Vigil, Samuel  

Vigil is a good teacher. In fact he does the best he can, it is just that he is kind of a boring man. Test format is tough because they are 50 points, 25 of them 5 multiple choice questions. Miss 1 or 2 and you get the idea. Overall good

his lectures are soooo boring. he doesn't lecture very well, it pretty vague at times and just random. his test reflect what he lectured mostly but they arn't too bad.

He really just doesn't care about you or whether you learn anything.

Although Dr. Vigil was only able to teach our class for part of the quarter due to health issues, I thought he was pretty straightforward. His lectures are pretty interesting although he does go very slow. The homework is pretty simple, and can be easily done if you do the reading. We were able to take a tour of the SLO Water Treatment Plant on Prado Road, which was pretty cool. Even though Vigil is kind of boring, I would recommend this as an interesting class for any engineering student.

The previous evals are right. . .he is a boring man. He is very monotone and doesn't really make you want to learn. This is the only major course that I have fallen asleep in. The tests, or "quizes" as he likes to call them, aren't bad, but he does whip out the ol' "derive-this-equation" crap. This is okay in freshman calculus, but not in an upper division major course. Give me a break man. The homework sucks because he doesn't do any examples in class. He basically just rambles on about stuff that he finds amusing about water and wastewater, and never really gives you the info needed to do actual problems. This all sounds bad, but it an easy B if you dredge through the homework because his tests are just simplified homework problems.

My first class with Vigil was not exactly a pleasant one (ENVE 331) because, as stated earlier, he seemed lazy, bored, and lectured in monotone. After taking ENVE 438 and ENVE 439, his voice still remained in the monotone, but I realized what a good teacher he really was. I found his lectures and tests EXTREMELY straightforward and while the homework was a little tough, it just took some actual time to work out the problems (something most CalPoly students dread, including me). And while he might seem a little grumpy and/or foreboding, he really does care and is willing to answer homework questions and the like. I highly recommend this professor for any course other than ENVE 331 (I heard Nelson was better).

Vigil has mailed in his career. This quarter I had him for 438 as well as 439. This was an interesting experience because I got to hear his very dull jokes executed exactly the same in front of two different audiences. It's obvious from the other evaluations that he's a dull man, but I want to make the point that he's also a sorry excuse for a college professor. (1) A "quiz" we took Tuesday of week seven was graded and available for pickup on Thursday evening of finals week. (2) Questions found on his other "quizes" were in fact, never even mentioned during lecture or in the homework. (3) He lectures in an empirical sense and turns around and tests you on the topics in a qualitative manner. That being said, it would be wise to avoid Prof. Vigil and personally, I'd avoid ENVE 439 all together if you can.

Vigil is most likely the most unclear, frustrating teacher i have ever experienced in my entire life. His lectures are not organized at all and don't really make sense. He makes tons of mistakes it is really difficult to follow. On top of this he is extremely boring. His homework is not clear and it takes a really long time just to try and interpret the questions. His tests are short and easy but sometimes he puts questions that were not covered in class or homework and weights them innapropriately. He is not helpful in office hours and gets defensive if you try and call him on why he has not posted solutions in the library that he promised he would. All in all he is one of the worst teachers at cal poly. Too bad ENVEs have to have him for so many classes.

Dr. Vigil should not be teaching. His 438 exams were almost the exact same as the previous year's exam: If you had a copy of last year's exam, you got a good grade - Otherwise, you got a bad grade. Someone pointed out that his exam solution obviously contradicted the textbook: He didn't offer any answer or change people's scores. He puts the lectures (photos) together right before class and makes everything up during class. And he doesn't say anything...at all. He drones on thinking about what he should say, so he tells stories about irrelevant material that you don't care about. DON'T TAKE VIGIL.

Three things you will learn in this class: He works for Search & Rescue He likes to show off pictures of trips he has taken He will test you on your ability to look tables up in a book

I thought the lectures were clear and the coursework was pretty much what I expected. Exams were fair but not a slam dunk, you have to study (it also helps to be a girl because it seems the SWE keeps a nice stockpile of old exams...). If you pay attention and do the homework you will do fine.

Here is the key to this class. Find a copy of a previous exam. They don\'t change. You need not bother with coming to class as the lectures are the same you\'ve seen in 111/331/438/466/467, and he wont remember who you are. The work required for this class should really make it a one-unit class.

Dr. Vigil does not care about his students and probably does not enjoy teaching anymore. He is lazy and uses the same questions on tests from previous quarters. You are guaranteed to get at least a B if you have an old midterm or two. Don't bother taking Energy Resources and Recovery since he repeats material from solid waste management. Overall, not a good teacher.

It hurts sometimes to go to his trash (solid waste) or senior project class and listen to a man who's soul and character is as warm, exciting, and enthusiastic as frozen whale carcass. (my apologies to frozen whale carcasses, I'm sure you're much more entertaining). He's easy, boring, and not a lot of work; a really shinning star at Cal Poly

Dr. Vigil... Where do I start? His real first impression on me was a below average quarter in ENVE 331. He was boring, but I got a B without doing much. I didn't dislike him. I didn't have to deal with him until last year in 466 (senior project). There I began to discover his true personality. His lectures were repeats of ones I'd already had, full of monologues regarding his extravagant and successful careers in the field, and were often aimed at convincing us we'd all be rich engineers some day, just like him. This guy is obsessed with himself. He's also obsessed with money -- his solid waste management book costs a lot of money and contains worthless information and poorly-worded problems. He even had the nerve to complain about Asian-printed copies only making him a measly few dollars per book and short-changing him. Wow. Last winter quarter, I had him for 439 and 467 (ouch). Though there were only 13 people in my senior project lab, he asked me what my name was when handing back a homework assignment halfway through winter quarter. I had asked him many questions regarding our senior project, gone to his office hours; I did a 30-min presentation with 6 other people for him at the end of fall quarter (Yes, the first slide had all our names on it, and we introduced ourselves twice that morning). This guy still didn't know my name. Cool, right? I'm sorry to say that there's really no way to get around taking classes from him if you're an ENVE major. Not any time soon, anyways. But the reason I'm writing this is so that I can speak for the group when I express dissatisfaction with this professor. I don't know *any* student who likes Vigil. There is no reason why he should have so much pull in our department. It's already too late to get this guy fired -- he's got tenure. I want him out of our department for the future of our program. I don't want more students to have to put up with his arrogance and lack of teaching ability. I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone in my program. I am. But we need to voice our opinions, people, and I speak for many of my peers when I express that Vigil needs to go.

First of all, this course fulfills a tech elective for ALL engineering students so the class had a nice assortment of majors, undergrad and grad students. There was a lab component but Vigil only made us do 4 actual labs for the 10 weeks, which were actually fun (walk around campus measuring solar radiation). We also had a field trip and quite a few guest speakers. The only real grades in the class were the final and a presentation at the end. He also brought in bagels and coffee for everyone on finals day. I think everyone got A's. Overall it was super low stress and we actually learned a lot of useful info.

For this course, the grading was never detailed. A memo, paper, presentation, field trip, and test were required. The test focused on details that were not important aspects of the course. The course was interesting and worthwhile. It was a seminar with people working in industry coming to lecture and Vigil did not lecture.