Sanjoy Banerjee

IR 309 was a complete waste of time. banerjee explained the assignments at the beginning of the semester. After that he almost never lectured. I went to 6 classes all year and came out with a B+. You only have to do 1 awful assignment, the chronology report. after that which is relatively short, you have 1 presentation and 1 25 pg. paper. You learn a lot about presentation by watching his critique of others (which takes up the last 3 months of the semester,read no lectures). Overall Bannerjee didnt teach this class he played Simon from American Idol to it, but it was a desent grade.

I think that he is extremely dry and although he is intelligent he is unable to share his knowledge with students. If he does not agree with your question or remark, then he will attempt to put you down in front of the class. He assigns a lot of reading, the most of which is actually pertinent although somewhat tedious. Overall he is extremely boring and if you can stay awake and alert during his class you have superpowers. Done take him if you can avoid it. (and he is not handsome...YUCK!!!)

Banerjee's personal style may not appeal to you, but he is an extremely intelligent man, a first-rate scholar and a valuable asset to the IR department. He does assign a lot of work, but I found him to be reasonable and fair. I have never witnessed him putting a student down in class. I would be very surprised if he did. Vindictiveness and personal nastiness would seem very out of character for him. My impression is tha he is proud of the students in the IR department and their capabilities. I've never hesitated to disagree with him. His ego doesn't depend on being surrounded by people who nod all the time and say "yes."

It can be difficult to get his attention and he does have a tendency to forget to listen to you in mid-sentence if you aren't saying something that he finds fascinating. But once you do have his ear, he is patient, pleasant, helpful and attentive. Every discussion I've had with him was interesting, enlightening, enjoyable and worthwhile.

P.S. He gets a handsome vote from me, too.

I think that the person who gave Banerjee an F is being too hard on him. His lectures can be a bit boring at times, but he seems to throw in a little bit of humor at just the right time. Banerjee doesn't do anything to make student's uncomfortable. I think that his intelligence might intimidate some students and that is why many don't ask questions. He does assign a lot of reading, but most of it is interesting and all of it is relevent to the class and to the complicated world that IR majors are attempting to study. I have also found him helpful during his office hours. I think Banerjee is an incredibly intellegent and funny man, and I must admit very handsome, maybe that makes me a little biased, but I would definitely take another class from him.