Rodger Birt

I had Birt for HUM375-New York. I was very interested in the topic, and was disappointed when the class was basically a course on Walt Whitman. This teacher really doesn't try to help his students learn. His arrogant attitude is intimidating and his teaching methods are poor. I had a really difficult time going to his lectures (really boring, all slides).

He is a great guy who will scare you into thinking he grades hard, but he's probably too nice to fail anyone. He grades mnore than fair and doesn't kill you with homework. But plan on studying your ass off on the midterm and final. They aren't that hard, they just cover a ton of info so be prepared. Birt is a great man who is very well educated and passionate about what he teaches.

This class is similar to a Roman History class but better. You learn about Romans from different perspectives by using novels & BBC films. The first night I was completely intimidated. History is my worst subject & I hadn't been to school in years. All of the exams are take-home papers. He is a tough teacher but he is so into what he teaches that he makes it interesting. I managed an A! There is a lot of reading, but interesting reading. He speaks very fast so you really have to be on top of things when you are taking notes. I wouldn't recommend missing any classes. He is extremely fair & has a good sense of humor. His excitement about the subject keeps your attention.

I took the New York class and the lectures were great. I learned a bunch about the city and we read some Whitman and Crane which was interesting. What was awful was the exam and final.

For the exam, we had do fill-in, slide ID and a short essay (a page or two) on Whitman stuff. He showed us numerous slides and left them in the lightbox for study. There must have been 30 slides in all. He only chose a few for the exam. They were mostly buildings and you had to know the architect, date built, location and other information to form a short essay. I think this accounted for about half of the exam grade. When I found that I didn't do so well on the slide portion of the exam, I boned up for the final. BUT, on the final day, not only does he stroll in late but... there's no projector! I don't know if he forgot it or what. He makes the announcement that he has changed the format of the final. There will be no essay on the slides. Most of the final was now an essay based on the two authors we studied. There still was fill-in for the final but those weren't as obscure as the fill-ins from the first exam.

So, I don't know what the class average was, but most people thought their grade didn't really represent what they had learned in the course.

I really liked these lectures and I don't think I learned a C's worth of material. But, oh well.

Professor Birt is one of those amazing teachers ehose lessons will always stay with his students. Ever passionate about his subjects Professor Birt, passes that enthusiasm onto you. While his exams and papers may be difficult and analytical, he truly gives his students the opportunity to determine the importance of American popular culture as a vital influence as much as is our history and politics.

In his classes, I have learned so much about art, photography, architecture, literature, and society, that my perspective on culture is forever changed. I think that as a society, we take the little things for granted. Take a class from this professor and you will know better.

His reading materials are almost always excellent, he is a walking encyclopedia, he uses and thoroughly explains visual resources, and invites class participation. While he has his own opinions, a student's opinion is always greeted with welcome response which gives him the cause to feel further educated. He is always concerned not only about a student's present case, but also their long term future. He is patient and dedicated to his students 110%. And he is easily dissapointed by those who do not try, because I feel that he sees ability in all of his students. He can be quoted as saying that when his students fail, he feels that he has also failed.

He is very good at what he does. My only fear is that I will never find another teacher like him. I would reccomend him to anyone who is open to learning about American Culture and I promise that if you just take one of his classes to fufill a requirement, you will be much wiser if not more intrigued to take another.

Although, I wasn't excited about studying about dead Romans proffesor Birt's enthusiasm was incredibly infectious to my attitude. We read the twelve caesers by Suetonius, two historical fiction novels about Roman characters and watched a series of films that were a good adaptation of the novels. We used all forms of media to speculate what really happened in ancient Rome, what influences were officially recorded and which factors were never recorded (like the influences of its women.) in the end Mr. Birt had inspired an atmosphere of complete classroom involvement from the students. The Suetonius material was dry, but everything after that was really fascinating and interesting. I started off being a bored student always on the verge of sleep and ended a completely involved student with a thirst to learn more on the subject. the three test were fair. I highly recommened you form a study group right away to make processing the books and film a lot more fun. It was a class well worth the pain. Mr Birt was great.

Prof. Birt's class was fascinating. We looked at the Roman empire through Suetonius' 12 Caesars, Claudius the God, I, Claudius, and the BBC production of I, Claudius, as well as slides of Roman art. We had three take home tests, which included some fill in the blank questions as well as short and long essays. I felt that the evaluation was fair and the testing adequately representative of the material covered in the class. Birt's enthusiasm for the material is infectious, and this class would have been my favorite but for one episode which took place towards the end of the semester. Class was going on beyond the time frame alotted, as sometimes happened, and one of the students was getting up to leave, as she had to get to work. He chose to berate her and belittle her in a way markedly unprofessional, with raised voice and advancing towards her threateningly. He then missed the next few classes, appearing only on the last day of class to hand out the finals and advise us how to turn them in. There was no apology for his behaviour, when a simple "sorry - I was having a bad day" would have put the incident out of the minds of most of the students. Additionally, the last class was marked with a few comments which seemed bitter and angry towards the class.