| Information | Review |
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Joe Gurrola
PHIL344 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2024 |
For my first philosophy course, I was worried that I'd pretty much suffer with the amount of writings and readings, not to mention with a pretty serious topic like race and racism. Professor Gurrola really made this class worth putting in effort for, with thought questions (not related to race, more random topics related to personality and such) that sparked a nice, healthy amount of debate. The readings were great and definitely made the weekly ~250 word report (that Prof gives you a format for) easier to stomach, and the ones that don't have a report assigned, Prof. Gurrola runs a more discussion-based class, to incentivize actually reading the interesting readings than just coming to lecture and getting the content there (the discussions still taught me a lot). Attendance is "mandatory" since the thought questions are graded, but he chose to drop it (everyone gets the points) for this semester since most people attended regularly. He has 2 required meetings with him for the term paper, and even helps you pick out a thesis if you can't figure one out and has given a healthy amount of feedback so far (we still have one more meeting left). The reading reports are now a pass-fail assignment, so if you put in even B- work, as long as its semi-thoughtful you'll get the points. The first midterm was also good personally, and has an extra credit question on it. As long as you do the readings and put in effort for the reports (the questions on the midterm are based on the readings; and the format Prof. Gurrola gives you "forces" you to think along the lines of the midterm long before its even on the radar). Less grading-wise, he is genuinely the nicest professor I've met so far. He is easy to reach out to, and so accommodating no matter what circumstances you're going through (even willing to grade your report if you do it on the wrong paper), and has 3 tokens to re-do an assignment if you "fail" it or need a 48-hour extension, no questions asked. The only bad thing about this class is how long it takes to get grades back. Some people got their report grades back before the midterm which was probably super helpful, but others didn't. (I imagine this didn't make too much of a difference, since our midterm was online as Prof. Gurrola fell sick and had to miss our review session, so he swapped it to online and let us take it anywhere during that weekend, again super nice and fair) Overall, please take a class with him if you can. I know that grades matter the most in the end so maybe things will change with the final, but I've come away with learning so much about the discourse surrounding race, racism, implicit biases, and social identities, and would 100% take any classes he offers in the future. |
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Joe Gurrola
PHIL344 Anonymous 10/08/2024 |
i think this guy is checked out because he just does not seem to care about teaching. he is near impossible to reach and doesnt seem accountable. also, starting to think he is using our class to further his own research/work. the readings are good but i can't credit him for those because he didn't write them and I don't know how much effort went into them being selected. |
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Joe Gurrola
PHIL344 Anonymous 06/24/2024 |
Extremely critical grader. The class average grade on the first homework assignment was a 47% and the median was a 0. Ridiculously pedantic with your writing and not afraid to rip into your work and provide feedback which can only be described as vague at best. The coursework itself is not difficult and the assignments are straightforward. I am most likely going to withdraw from this course as my GPA does not deserve torment. |
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Joe Gurrola
HNUH268A Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2022 |
Joe was an extremely dedicated TA. He leads discussion on Fridays for all groups, very smart guy. He is soft spoken, but very philosophical which is enjoyable because this course was mainly philosophy based but for UH students. I will definitely be looking out for future courses he TA's for. |