of the important happenings and the impacts they could have on the US. While he did not finish his lectures on the book material because of this teh class was very fruitful because you learn real life political consequences. overall it was a good course i recommend this prof.

Dr. Kranzdorf is an entertaining and enlightening professor if you maintain an open mind to his style. Many students, particularly freshmen, seem to focus on his quirks; however, all well educated people seem to have qualities that make them unique, and people will just have to get used to that. His tests are hard in format, but none of the questions were surprises. The questions he asks are based on points that he emphasizes repeatedly in class. My only complaint is that I did not like the text book he chose for the class; it seemed a bit too pro-government, although that may be a personal bias of mine. Overall, I have a favorable view of this professor and would recommend him to anyone.

This class was based on a midterm and the final; essay and short answer. I found that his tests were incredibly fair. He makes the questions broad enough so that you don't need to memorize everything about everything. You also get a choice of which questions you want to answer. It's important to read and go to class (however I did oversleep about four times and still pulled off an A). Kranzdorf is knowledgeable and a strong environmentalist. If you listen to his lectures it's pretty obvious what is going to be on the test. He even has old tests in the reserve book room. His class wasn't my favorite, but definitely tolerable. Just a warning: he can be kind of a jerk sometimes. He doesn't like people coming in late. And he gets pissed if he calls on someone who hasn't read the assigned New York Times articles. So look over the articles before class so you don't get capped on.

He's an average teacher with boring lectures and a short temper. You better be a liberal or else your not going to do very well

If you want to get something out of this class, take Kranzdorf. He kept the class interesting and had a lot to offer about politics. Kranzdorf genuinely believes in what he is doing (a rare thing amongst profs nowadays) and helped make even shy people like myself feel comfortable enough to speak up during class discussions. The tests were not too tough although there is a lot of reading in this course. I usually just scanned the text for the key points and really paid attention to the articles he assigned. Only downfall is that he chews a little bit on people who don't read the articles for class discussion. I always thought this was a waste of time and if someone doesn't read the articles they're only hurting themselves. Other than that, you are looking at a knowledgable / fair professor that will give you something to take with you after the course. It has opened my eyes....

Kranzdorf is brutal on tests, considering the format. midterm: 50 minutes to do a 2 page essay on one of two questions and answer 5 of 7 short answer questions (require half a page each if you are going to get full credit). final: 2 hours to answer 2 of 3 essay questions and 7 of 9 short answer. Not only is time a major factor, having well formated argument and remebering ALL the little facts make it extremely hard to do well. Text is intersting but dense.

Kranzdorf was a good professor to take for an intro course in international relations. He tells right off the bat that he is very pro-environment, but his ability to play devil's advocate was very good for this class. I must say that if you are not liberal or at least a little left-leaning, you will probably not like him. I have heard that from a few students on the other side of the spectrum. Also, he can appear somewhat unprepared at times, which can be annoying. His midterms aren't hard, but he gives you little time to complete them, so if you cannot write essays fast, do not take him! He grades pretty easily, however, so that helps you.

God this class was boring. He'll tell you the same thing over and over again, and pause in the middle of his sentences until you want to throw something at the wall just to make sure he's still awake. A lot of the time you don't have to bother to come to class, all he does is go over the bold words in the book. Sometimes he'll lecture from other books that you don't have and from things he comes up with himself, but he always goes longer than he intends to. Like, he'll say he's going to do a 15 minute "mini-lecture," and then take an hour because he's talking too slow and repeating himself. He does give you a ten minute break every day though, which was nice. On the midterm you choose 1 out of 2 essays and 5 out of 7 or 8 short answers. The final is the same, except you do 2 out of 3 essays. Get the small bluebooks. I recommend just knowing the main ideas of the chapter, and what every single bold word means. There's an optional paper, and you pick any of the critical thinking questions at the back of each chapter. It's nice to have the selection, but most of those questions aren't meant for writing 5-8 pages. If you like going cross-eyed with boredom, take this professor, otherwise, spare yourself.

Prof. Kranzdorf is a little eccentric, but worth taking. Often it appears his lectures are based on whatever happens to cross his mind that day, but students are encouraged to contribute to classes. At least in this class, Kranzdorf almost seemed to want students to disagree with him. Yes, he is fairly up front about where he stands (which is refreshing because at least he's not pretending to be impartial), but enjoys being challenged. So, if you can handle a professor who is a little scattered and disorganized but keeps the class engaged, I would recommend him.

Where to begin with Kranzdorf. Weird guy to say the least. He reminds me of a human form of Oscar the Grouch. He dresses all ragedy. His class was informative, but the grading was rather tough for the material that was presented. I studied a whole bunch and still got a C because I wrote essays on his tests that he did not particularly agree with. This is not a typical Poli Sci class where you can just spit back information to the teacher and recieve an A. The class is challenging and it really forces you to become abreast on current world politics.

The evaluations of Kranzdorf are not fair to say the least. Yes he does look like Oscar the Grouch, but he covers himself up because of a medical condition. Yes he is a liberal environmentalist but saying that if you don't agree with you won't get a good grade is ridiculous, he is very tolerant of other views and repeatedly says stuff like "I may be wrong, disagree with me." On a number of ocassions I did disagree with him (I am a libertarian) and not only was he fine with it he said stuff like "that is a good point, and again I am not always right." Any comment made in class is encouraged, and never ripped apart by him. His tests are very fair, and not hard at all, but do cover the material. It is definately recommended that you do the reading before class, he does cold call, but even if you haven't done the reading he doesn't get angry, he just goes on to the next person. Overall an above average professor who really gets a bad rap, even though he is very knowledgable.

I learned so much in his class. It really opened my eyes to what is happening in the world, especially in a time when that really matters. If you study, his tests are pretty straight foreward, but they are all essays. Speak up in class a lot. It could make the difference between a B+ and an A. This guy really knows his stuff and he has been most of the places he talks about. I would recommend taking him and this class.

Professor Kranzdorf's class was awesome! We covered a lot about world conflicts and the whole class was pretty much open discussion. If you are curious about something happening in the world he will discuss it in class. He's a really nice guy and is a very fair grader. You also read about the Taliban and study a lot about terrorism, how cool is that! If you want to learn a ton without an excessive work load he's the man. He's also not as liberal as anyone says and even defended Bush a few times.

I would also dissagree that you will get a bad grade if you don't share the same views as Professor Kranzdorf. I happened to dissagree with him on almost every topic we studied and he knew it. He encouraged us to express our opinions and very rarely even told us what his opinion was. He said he wanted us to think for himself. Overall a great teacher.Forgets what he is saying midsentence, but he's always good for a laugh. Speak up alot in calss and get a good grade.

Very interesting... I liked how he made us keep up with the NY Times. His class is is a challenge but an A is possible with work and participation.

Avoid Doctor Kranzdorf. He speaks in third person constantly, is losing his memory, assigns the same homework repeatedly, has no class outline, and is a bore. Aside from that, he's an easy grader. I missed half the classes because I wasn't motivated to go, and still pulled a B. One midterm and a take home final makes up most of the grade. Additional points are for class participation and giving summaries of NY Times articles. The subject is great for class discussion, but the teacher is horrible.

It is easy to do well in Dr. Kranzdorf's class. There is in-class discussion based on reading, a midterm, and a take-home final. That's it! He loves to show videos, and almost all of them are interesting and informative. He emphasizes that he keeps his political opinions to himself, and he is pretty successful at that. He encouraged us to come up with our own opinions, and there were a few students in my class that disagreed with him on most everything. That didn't bug him at all, and the one time he thought he said something that could offend the conservative viewpoint he even apologized to the students. I had a lot of other schoolwork to do, so I didn't show up to every class or write a really long essay for the final, yet I still got an A in this class. Just stay away if you have no interest in world politics.

Wow....I just got done with this class today...and I am already sad that I won't be returning....He is very interesting....yes he is older...but he is by far the best older teacher you could ask for...alot of the other reviews are correct about the NY times and making everyone speak up in class about two or three times over the quarter....I am one of those ppl who hate history but I read about news all the time online or on television....This has been by far the most enlightening GE I have taken, and Kranzdorf is wonderful...I can't say enough how much I loved this class....

Kranzdorf is a good guy and his class is interesting. One midterm, a take home final, and participation points based off of the weekly New York Times reading assignments make up your grade. He is very interested in global terrorism so if you exhibit a hint of interest to him in is office hours and during the class discussions, it can boost your grade. The course itself covers interesting material; it is a lot of reading, but most it you can skim as long as you pay attention during lecture. Overall, good guy, good professor, interesting class, and it is not too difficult to get an A. Krandorf is old, so if you are impatient with professors who digress, avoid him.

Kranzdorf is really good guy who actually cares a lot about his students. I can count more than a few times in which i actually though he was gonna cry in regard to how passionate he is about the subject. We focused on terrorism which was pretty interesting. A few reader books, nothing serious, easy read. There was a mid-term and a take home paper for our final, cool and easy if you study you will do well.

This was a very interesting class. It focuses on terrorism and you really don't need to know anything coming into it. I sure didn't and ended up with an A. I went to every class but I can see how people can skip some. You will learn what days to come to and not, but any day you miss is a gamble. He assigns New York Times articles and calls on people to discuss them. This can add or subtract 10 points from your grade. Midterm is 50 points and so is the final. We had a take home essay final, which was a comparative study of two countries regarding terrorism. His tests are fair, and you do need to study. Pay attention to what he focuses on in lectures (especially with the readings) and you should do fine. The readings do not take much time, but they can be a bit dry at times. If you do the readings and contribute to the calss discussions, you should do fine.

Kranzdorf knows his material. Even though he may not always be organized he has a firm grasp of all aspects of the subject. He is also the most fair political science teacher I have had. He never tries to force his views on you and constantly reminds his students that his opinion in not necessarily

Unless you agree with the Professor's views regarding the environment and politics, you will do poorly in this class. My project on the Economics of Chile was ripped apart because I failed to address the environment.

I took Kranzdorf for 225 and liked him, so I thought he would be good for 328. Boy was I wrong. It was like a completely different man taught the class. The first book, by Rist, is simply a critique of theory and very hard to read. His expectations for the essays he assigned us were not clear, and you could tell he was frustrated by that. He was also not good about keeping his bias out of the class, as everything we saw was mostly pro-environment and anti-globalization. He was highly unorganized and the amount of time he gave on midterms was very short. Taking him can be a gamble, because he can be very good instructor, or a horrible instructor.

Fuck this guy. Id like to stick my tounge up his ass.