Shollenberger, Kim  

The deal with kim as some have mentioned is that she is knew and a bit nervious. She does talk fast and slur words but she is very motivated to teach, and is helpful in office hours. The only thing that I do not understand is why the hell dont they have her teach one class for a while to let her find a grove, this is a fault of the ME department not hers. If you have her for 236 consider yourself lucky, Thorncroft is a much harder teacher.

although the lecture's were boring, i can't blame it on kim. the material is just dry ( its statistics). the lecture hmwk is pretty challenging b/c most me's have never had statistics before. she does seem somewhat uptight (or nervous) at the board, but it is b/c she is an intense lecturer. she knows the material well and is one of the best profs i have ever had during office hours. she will go over your hmwk questions, class example problems and even re-write her lecture notes for you on the spot in her office. the midterm and final were challenging and if you didn't do the hmwk, you are hosed. during lab, she briefly lectures and answers any questions. she grades the lab reports fairly. many me's dread this class and/or blow it off. i didn't do either and felt that i gained a lot from the class. if you put forth the effort you will come out able to write good lab reports, and have an understanding of statistics and its application in engr. although the labs didn't always correlate with the lecture, they were still enjoyable.

No no no no no and no. ME 236 has problems. Big problems. This class, in my opinion, is a complete waste of faculty talent. I don't consider this class to be a REAL ME class because frankly, it is NOT mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineering instructors should not be teaching something that isn't mechanical engineering. The class is basically a statistics class with some thermal garbage thrown into the labs to make it seem like this class has some reference to its title. The homework in this class was absolutely awful. If I had any questions on it, I had to go to office hours because there isn't really a text for the course. The department has chosen to replace the texts with so called "topical outlines" which provide a vague and minimalistic understanding compared with a textbook. I frequently had to visit office hours to understand the homework which was due every class period. In addition, most of the homework assignments had excel embedded in the assignment which Shollenberger never took the time to go over in class or in lab. Excel also showed up in many of the lab assignments as well. The material for this class is more boring than watching paint dry on a cold winters day. Shollenberger didn't try to jazz the dull material up in any way or provide any enthusiasm when teaching ME 236. There was sort of a "let's just get through this because we need to know it" attitude to her lectures. Her midterm was tricky and time crunched while the final was neither of these. Labs in this class were also a complete pain in the ass because they almost always required numerous hours mastering excel (you may think you know Excel- but you don't). My vote is to give this class to the statistics department as many of the other engineering majors have done(CE,AERO,MATE-maybe). As for Shollenberger herself- I don't think she would be that bad for another class(thermo, fluids, heat trans). ME 236 is not a mechanical engineers forte or passion so her lectures were pretty dry most likely becuase she didn't want to teach ME 236. If you have for this course, be prepared for a good many visits to office hours(which she is actually quite helpful in). Overall, this class sucked majorly and ate up tons of precious time.

She made me want to go to Thermal Systems everyday...enough said. She is the shit.

Professor Shollenberg is straight forward and clear. Her lecture notes are adequate to fully understand course material. She gives students packets for topics covered in the course. I definetely recommend this teacher.

One of the worst professors that I have had. She doesn't know how to explain the material clearly and she dosen't do that many examples. She talks way too fast and runs her words together so she is hard to understand. She has assigned homework before she has even gone over the material in the class. We get a fee increase and this is what we get, I want my money back!

The above fellow is speaking out of a poor experience with a midterm he or she just took in the class (we had Midterm 2 on Nov 8), most likely. Her lecture is fast-paced, but only because there is a large amount of material to be covered in a limited time. She doesn't speak too quickly and she certainly doesn't run her words together, considering that I had professors who actually mumble. She is doing more examples now, in response to student suggestions. Both midterms covered a fair amount of material, though each was very reasonable. The first midterm ran a little long, but only because no one cared to examine the most efficient solution (it was rather clear in retrospect). The second exam had an average of 73%, so she hit it dead on. She is very clear and patient in office hours. My only complaint (confirmed by the above fellow) is that homework becomes unsynchronized with lecture (by about 1 lecture) such that completing the homework the night it is due is rather difficult; however, you can't ask any questions in office hours in any class concerning the homework if you don't attempt it first. Moral of the story: try the homework early and read AHEAD of lecture.

Dr. Shollenberger has done an excellent job this term. She is patient and efficient. Her lectures do move quickly but there's a lot of material to cover (Thermodynamics isn't an easy class under any professor). She does try to move the lecture around to better match the pace the homework takes (she eliminated one assignment to get the class back on track), and makes a considerable effort to communicate with students about changes to the assignments. She's good on email for this and for homework questions - and helpful during office hours. Exams are difficult but fair and the two review sessions we had prior to the midterms were pretty close to the exams themselves - no real surprises if you prepared and attended class. They weren't *easy* exams, but were comprehensive and fair. Homework takes a while as there are 3 problems due each class period (MWF) but if it's not left until the last minute, it's doable - the grader grades on effort and format more than on the correct answer so putting out the effort to get it gives you most of the points. Expect to work hard, but working the prof and asking for assistance should help.

She is probably the worst teacher I have ever had, at any level. First, she doesn't lecture on the homework material until you have already handed the homework in. This means you're left to teaching yourself the material with only the help of the book, which isn't so great itself, either. Second, her lectures didn't consist of any helpful examples or even applications of the equations she was throwing at us, but just a bunch of definitions that you already got reading the book the night before. Basically, her lectures were worthless. She lacks the necessary self-confidence to be an effective lecturer and, until she learns to engage a classroom(using examples would definitely help), she will continue to struggle. I really can't think of a single thing I learned from her this quarter. The only things I learned in this class were things I taught myself from the book, or picked up from other students. In her favor, there was plenty of partial credit on the homework, and the exams weren't that bad. They could have been much harder. So, the class is definitely passable, but if you want to learn anything, take someone else for ME 302.

To those who criticize: understand the stress of teaching for the first time? I didnt think so, so dont complain.... if kim doesnt improve in a year or so, then yes, bad instructor, but for a first timer, one of THE BEST I HAVE SEEN... she is motivated and very good in office hours... to the fifth year senior: perhaps your bad attitude towards the professor rather than concentrating on the material had placed you where your at: behind... the instructors are here to assist, so anyone who WANTS to learn thermo and TRYS to get over the little humps in the road, will have no problem with this instructor because she really knows her shit... very experienced in the field. BE WEARY of the hasty remarks put forth but bad students... she is good and will ONLY get better!

The person before me has a point. Kim is a new teacher and she's not half bad considering that it's her first quarter at cal poly. Yes, she does talk fast, yes she slurs her words together, but her tests were curved and me and my friends got the grades we deserved. My M.E. friends reccomend Mary Cooper, but I still say she's an able teacher and I'd take her again.

Granted it was her first quarter but her lectures sucked, no example problems, difficult hw. Office hours at the same time everyday so I had another class at that time and couldn't make them, yet from what I hear it wouldn't have mattered. The best advice is to get the hw solutions and just do all the hw a week before the test. I did this after the first midterm and pulled my grade from a F to C+.

Prof. Shollenberger knows her stuff. You can really learn much in her class, but that's only if you work your butt off. What makes her a great Professor is that she doesn't put up a front or thinks that she is better than you (unlike most other engineering professors here do). The subject is tough whether it is Heat Transfer or Thermo so don't bash on Prof for that. She really takes time to help you learn. I can't even remember how many times she have extended her offices hours. If you catch her at the office at non office hours, she would spend as much time as she can to help you too. Plus she has study session at some weeknights to help you with homework. I don't think I know a Poly professors that puts out more extra time than her. So in general, she is probably one of the most dedicated professor in the engineering department and if you really want to learn the stuff and not just to earn a grade, then take her.

Shollenberger is awesome. I had her for 236 last year when she was new and she seemed uncomfortable in front of a class but i knew she had potential because she was very eager to answer student questions. She has now become perhaps the best engineering professors I have had. Her lectures are clear and very well organized. I've never had an engineering class where when I look back on my notes days later I actually understood what the professor was trying to do. She even throws in example problems which look like the homework, not the usual crap examples that are nothing like the homework assigned. Shollenberger has become one of the best professors in the department.

Shollenberger is a great instructor. I had her for 236 last year, and thought she did a pretty good job then, too. I don't know what some people are complaining about. The homeworks did take a very long time, but it was only one assignment a week, and usually the stuff she talked about in class helped a lot when it came to the homework. The tests were OK. The first test and the final were very long, but she threw in a huge curve, and as she gets more experience I'm sure she'll be better able to gauge how long a test is. All in all, she is definitely one of the best instructors you could have, and she's also very nice personally. I wish I was taking her for Thermal Engineering instead of Locascio!

kim's lectures were good and she was even better during office hours. she realy does care for her students and is willing to go to great lengths to explain the material during her office hours or even on her own time. her tests are pretty hard, but fair. i have had her before for another me class and she was good then and is even better now. overall, kim rocks!!!

Dr. Shollenberger lectures are a little dry but she always tries to bring examples such as videos and/or pictures of what she is currently teaching and always does a lot of example problems. The tests are straight forward and as long as you do all the homeworks and attend the review sessions you should be fine. She is always willing to take extra time if you do not understand the concepts or you're having problems in the class. I would recommend her for any class.

Great Instructor.. Very clear Lecture notes, though sometimes she takes off writting and lecturing on the board and does not really connect with the students to see if they are following, but if you stop the lecture and ask, she'll clarify things good.. I'd reccomend her for any class.

Shollenberger is a good professor. She is quiet when she lectures so you have to really pay attention. Although she moves quickly, she presents fluid mechanics in a way that I can understand. She is also very helpful in office hours.

I really liked her as a professor, she did a lot of examples and her tests were very fair. She only tests on things that she has done in class or on homework, and the questions are very straightfoward. Sometimes the class did get boring with derivations, but they can't be avoided.

I think most heat transfer students would agree that Shollenberger moves way too fast.

I really hate the over-abundant use of hyperbole on this site... but this is far and away the worst teacher I have ever had. Absolutely terrible. Every other freaking sentence she will write down something and then erase all of it and say "Oops, I didn't mean to say that." We've had one test so far and it was absolutely insane. This is the only teacher I have ever had where I have written a Poly Rating before the class is over. I am doing this to strongly insist that you do not take any classes with this teacher.

If I could go back in time, I would of waited to take heat transfer with a different professor. She moves through material so fast that I found myself choosing between writing everything down, or processing what she was actually saying. It was also kinda frustrating how many times she would say "its really simple" or "its easy". On the upside, she is a pretty generous grader and curves pretty well. Her midterms were both time crunches, nobody left early. 20% of the final was free points, fill in the blank questions straight from the notes. 6 homework problems a week. Nice enough lady but just moves too fast given her ability to explain material.

Heat transfer has an absurd amount of material in it, but I can't imagine there's another teacher who can cover it as efficiently and effectively as Dr. Shollenberger. If there's one word I can use to describe her, it's "swift"--in addition to attacking first, she writes swiftly, she talks swiftly, and she moves swiftly. Of course, this also means swift justice on the midterms, which appear more daunting than they actually are due to an overly generous curve (one standard deviation above the class average nets an A). Homework is worth 10% and the material agrees pretty well with the tests which constitute the other 90% of the grade. I honestly don't understand what the big fuss about Shollenberger is on Polyratings... I found her a very clear teacher who is great at answering questions and has the industry experience to talk about any aspect of thermodynamics intelligently (seriously--her curriculum vitae is loaded). She also works through plenty of example problems. Heat transfer is a tricky class, but I can't imagine it being easier with any other professor. Take her.

Huge curve! But the lady had no public speaking skills. It was torture listening to her timidly address the class an try to get the words out to form a sentence without trembling. Her huge curve may not even be worth listening to her...

Shollenberger may be the smartest person I've ever met. She knows heat transfer. Her resume is extremely impressive. This may hurt her as a teacher though. I found her to be great most of the time. She spent tons of time preparing for this class on her own time. She really wants us to understand and does way more than required to help us learn. However, she is a bit condescending. She laughs at questions if she knows the answer. Of course she knows, that's why she is the teacher. Usually things like this don't bother me, but it prevented us from asking some questions in fear of being judged. Reading other ratings, I expected her to be impossible to keep up with on notes, but it's not terrible. Just pay attention in class. There were two midterms, a final and weekly homework. Everything was open book/notes/internet. This saved my life. the averages for the midterms were 56 and 72 and the final was probably around 60. But she gives a huge curve and makes the average equal to 80%. I'd take her again.A

This is the second class I have taken with shollenbergr, before i took ME236 with her. I hated that class, but it was statistics. This class has information that it interesting, like engine cycles and performance and combustion. The tests are pretty fair and she makes the average grade a B which is nice. She is pretty solid in lecture and gives many examples. Go to class and it is pretty easy.

good teacher, I didn't really didn't remember much from fluids 1 so fluids 2 sounded like it was going to be a problem, but it wasn't to bad her lectures were a little fast pace. It was hard to keep up with her a lot of information in a small period of time, we had 1 midterm and 1 final I got a C---- (after curve) on the midterm and a B on the final (before curve 63 or so was the average) and got a B in the class.

She's great. Pretty charismatic about the material. I wish she taught more of the ME classes...

Never have I seen someone write so fast in my life. I'd come out of class with 4 solid pages of notes a day (and we always seemed to run out of time). Every topic was presented in nearly the same way: fundamental law of physics, derivation, examples. In my opinion, there was a little too much time spent on derivation and not enough on examples. Tests were always a time crunch, including the 3 hour final. She is helpful if you come with specific questions (ie not "how do you do this problem?") which means you must struggle a little with the material, but ultimately that's how you learn it. Fluids II is a tough class in general, but if you but the time in on hw and read, Shollenberger is a good teacher for the subject.

Shollenberger is very clear in her lectures. She presents the material straighforwardly and does alot of examples. Almost one every class or every other class period. However she seems reallly nervous lecuring and is awkward to watch. I never wanted to go to class because of this and I'm the kind of person that enjoys lectures. Also, I'm the kid that leaves most midterms 20 minutes early and gets an A and I never finished her tests. This was frustrating because alot of times you know that you can figure it out or that you're doing something wrong but you dont have time to fix it. She does curve very generously tho, so that somewhat makes up for it. Theres weekly-ish homeworks but theyre a pain because alot are not similar to the problems she would ask on the tests. There's two midterms and then the final. Midterms are only worth 30% together tho so its not a big deal and the lab is worth 35%, so a nice grade booster. Overall, I wouldnt advise against shollenberger, I just wouldnt suggest to take her. She's not a bad professor just not amazing either.

As a student, I could tell her knew her material really well. She taught us the laws and showed us the derivation of them, which comes in handy for homework. She took the time to explain the material to us and to help struggling students. Her midterms tested us on how well we could applied the material to applied problems and on how well we knew the concepts. I would highly recommend her for any class regardless than what others have said about her, comparing her to other professors I had, she's up near the top. This is college and a upper-classmen course so people should stop complaining. Heat transfer itself requires 10 weeks to learn a large amount of material so of course any professor will go thru the material quickly.

She can write so fast!

Shollenberger is an awesome teacher and this is an awesome class. She presents the material in a clear and methodical way, and lectures clearly relate to the lab. The course was very lab focused, and easy to get a good grade in if you put in the time on lab reports (because they are 60% of the course grade). The final was a validation paper that required the use of software learned in the class and was very fulfilling. This class was fun, not stressful, and I learned a ton. 10/10 would recommend