Lakeman, Sandra  

Course is how to make pretty drawings and not about design or architecture

lets see where to begin, hmmm? there is so many terrible aspects to this "professor" i have trouble starting. the terrible impression of this course didnt really hit me til i took 112 with Don "the man" Swearingen. her course taught me nothing but how to handle busy work. half the time we're draw from a book and the other listen to here talk about her "fantastic" son. her critiques were infamous in the class for her lack of consistency. her moods seemed to affect her critiques greatly. so most opinons from her were strange and random.

I do not reccommend taking Lakeman's Arch 111 class. Her assignments were very time-consuming and consisted of difficult busy work that did not allow for much creativity at all. She often contradicted herself in lectures, and proved that she had no architectural drawing skills of her own. It seemed that she had a grade predetermined for every student no matter how much they improved over the quarter. Now that I am in higher division classes, I see how little she prepared us. Students that took Swearingen are a lot better prepared.

I liked Lakeman when I was in her class, but she skrewed me with her grading. I can now look back on the class and say that I did get a good knowledege of freehand drawing that is still helping me. I dont like her as a person, but she teaches freehand drawing faily well and I dont think Swearingen or Panetta do.

Most of the stuff that I have read about Lakeman on this site is true. She does seem to be moody at times and play favorites. Although if you try to understand instead of getting frustrated and complaining, then you will come out ok. She is not good at conveying her ideas, what the assignments are, or how to do them. If you have a choice take someone else, but she is not a disaster.

Let me start by saying, if you take her, make sure that you get on her good side. She is very moody, and if you're lucky, she will be in a good mood the first day of class. She is extremely egocentric, and very cocky. She has no problem making someone feel like shit. If she likes you she will have very little compliants, but if she doesn't she will comlain about everything you turn in. This is no joke. I would not ask questions to her first; instead find a classmate or another teacher to ask first, and only go to her as a last resort. Usually she will not even answer the question for you, she will just go off on how poor of a question it was and she will talk loud so that everyone can hear. I do not recommend this teacher at all.

GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO GET ANOTHER PROFESSOR FOR THIS SERIES. Lakeman is far from a decent teacher (the general consensus I'm sure). There was a lot of social time in her class which was definitely a bonus but she makes you so darn miserable that eventually the socializing fails to cheer you up at all. She has favorite students (I was one of them) and it's not very hard to become one. Just don't goof off, flatter her musical/artisitic tastes and preferences, ask her how her son is doing, and be patient. IF you're unlucky enough to end up with her for one class, DO NOT take her for another one or you'll be even more sorry.

Professor Lakeman is a very knowledgeable, skilled, and compassionate teacher. The best, toughest teacher I've ever had. I got a great deal out of her class, especially compared to some others who seemed to think they could just slide. She is fair, knows how to prepare you, has high expectations that you had better meet, and rewards you if you work hard. Her knowledge of public space theory is incredible, and she has really inspired me to get out and see the world as part of my ongoibg education

I was really dissappointed by this class. I didn't come to this school to spend an entire quarter wasting my time on busy work and coloring. We did two large projects in Lakeman's class which were rushed because we spent a good part of the quarter doing busy work and learning to color in between the lines. (Wasn't that already covered in kindergarten?) The projects had nice result, but I don't feel like anyone learned very much compared to all the energy we put into our work. I don't even know what we were supposed to learn in ARCH 112. Something about color, which we got a lot of, but we didn't do any models which I know other ARCH 112 classes did do. I wouldn't reccomend taking Lakeman to anyone who is actually here to learn. I guess people are catching on to this though, seeing as there are currently 20 spaces left in her ARCH 113 class and just as many people, or more, trying to crash Don Swearingen's section.

She doesn't seem to respect the students as much as she should. She is on an ego trip, her head is the size of a Goodyear blimp. I don't really recommend taking her as a first year student as well as the rest of this years freshman class.

Like you, reading this right now, I checked polyratings before I registered for my classes last semester. I read all the stuff about Lakeman and wasn't very enthused, but I still thought "she really can't be THAT bad." Now that I have taken her class, I can undoubtedly tell you, she IS THAT BAD! Avoid taking her class at all costs! Try and crash Swearingen's, at least that way you'll actually learn something. This woman is a horrible horrible teacher, mainly for the fact that she doesn't TEACH! You learn more from a book than you do from her. The ENTIRE course is copying -- you generate NO work yourself! There are so many bad things about this class, I could go on and on forever... but the bottom line is: DO NOT take ANY class from Lakeman. If you do, you will seriously regret it, like I do right now.

The worst thing about Lakeman is that she is hypocritical. One moment she will tell you one thing about why your project is horrid, but the next time she looks, she will criticize soemthing completely different. One of the very first things she said to me was that one of my drawings looked like a blob of nothing. There is no creativity in her class: we spent the second half of the quarter coloring in other's work and the first half copying paintings. If you like busy work, this is a great class to take. You can spend some time learning to draw with chalk, pastels, india ink, and copys of the Mona Lisa. I think the hardest part of the class, aside from the personal problems of the teacher and her son who did some shit in Italy, was the fact that you had no way of knowing where you stood. She did not offer you anything except criticism. There were no grades or marks of any kind on any assignment. At the end of the class she reviewed the work of only those students who were on her bad side. The rest of the students got whatever grade they had written on her, "What grade should you recieve?" paper. If you MUST take this class because there are no other alternatives, don't get onher bad side and give yourself a really good grade. Also, since she is the exchange teacher for the Italy program, don't go there.

Professor Lakeman is terrible. If you don't to take her, don't. She does not do grades until the end of the course and she grade primarily on whether or not she likes you. I turned in everything on time and redid a project she told me to nad yet she still gave me a D. Some people did not complete everything and she gave then A's and B's. Other people did not turn in anything until after the daay everything was done and the still got B's. Simply, DON'T TAKE PROFESSOR LAKEMAN!!

All I can say about Prof. Lakeman is that you absolutely MUST get on her good side! I did, and I got a good grade even though I probably didn't put in as much effort as other people. Its not that bad, but if she doesn't like you, you are guaranteed to be screwed over. You won't learn much in her class, because it is a lot of copying, but you will probably end up liking the work that you produce.

One question: WHY IS CAL POLY STILL EMPLOYING THIS "PROFESSOR?" Especially when it is obvious that her interests lie in Itallian photography, not in improving the skills of architecture students.

She's kind, concerned, and demanding. A very time-intensive class, but she is generous with both compliment and constructive criticism, so it makes your effort worthwhile. No tests. The grade is based all upon how you draw in and out of class. The assignments are big but manageable. I would recommend her to the highly motivated and eager Arch student.

Lakeman is a very moody teacher. She picks out favorites right off the bat. Try to get on her good side. Also bring all materials to class, and at least make an attempt on all the hundreds of drawings she makes you complete. She does not explain the material or the assignments. If you have never taken a drafting class, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. She assumes that you have had drafting, and if you have never had it, she doenst take the time to show you how to do it. I would NOT recommend this teacher.

For some people, it is not obvious at first, but they eventually realize, professor Lakeman is a horribly out-of-touch educator. As these other evaluations say, she has favorites. And her favoritism is totally obvious. I personally flew under the radar so it wasn't an issue, and that's why I got an OK grade. But the students in our class quickly found that one conflict can ruin the quarter for you. This doesn't help, considering her grading is already totally subjective. We would all put up a particular assignment on the board and she would comment on them. Her favorite students always got praise whether the work was good or not, and students she didn't care for were overly-critized, even for high quality work. Professor Lakeman is also moody, self-righteous, and hypocritical. I don't describe these qualities just for the sake of bashing her. I just think that students should be prepared for her when they take one of her classes. She is actually is a really interesting person. I really enjoying hearing about her educational experiences and her trips to Europe. She is a complex and intriguing lady. But she is a horrible, horrible teacher.

Yes, she gave me an A. Yes, she flies on a broom and sends people fleeing from a perfectly worthy major.

i was one of the "lucky" ones to have lakeman for 3lovely quarters..seriously arch 121-123...and i guess i could get into the favortism and moodyness...but whatever...plain in simple, you should take lakeman for arch 121 if your a detail person and are extremely anal about your drafting skills...take her for arch 122 if your truly interested in advancing your skills in rendering...and take her for arch 123 if you want a freakin easy class...but dont take her if you freak out every time a professor critiques you.. i guess the only outher thing i would suggest is do whatever you can to mix it up a bit...its not the best havin the same professor for 3 quarters straight

The truth is, I have not even taken a class with lakeman. I have had the unfortunate experience of meeting her a few times. The jist: the woman is an ego driven, bipolar, "look at my italy pictures", psycho bitch. I am providing this information because my friend just called and told me that he had to take a class with her. When he said her name, I instantly recognized her from my very unpleasant encounter. I know her both in and out of school, I only hope other students will have the chance to avoid her at all costs. She needs mental help before she can offer her students an education.

I have graduated, but looking back over my education...I had Lakeman for 122 and 123. I learned so much about presentation, drawing techniques, use of color. These helped me thoughout ALL of my future classes and final critiques. She deeply cares about the aesthetics of the presentations and of architecture in general. She expects you to be responsible for due dates. I highly recommend her, if you want to learn a lot about beautiful presentation and drawing.

If you are looking for a reason to hate arch lakeman is the way to go. Not only does she grade strictly on if she likes you or not but she doesn't stick to the course outline that when you get into your next lab you are so far behind you feel like you are in a different major. Always attend class or she will fail you even if you make the class up. Have all your projects done before the deadline because she changes her mind when things are due and then says that she informed the class of the due date. make sure that at the end of the quarter you get all your projects back because she likes to keep them so that you can't contest your grade and if you are on her bad side watch her put your grade in her grade book. She like to "forget" to put my grade in the book and then accuse me later of not handing something in. BOTTOM LINE if you get on her bad side you are done!! So watch your back. I don't ever recommend take a class from lakeman unless you are looking for a reason to hate life or you need to take a class in witchcraft!

he sure does like his women, wet!!

TOTAL BITCH....PICKS FAVORITES...'NOUGH SAID.

Professor Lakeman was not able to estimulate me in anyway for any project. No project was exciting or proved to be worthy of my time.

Sandra Lakeman was not a horrible professor. She can at times be very rude without realizing it. I didn't mind the class that much, however, if you are at all interested in actually learning something, for god's sake take someone else! She gives you a vague description of the projects, and then adds specifics at random places in the assignment process, thus requiring you to start over. The reviews are accurate in that she is obsessed with italy. You will get sick of her fast. Not to mention she is completely insane. She required us to go to some presentation of her son's, which was barely related to architecture, and more closesly resembled communist propaganda. She brings to class her hungarian sheep dog named katya alexandria zofia, who likes to randomly bark, steal/break your modeling materials, and of course, take the occasional dump on the floor. You will not be miserable in taking her, but all in all, i learned nothing from the quarter except how to spend $20 a day on supplies. ps the projects are boring

If it weren't for the credit to move on to the next course it would be like this one never existed (except for the hundereds of dollars gone for nothing...which is exactly what I learned)

When looking for a design teacher, do not base your opinion on these polyratings evaluations. most times people only evaluate when they have insincere comments. Professor Lakeman is a very knowledgeable instructor and a wonderful person. She teaches you important fundamentals in architcture that others overlook. Go in to her class unbiased of her critiques, and you'll learn a great deal.

The fact that Professor Lakeman continues to be a teacher at our fine university demonstrates the declining ability of said university to bestow upon us a decent education. Yes, I received an A. What is the good of it? Nothing. What did I learn? Nothing, besides the fact that Sandra D. is a pompous elitist, a person who does not seek to teach students; rather, she would much rather expound upon pretty pictures she took in Italy many years ago. Ms. Lakeman does not teach design. Ms. Lakeman will do your thinking for you, so that you will not be hindered by the nuisance that is your creativity. Ms. Lakeman does not trust your judgment, and so hands out nice packets of information, explaining, in worthless abstractions, what she wants out of a project. (Speaking of which, if you are big into saving the planet, eliminate her copying fund - it would save the department a monetary amount equivalent to purchasing a small nation). Do not argue with Ms. Lakeman - she hates having her infinite wisdom challenged. Ask her advice, and she will like you. Find ways of challenging yourself, both in and out of class, if you are forced into taking this "professor"... that would be the only way in which you could possibly learn.

Do to polyrating I was afraid I would find a mean little old lady. She really seems to be a very nice woman who loves architecture. But she loves Italian architecture. Everytime I tried to talk to her about my project, she would tune me out, and then deposit a book on my desk at the end of the conversation. She never listened to a word I said. She seems to get an gets an image in her head of what your project should look like. Your success on your project depends on your ability to match her image of it. And her image is usually based on some Italian piazza. Piazza's are nice. She wrote a book on piazza's. Piazza's are her life.

Sandra Lakeman is a good proffessor. she is a bit hung up on Italy and various forms of art. The key to doing well in her class is convincing her that you have a good reason for doing whatever it is you are doing, be it changing your design, or your artwork. i flat out had a yelling match with her about a few projects, but in the end she realized that i new what i was doing and gave me the grade i deserved.