Joel M. Calabrese

Professor Calabrese is entertaining and quite knowledgable in his field. In his lectures, he explains things thoroughly and cares if you're doing well in the class. And he is very funny. What I like about him the most as a professor is that he takes out time to help students struggling in the subject and makes sure that every person in the class is on the same page. Definitely take him for BA 212.

Calabrese is a very clear and understandable teacher who gets right to the point and stays on topic. He thoroughly goes over the topics and gives a lot problems to work on in class as examples. He goes over how to do the problems step by step. The types of problems that you learn to do in class are similar to what are on the tests and all the tests are open book! If you took thorough notes and wrote down all the steps to doing the problems, during the test, you can just look back on what you wrote if you forgot how to do a problem. I wouldn't say this class is easy but if you study, go to class and follow his examples and write them down, you'll do well. I never went to his office hours because I didn't feel it was necessary. Everything that I needed to know for the test was already in my book.

I have taken Stats before, which might have helped out a lot. Go see Dr. Calabrese during his office hours. He is more than happy to help you succeed.

Positive points: -Homework and class updates on Blackboard, which is very helpful. -Like to be able to print out the powerpoint slides and take notes on the side.

Negative points: -Problems on tests can be a little from left field and there is not enough time to finish the given problems. -Prof Calabrese talks about things as being easy, which is discouraging if it isn't easy for you to understand. -Little to no class participation.

Professor Calabrese is a very good teacher and thorough. If you're a person who needs an elaborate teacher, you might want to think about him. He also uses his own course notes (which you get in the form of a reader) so you can follow along with him page by page. His reader is easy to understand given that you show up to class everyday. If you miss a class or two, it might be hard to catch up. His exams could be challenging if you don't understand the material. But his students average pretty well on the midterms. The final is pretty difficult but still within arms length. Overall, a smooth course that will really help out any business major.

Joel is a decent guy and really has prepared a good course. He does not like to go outside the guardrails of his prepared material so don't expect any class discussion of what is really a pretty interesting subject but is reduced to a fairly dry one. He does tend to like to ask hard questions on the exams that are a little beyond the class material but it's within the realm of reason. DO ALL THE HOMEWORK and you'll get an A or an A-.

I like this teacher because he can explains the course material really well. If you go to class everyday to listen his lecture you don't really have to read the book. Although he never collects the homework, you still have to do it in order to understand the material. There are only 4 exams and 1 final but don't worry they are not really hard if you study it. He basicly tells you what will be on the test.

Nice guy, good teacher. He makes everything very cut and dry...meaning, do your homework, go to the lectures, and you will do just fine. I actually understand the relevance of this material!!!

Trust me, he is not a bad teacher, for real. I took him for BA412. All you need to do is go to every class. Textbook doesn't do too much, but you do need to do the homework in there. His reader helps a lot. Well, at least you will understand without reading the textbook. His lectures are very straight forward. If you miss one class, you will miss a lot. You do need to take notes from him. He explains formulations and concepts pretty clear. You will have to do three homework assignments. Not that hard. Also, you can also do them with group. Three exams plus one final. You can get some review questions from his web page. The questions on the exam are always easier than the review question. Each one worthes 20 ponts. And exams are open book and open notes. You just don't need to memorize anything. If you don't like to go to all the class meeting, don't take him. I just don't think that I can remember everything he teaches in the class, but all I can tell you is he is not a bad teacher. It's not hard to get an A from him.

Hmmm. Calabrese is one of those professors who lulls you into a false sense of security. His lectures seem incredibly easy, and the text book makes lots of sense. But don't believe for one second that this means you will do well on any exams. After two exams I can safely say that stuff he emphasizes in class does NOT make it to the test, and other things which he briefly covers (if at all) make up the main part. This is a man that loves Excel and statistics (polish up on your z-scores, etc), and most of the exam material consists of these - not concepts he bangs on about for hours in class. You could probably skip class and do just as well on exams, that's how much class lecture makes it to the test. I realize that stats play a large part in operations management, but I seriously believe he sometimes forgets this is BA412 and NOT BA212. Also, the homework consists of MAJOR projects which will add few points to your grade. EXAMS ARE ONLY 20 POINTS meaning Cs and Ds are abundant in the class. Get one question wrong and there goes your A. He's a nice guy, but you might want to try someone else.

I took Professor Calabrese for BA 212 and I thought that he a really good instuctor so I decided to take him for BA 412....BIG MISTAKE!!! His tests were unbelievable! So much of what was on the test we never went over. I studied so hard for his tests. I completed all of the homework and went over all of the assignments to prepare for the tests and I was still lost while taking the tests. I was extremely dissapointed that I took his class and I would not recommend anyone to go through that torture.

Dr. Calabrese showed immense enthusiasm for the subject,and assigned homework problems relevant to class discussions. However, students were tested in depth on subjects that were not emphasized as such in class or in homework assignments. He also handed out the instructor review forms minutes before a quiz that a fair number of students flunked. I did find, however, the division of testing (four quizzes and a final exam) helpful in breaking down the material.

He urged all students to utilize his practice exams and quizzes on his website, yet these problems were not remotely representative of what was tested. I visited his office on several occasions to ask about homework assignments or quiz questions with which I had experienced difficulty, and he encouraged me to try the statistics/math lab in the science building, primarily because he had never visited it and wanted feedback. Why hadn't he investigated this resource before the commencement of the course so that he could make a qualified recommendation? Additionally, Dr. Calabrese informed students at the beginning of the course that the lowest quiz score would be dropped, and at the end of the course did not do so. When questioned by several students, he flippantly remarked, "Now why would I drop a score? I used to do that years ago." Eight of the nineteen students, all graduate MBA students, flunked the course. Even though I am doing well in the MBA program, this was the most frustrating course and instructor I have yet experienced.

Joel was a great professor. His teaching style is straight-forward and he doesn't pull any punches. What he goes over in class and assigns for homework is exactly what's going to be on the quizzes. Fortunately, all quizzes and exams are open-note so a student doesn't have to worry about memorizing inane formulas or confusing one formula with another, which is especially helpful in BA412 and BA212; it allows the student to focus on what the answer to the problem means rather than worrying about trying to memorize a formula and not knowing how to interpret your answer.

Although he is a tough professor because his class is graded on a straight curve, he is a very good professor in the sense that he explains the formulas clearly and provides examples. From his syllabus, he has clearly stated that the average for his class is about in the C range and that is quite true, since his quizzes are only 16pts. This class is open notes and book, but I would highly suggest students to do the practice problems which are not graded to understand the material. Besides problems from the book, the professor also provided past quiz exams as practice on his homepage and he encouraged students to visit him during office hours to go over any problems. If you are serious about class, this professor is always on time and lectures til the end of class time and sometimes a few minutes over.

He is a good and kind instructor. There are good side and not-so-good side on his teaching. The good side is that he is one of the instructors that teaches most clearly. His pace a not so fast so that you can follow him. The class is not easy, though, but the tests are open-booked. No assignments to hand in. Sounds good, huh? However, the not-so-good side is that---this class is sort of boring, even though he tries to cheer us up, but the materials are good to learn, clear to study, but not amusing... He's good at teaching, but not as good as a showbiz.

He is a good professor who gives clear instruction on what we're learning in class. He provides a course reader he made, and his lecture is pretty much based on it. He is not sympathetic to his students, so I never tried to go see him in his office. However, his lecture was so clear that I never needed to go to his office to ask. And he never came in late or never tried to leave early. The final is comprehensive, and it's kinda hard. But if you study regularly and follow his instruction, you will be fine.