Intro to Comparative Literature

I never review professors. But after reading through the reviews below, I felt it absolutely necessary. Firstly, I read these reviews before taking her class. And I remember, at about halfway through the semester, wondering what in the world these people were talking about.

I don't have enough words of PRAISE for Professor Worman. This is a woman who is a true intellectual, yet she serves up that intellect with a bit of sass and personality. This is someone who seems to strike a divine balance between being a professor and being a very approachable and amiable person. Professor Worman knows her stuff and welcomes students to bring their own knowledge to the table. This past semester she was chair of the department and she always seemed to have enough time for every single student that walked through her door for office hours.

Please. Take a class with Worman. This woman is a gem.

Prof. Worman is funny, charismatic and good at facilitating discussions, however lacks the ability to explain some simple concepts concisely. A lecture on semiotics that should have taken at most half a class turned into a recurring (for maybe 4 weeks!) 15-minute lesson in which she drew more confusing diagrams than were in the source text (which she also did not assign). Great at describing the intellectual history, and of course, elements of classical literature behind each text. She was also super stoked on everything we talked about in class.

I had two classes with Prof. Connor. He's pretty cool--very laid back, reasonable about workload and deadlines/extensions. I suppose you don't really have to do any of the readings in either class, but I did most of them and other people seemed to as well; they're interesting and people want to be in his classes (especially Translation Studies), so it works out. He speaks really quietly so it's easy to space out/fall asleep during class, but in addition to knowing about lots of dense readings and complicated literary things he's also quite funny and if you drift off you'll miss some really interesting, entertaining things.

I LOVED this class. Professor Connor has a very distinct style of teaching- his sarcastic comments often make for some pretty good laughs, and he always has really great insights on the subject matter. He can make you appreciate articles that otherwise seem so obscure you're not even sure why he asked you to read them. He brings you to the depth of it right away, and very succinctly. Overall a great class and a great professor.

Really nice guy-- Typical Ivy League professor. I definitely enjoyed his class, and the reading wasn't too bad at all. He is one of those professors who finds giving exams as much of a pain in the ass as the students find taking them. He understands that you have other classes to worry about. Speak up though; he likes when people contribute to his lectures. Overall it was a very englightening class; I would take him again if I could.

The worst experience I've had at Columbia. It is not an intro course by any means, Professor Worman seems to think everyone has a comp lit background. Make sure you memorize as much as you can for her midterm, even though she says not to, do not do extra work, because it will not be considered towards your final grade i.e presentations. She goes on tangents all the time, most of the time you walk out of class frustrated with her fake smile. But more importantly, be aware that if you approach her, her dark side might come out! Useless trying to email her. Stay away from her classes it's a lottery with her and a waste of time and money.