PLCY401 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
David Mussington PLCY401 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/14/2025	I am curious to read the other reviews being for PLCY201, as they seem like the same thing that is occurring in my PLCY401 class. I put a B+ for what I am expecting but truthfully, I have no clue what to expect. 35% of the grade weighting is "individual reading assignments." These are the only positive of the course for me as I thought they reinforced learning, but also they were all graded subjectively, had no rubrics for them, and no true deadlines ever given for when to submit them. There is an 8-10 page midterm paper and a group presentation that combined are worth 45% of your grade. There was no rubric given for either of these besides that for the 8-10 page paper, he wanted us to not cite with APA or MLA, but "Endnotes." He did not provide any examples. After my group had already presented, he mentioned that we were meant to submit individual notes. These were never mentioned, but he told us not to worry because he was going to return grades within the next week and we could resubmit based on feedback. It has been 2 weeks since and grades have not been returned. 20% of the grade is "class participation" but there is rarely ever time to participate, nor is there any specification telling us what this means. All of the grading feels like "vibes". None of it feels objective in any way. If you have a different opinion on a subject than the professor, it feels like he lowers your grade. He also refuses to use Canvas for grades and you only get your grades back/can submit assignments by emailing the professor. This has resulted in assignments I have submitted getting lost in the shuffle and still having not been graded. The worst professor I have had at UMD, take someone else if possible.
David Mussington PLCY401 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2025	Professor Mussington is awful. Do not take a class with him if you can avoid it. The readings are the only thing that helped me understand cybersecurity because he mumbles and gets repetitive when he teaches in class and goes on tangents beyond the class (he loves his grad class for sure). This course was supposed to be about cybersecurity policy and I do not feel I learned about the policy side of things it was just a course on cybersecurity broadly. He only provides rubrics for assignments after your class asks several times and they are incredibly vague, week excuses for rubrics. This makes it very challenging to predict what grade you'll receive. He also enjoys adding pretty important requirements last minute or even after something is due. After a group presentation, he requested that we have more words on the slide (which is just not how you give a presentation that is engaging but he would not know about that) or that we give our speaker notes which not all of us used. He is disorganized and insists that you contact him via elms but will email you suddenly on a chain unrelated to the topic he's emailing about. He is also quite frankly rude and every time I wished him a nice day or said thank you he just stared at me. You will regret taking his courses.
Catherine Worsnop PLCY401 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/14/2025	Professor Worsnop is incredibly kind and truly cares about your interest in the course and ability to succeed. She often started class by asking if there was anything in the news we wanted to discuss, which given the time period was plenty, particularly in terms of global health. She does assign a lot of readings that generally were necessary to be able to participate in class, but she is receptive to concerns you have if it is too much and grading for the course is rather fair and not too difficult. Overall, I would highly recommend as a professor, and specifically this course if interested in global health
Tracy Thompson PLCY401 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/10/2025	The professor is super sweet and really really educated on criminal justice. She wants the students to think, and also gives new and interesting ways to think about commonly known topics. The class is interesting and we always learn something new. It can be boring at times since its a lecture, but the content is pretty interesting overall. She does have lots of assignments for the class though, and there is always something due. She is also not the easiest grader, so you definitely have to work hard for each assignment. However, she is very understanding, and allows extensions and changes in deadlines with the class's needs. She also allows an automatic 7 day grace period after each deadline for students to submit with no penalty. The course is interesting, but be prepared to write and research!
Joshua Itzkowitz Shifrinson PLCY401 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/10/2024	This has been one of my fav profs ever at UMD. I took his PLCY401 class (which I was not super interested in from the offset), but he made the content super engaging and interesting. Our class was about 15 people and mostly discussion-based, but I learned SO MUCH more than I tend to learn in my other discussion-based classes. Every time you speak, he makes you feel understood, and if you're off the mark, he guides you in the right direction, and you actually learn. He doesn't post his slides, so you have to go to class, and the two essays he assigns are pretty demanding, but he is a very fair grader and does set his students up for success. This feels like what a college class actually should feel like - a challenge without being impossible. As a person, he is also super cool. he's super knowledgeable without making you feel stupid and really does care about his students. great class rlly recommend even if you have no background in International relations and national security.

David Mussington
PLCY401

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/14/2025

I am curious to read the other reviews being for PLCY201, as they seem like the same thing that is occurring in my PLCY401 class. I put a B+ for what I am expecting but truthfully, I have no clue what to expect. 35% of the grade weighting is "individual reading assignments." These are the only positive of the course for me as I thought they reinforced learning, but also they were all graded subjectively, had no rubrics for them, and no true deadlines ever given for when to submit them. There is an 8-10 page midterm paper and a group presentation that combined are worth 45% of your grade. There was no rubric given for either of these besides that for the 8-10 page paper, he wanted us to not cite with APA or MLA, but "Endnotes." He did not provide any examples. After my group had already presented, he mentioned that we were meant to submit individual notes. These were never mentioned, but he told us not to worry because he was going to return grades within the next week and we could resubmit based on feedback. It has been 2 weeks since and grades have not been returned. 20% of the grade is "class participation" but there is rarely ever time to participate, nor is there any specification telling us what this means. All of the grading feels like "vibes". None of it feels objective in any way. If you have a different opinion on a subject than the professor, it feels like he lowers your grade. He also refuses to use Canvas for grades and you only get your grades back/can submit assignments by emailing the professor. This has resulted in assignments I have submitted getting lost in the shuffle and still having not been graded. The worst professor I have had at UMD, take someone else if possible.

David Mussington
PLCY401

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/09/2025

Professor Mussington is awful. Do not take a class with him if you can avoid it. The readings are the only thing that helped me understand cybersecurity because he mumbles and gets repetitive when he teaches in class and goes on tangents beyond the class (he loves his grad class for sure). This course was supposed to be about cybersecurity policy and I do not feel I learned about the policy side of things it was just a course on cybersecurity broadly. He only provides rubrics for assignments after your class asks several times and they are incredibly vague, week excuses for rubrics. This makes it very challenging to predict what grade you'll receive. He also enjoys adding pretty important requirements last minute or even after something is due. After a group presentation, he requested that we have more words on the slide (which is just not how you give a presentation that is engaging but he would not know about that) or that we give our speaker notes which not all of us used. He is disorganized and insists that you contact him via elms but will email you suddenly on a chain unrelated to the topic he's emailing about. He is also quite frankly rude and every time I wished him a nice day or said thank you he just stared at me. You will regret taking his courses.

Catherine Worsnop
PLCY401

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/14/2025

Professor Worsnop is incredibly kind and truly cares about your interest in the course and ability to succeed. She often started class by asking if there was anything in the news we wanted to discuss, which given the time period was plenty, particularly in terms of global health. She does assign a lot of readings that generally were necessary to be able to participate in class, but she is receptive to concerns you have if it is too much and grading for the course is rather fair and not too difficult. Overall, I would highly recommend as a professor, and specifically this course if interested in global health

Tracy Thompson
PLCY401

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/10/2025

The professor is super sweet and really really educated on criminal justice. She wants the students to think, and also gives new and interesting ways to think about commonly known topics. The class is interesting and we always learn something new. It can be boring at times since its a lecture, but the content is pretty interesting overall. She does have lots of assignments for the class though, and there is always something due. She is also not the easiest grader, so you definitely have to work hard for each assignment. However, she is very understanding, and allows extensions and changes in deadlines with the class's needs. She also allows an automatic 7 day grace period after each deadline for students to submit with no penalty. The course is interesting, but be prepared to write and research!

Joshua Itzkowitz Shifrinson
PLCY401

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/10/2024

This has been one of my fav profs ever at UMD. I took his PLCY401 class (which I was not super interested in from the offset), but he made the content super engaging and interesting. Our class was about 15 people and mostly discussion-based, but I learned SO MUCH more than I tend to learn in my other discussion-based classes. Every time you speak, he makes you feel understood, and if you're off the mark, he guides you in the right direction, and you actually learn. He doesn't post his slides, so you have to go to class, and the two essays he assigns are pretty demanding, but he is a very fair grader and does set his students up for success. This feels like what a college class actually should feel like - a challenge without being impossible. As a person, he is also super cool. he's super knowledgeable without making you feel stupid and really does care about his students. great class rlly recommend even if you have no background in International relations and national security.

Reviews for PLCY401