Fernando Arias

i took MGMT 407 this fall, 2001. First of all, Arias is a good professor who shares a wide range his work into the class. He follows straight from the book, so its no point going to class. As there were around 60 students enrolled in his class, only around 20 ppl or so turned up except on the day of the finals and one day b4 exam, the whole class turned up. His course is divided into midterm which is 30% of micro econs. One term paper which is worth 30% and a final paper on macro eocns which is worth 40%,

He practically gives u the questions to study for the exam. And the same exact questions will come out. The questions come from the textbook itself in the question answer session.

What i dont like about him is that he will tell you he grades over a curve, but it aint true. I got a B in the midterm and A in the term paper and an F in the finals. He gave me a C- grade and i had an aggreegate of 72%. However, i realized that the paper was not based on a curve. So dont trust him on this one.

ALthought MGMT 407 is a very tough class, take him. From what i heard, Sorenson and Dopp are very tough professors. So if u want to be spoon fed, take him. Other wise try dopp.

He's not a bad guy, he's just a "lazy" teacher. He basically lectures straight from the book, and all of his exam questions are taken from the teacher's guide. He narrows down the areas you need to concentrate on, and I felt he was generous in his grading. On the final, he pretty much gave us the questions he would ask so we could study them. While this is good in some respects, it highlights my point about him being lazy: rather than actually "teach" he gives us the questions to go memorize so we can pass the exam. Good or bad, depends on how you look at it.

Overall, he's a very nice guy, very approachable and fair. This class is a tough one to take regardless of who the instructor is. I took it the first time around with Sorensen, and would recommend Arias over him in a second. Arias does his best to "get you through"

If you cant take ibus330 with arias and pass, its not his fault. He basically serves up the tests on a platter; which by the way, ARE NOT DIFFICULT!

Yawn! Having read the reviews that laud this instructor's personal anecdotes, I have come to the conclusion that this is one of those instructors you either like or you don't. Yes, his stories can be interesting, but I'm in the class to learn. If he spent as much time lecturing on the necessary materials, then maybe more of the class would have passed the first exam. Out of 170 students, only 38% passed! I realize there are always those who don't want to have to work for their grade, but a 62% fail rate smacks of a problem in "teaching." The book is INCREDIBLY LENGTHY and you have to read all of it. Although his exam questions are drawn from the book, you will have no idea which areas you should focus on and therefore have to know all of the material relatively well. At the beginning of the semester I attended every class, but as the weeks wore on I realized I was getting nothing from his lectures and my time was better spent in the library reading the text book. Although I wouldn't say not to take him, I'd advise you not to make him your first choice of instructor for this class.

Take Prof. Arias for IBUS 330. His exams are very difficult, but interesting lectures make his class worth while. If you like to slide by in business classes and are not confident that you can entertain a very challenging class, you should change your major. The exams questions are drawn from material in the book. The questions do not ask you to reiderate rhetoric that you may have remember, rather, they test your ability to use critical thinking and interpret the material that you have read. Also, contrary to what other people have said in their review, Arias does often mention material from the book in his lectures. It's just that his style of lecturing is so casual and non-chalant that you will likely overlook what he is saying and not take notes. Regardless of that, his business experience and credentials make his class worth it. Make sure you visit him in his office. If you have nothing to say, make something up.

I all, but failed the first two midterms, but ended up with a B in the class. I thought I was going to fail, but said "fu#$ it", I can do this. By the way, he gives you all the questions on the final ahead of time.

If you are going to take his class, you better be prepared for this class. This Class is NOT an easy Class. Many people think that because is a Latin America class is very easy class to pass. Let me tell you that is not. You better know about economic definitions and all that business words and a knowledge of latin history is necessary. But if you are really thinking in doing business in Latin America, this is your class. Mr. Arias is by far a great teacher with great knowledge of Latin America (by the way, he is from Chile and will talk about Chile all the semester). Like i said, take his class if you are really interested in DOING BUSINESS in LATIN AMERICA, but do NOT take his class only because you speak spanish and want to raise you GDP.

Mr. Arias really knows about the subject, but i advise you to take economics and international business classes before taking IBUS Latin America. When there is a small group in the class, there is one essay-exam midterm, a final exam plus a term paper which you will have to do a class presentation. I recommend this class to students who have a Latin American background, otherwise, good luck.

The title of the class,"Doing Business in Latin America" is very misleading. I took the class thinking I would learn about actually doing progressive business in Latin America. Instead I felt the class ws one big bitching session about how crappy the economy is down there, you don't need to take a class to figure that one out. It seemed like one of those cheesy ethnic studies classes that try to whine about how because Latin America was colonized by Europeans centuries ago, that they are incapable of taking responsibility for their own screwed up policies. Plus, if you aren't one of his favorites (and/or speak fluent Spanish) then forget it, some of the class conversations you will be left out of. The class consists of multiple choice questions and his note writing is quite sloppy. I must give the guy credit for knowing his stuff, brilliant man, but should'nt be teaching business classes.

I do not recommend this teacher to anyone. He is a very hard teacher. Even though he writes a little bit on the board, you would not know what he is writing because he starts off with two letters that are clear and the rest are straight lines. He would ask the class to read the text book ahead of time and would expect you to know everything by the next class meeting. The quizzes are multiple choices. He picks it directly from the text book, but you definitly have to read it at least two times in order for you to catch his hidden questions.

Mr. Arias is a fair teacher grader. He knows a lot about the international business field. You don't need to study hard for the test (only written essays), and you can get descent grades by applying your own knowledges of the subjects discuss in class. He is very flexible in his policy but don't accept late final paper. He emphasized his life experience a lot to give examples, sometimes it's boring but sometimes it does make sense.

I would not recommend this teacher to those who do not have a backround knowledge of the subject. His lectures are very confusing and to top it off he never writes anything on the board (especially important info) for students to copy. And if he does, you can't even read it at all! He writes things on the board as if he was writing his signature! All he does is ramble on and on. He often strays off the topic and you would never know if it has anything to do with the text or he's just telling you one of his many stories. The homework for this class is to read the chapters from the text book. His 3 exams are pretty hard because first of all it is on many chapters (the chapters increase after each exam) and secondly he doesn't give reviews before the exam nor does he give study guides. And believe me the study guide would be very helpful since there are a lot of info on this subject that he covers. Besides these things, this professor doesn't grade on a curve regardless if 90% of the class is failing and complaining to him about it. He would just say that the students must have not studied or not paid attention in class. He would never admit that there was something wrong with his system of teaching. And also this teacher likes to pick on people to participate in class. Basically, you don't even have to attend his lectures. Just read and study the textbook VERY HARD.

Take this class if you're really interested in International Business, already have some general knowledge of it, and want to hear from someone who has had significant personal experience in this area. Professor Arias has great anecdotes and stories to tell. He gets you thinking about international business and related issues in stimulating ways. You'll never fall asleep during his classes, but you definitely have to read and understand the textbook thoroughly, especially if you want decent grades. You'll never get by on lecture notes alone, because the lectures barely cover the extensive material in the textbook, all or any of which is liable to come out in exams. Exams are multiple choice, selected from a pool written by the textbook's publishers, but they're really tough and require you to think critically. Don't take this class if you want an easy A. But if you're interested to learn and ready to put in the work, this class can be a lot of fun!