Alex Fancy, Director of MTA's Drama Department.First off, here is a list of the courses I took last year and the names of the professors I took them with:
- GERM 1000 - Elementary German - Dr. Renata Schellenberg
- FREN 2401 - Langues et Lectures I - Dr. Peter Edwards
- PHYS 1001 - Astronomy - Dr. Robert Hawkes
- PSYC 1011 - Introduction to Psychology II - Dr. Gene Ouellette
- RELG 2801 - Introduction to Western Religions - Dr. Fiona Black
- POLS 1000 - Introduction to Political Science - Dr. Sean Saraka, Dr. Tamara Small, Dr. Wayne Hunt, Dr. Michael Tucker
- ECON 1001 - Principles of Microeconomics - Dr. Niels Anthonisen
- ECON 1011 - Principles of Macroeconomics - Dr. Niels Anthonisen
Intro German (Dr. Schellenberg)
This was probably my favorite class last year! I love languages, and learning German was really fun. The class sizes are small (my class was about 25) and Dr. Schellenberg is wonnnnderful! Hilarious, clear, fun and fair. Unfortunately, she will be on sabbatical for the first half of next year, but Dr. Claude Desmarais is the other German professor and he's equally as wonderful. He replaced Dr. Schellenberg a few times and he was really helpful when it came to talking about exchange programmes and the like :) So all in all, the German department at MTA is excellent :D
Langues et Lectures I (Dr. Edwards)
I took this class as an elective out of interest and because I wanted to keep up my French while I was at Univeristy (I was in French Immersion for 13 years). Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed in the oral and reading comprehension aspects of the class, though the written grammar that was taught was very thorough. Being a fluent speaker, it was rather frustrating to not be able to use my oral skills to my advantage, but I certainly learned a lot of grammar that I hadn't been taught in high school. If you're looking to improve your writing skills in French, this is definitely a good class for it, but not for oral practice. I believe there is an Advanced Oral class offered as a 3000 level class, so you'll have to tough out a bit of grammar before getting to that. As for Dr. Edwards, he is now retired, so it doesn't do anyone much good for me to tell you about him, haha. Also, one thing to note is that to take any French at MTA you need to take a placement test and coming in as a first year you are able to enter into FREN 1651, FREN 1700 or FREN 2401. For those of you who are placed in FREN 1700, I have heard nothing but good things about Dr. Lee (my boyfriend and several friends took this class with him) so he's a safe bet :)
Dr. Hawkes, with a huuuuge telescope at Elginfield Observatory.Astronomy (Dr. Hawkes)
I took this class to satisfy one of the science requirements that are mandatory for all students, and am I ever glad that I did! A lot of arts students take this class as a science requirement, so the professor, Dr. Hawkes, is very understanding that you may not be a star mathematician. He explains things very clearly but doesn't lower his expectations of your knowledge of the material. His tests and midterms are very fair, and the labs are usually really fun, particularly the outdoor stargazing one! Dr. Hawkes is also one of the nicest people I've ever met; he's passionate about what he teaches, he wants each and every one of this students to succeed, and he's always available for extra help. I definitely recommend this class!
Intro Psych II (Dr. Ouellette)
I took this class to satisfy the second science requirement, and it was not very difficult or very sciencey. Intro Psych I is more science related, so I'm told, so if you want more science in your life, take Psych I. But if you want to learn about more artsy things like personality, stress, psychological development etc... this is the class for you. Dr. Ouellette is new to MTA, but he is excellent! He's very clear, very fair, and funny and interesting, even at 8:30 in the morning (no small feat, trust me). I would definitely recommend Dr. Ouellette to anyone :)
Intro to Western Religions (Dr. Black)
This course covers a lot of very interesting and important information, and the text book is wonderful. If you want to learn about Western Religions but don't have room to take the class, buy the textbook at the Bookstore, it's great! As for Dr. Black, she is a very nice woman and I've had the chance to meet with her outside of class on a few occasions. She's friendly, open to discussion, etc... However, her teaching style and my learning style didn't fit very well, but that's not to say that she's a bad professor. Not at all. I am a very organized and detailed person, and therefore like learning things in a natural progression with lots of detail to explain and back up different theories. Dr. Black can present information in a bit of a convoluted way and things that she mentions rather briefly can turn out to be really important. Careful on her midterm and final, I found them very long for the time period allowed. However, Dr. Black is on sabbatical this coming year, so this information is only useful if you're thinking of taking one of her classes in the year after this.
Intro Poli Sci (Dr. Saraka, Dr. Small, Dr. Hunt, Dr. Tucker)
This class was a great time, which is nice because if you want to take any other class in Political Science or International Relations, you need to take Poli Sci 1000 first. The class is divided into four different sections, with a different professor teaching each section, normally their specialty. Dr. Saraka taught Political Thought (he was only at MTA for last year, Dr. Michaelis is once again teaching Political Thought), Dr. Small taught Canadian Politics, Dr. Hunt taught World Politics and Dr. Tucker taught International Politics/Relations. This class is great because it lets you try out all four of the MTA Poli Sci professors and allows you to see who you liked and what area of politics you're most interested in. Sometimes a bit of a tough class for some people, but if you like politics and are interested, it's a great and fair class.
Micro/Macroeconomics (Dr. Anthonisen)
I took these classes as they are requirements for a degree in International Relations and luckily, they weren't very difficult. I'm personally not all that interested in Economics, nor have I ever taken any before, but I got through these classes with little difficulty. Dr. Anthonisen is wonderfully awkward and hilarious, and is very thorough when explaining things. He starts as if you know nothing about economics, which is good, because most people in the class don't. Sometimes he moved a bit too slowly, but he got much better as the year went on :) The problem sets are really helpful for practicing and learning the material, and the textbook is pretty useless in that regard... You really do need to go to this class to get a good mark... The text won't help you out much as he teaches things that aren't in it, and sometimes explains them differently. But yeah, go Dr. Anthonisen, he's wonderful, haha.
Dr. Summerby-Murray, Dean of Social SciencesWell I hope I helped you learn a bit about a few first year professors and classes :) As always, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, message me, or Facebook me. I'm always around for you guys!
Much love,
Sue
sjhumphrey@mta.ca
