Matthew Hansen

This professor has taught: GEOG172, GEOG201, GEOG211, GEOG328C, GEOG417, GEOG422, GEOG472, GEOG498R, GEOG617

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Matthew Hansen GEOG201 Anonymous 03/29/2026	Horrendous professor. We have 3 tedious assignments due every Sunday at 11:59 which isn't abnormal other than the fact that he doesn't post them until 4 PM the same day. Impossible to work ahead. Also, he doesn't answer any emails and the two emails that i've sent to the TA have not been answered until over two weeks later. Not to mention that he teaches the class as if all 250 students are geography majors and care about geography. Yeah, the lab is online, but still not worth it at all. Definitely take a different class
Matthew Hansen GEOG201 Expecting an XF Anonymous 03/11/2026	Worst class I've ever taken. There's so much content to know, and the professor gives us no help for the exam. There is no study guide, and they don't tell us what is expected to be on the exam. All they said was "review the slides." There's about 700 slides worth of content for the first exam. Professor is terrible. Geno Smith-esque.
Matthew Hansen GEOG201 Expecting an XF Anonymous 03/11/2026	Terrible class. An insane amount of content and no study material for exams. The professor tells us nothing about what to expect from exams and what to study. Do NOT take this class with this professor. Geno Smith-esque professor.
Matthew Hansen GEOG201 Anonymous 03/11/2026	I am currently taking this course. I reviewed some of the comments and I have to agree this professor does not teach during lecture. All he does is read off the slides. The information comes directly from the book as well. The tone of his voice sounds like he is bored of his own material which then makes the students bored as well. He definitely is not enthusiastic about what he teaches. I saw another comment saying he gives a ton of work. I have to disagree. He has in class quizzes every single day which feels like a lot but he drops the lowest 25%. It really isn't bad if you come to class. It also is a good grade boost. He also has three assignments due every Sunday, They basically are just reviews of the chapter you had to read for the week and for two of the assignments you are guaranteed a 10/10 if you just complete them entirely. You don't even really need to read the chapter for them. Again, another good grade boost. The reason why I give this professor 2 stars is because we currently have an exam tomorrow and he still has not posted seven lecture slides that he stated WILL be on the exam. This is completely unacceptable in my opinion. Even though his slides basically just come from the book, it helps to see what information he feels is important enough to discuss in class. That helps students get a feel of what will be on the exam. If you do take this professor for GEOG201, pay attention in lecture because he may never upload the slides and come to class.
Matthew Hansen GEOG201 Anonymous 02/05/2026	ABSOLUTLY HORRIBLE. The class has an absurd amount of work and even when you read the textbook its impossible to follow. I've never been more lost in a class before and the large number of assignments only make it worse.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Anonymous 12/23/2024	do not take. Class is a joke feels like the teacher doesn't care. The whole grade relies on the final.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2024	I had a 102% going into the final exam yet the final is worth 35% of the class and he made it way harder than the other exams. Also we had 4 total assignments for the semester yet somehow it took months to grade each of them. The final exam was a scantron multiple choice yet it still took over a week for them to grade it. Overall, don’t take this class, I got points off on my assignments and they don’t even tell you why they took points. Lectures are more boring than watching paint dry and he thinks people actually care about geography and aren’t taking this for gen ed requirements.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/15/2024	He is okay. He clearly only teaches so he can use the universities resources for his own projects. It is a large lecture class but nobody ever shows up so often it is like 10 students in a huge lecture hall. The TA is very nice but the grades go in SO late. There are only 3 discussion boards, 2 quizzes, 1 project, and 1 final for this entire course. That is very annoying because getting an okay grade drops you down significantly. I got a 20/24 on one quiz and it dropped me 8 whole points.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Anonymous 05/15/2024	Doesn't teach during lecture
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Anonymous 07/15/2022	Professor never lectured... or when he did he just read straight from PPT. He had guest lecturers over Zoom who were really hard to understand. The final was horrific and even those with As were brought to a C. Do not recommend.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/25/2022	This is a super easy class, just half-listen to the lectures and you'll easily get a c, if not a b or a. The professor doesn't really care about that class, he just teaches it so he can work with UMD for his own projects, but the TA's are nice and they all know A LOT of stuff. Overall, it's a good gen-ed to take.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Anonymous 05/22/2022	Pros: - You will learn a lot in this class if you put the smallest bit of effort into it. - The professor is a good guy, and he seems to want students to succeed and grasp the material. Pros or cons depending on your preferences: - There are a LOT of guest lecturers, some are amazing some are not. - The exams have massive curves (15-20%+ curves). - When lecturing, the professor talks like he’s speaking to colleagues instead of undergrads. It’s extremely overwhelming at first, but when you start to understand the vocabulary you’ll learn a lot more because of it. Cons: - The professor doesn’t respond to emails consistently, and he doesn’t meet with students without going through a long difficult scheduling process. - You are graded on very few things with the final exam being 35% of your grade. - Grading policies can be unclear, and that can cause a lot of stress.
Matthew Hansen GEOG172 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2022	If you want an easy A this is it. There was 3 very easy discussion posts, 2 quizzes, a project and a final. All very easy. I never had to worry about this class at all. Quizzes were curved like crazy. I think I got a 60% on one and it became a 100%. Dr. Hansen is a nice guy and clearly likes the material but is not a good teacher and you can tell he doesn't want to even be teaching the class. That being said, he doesn't want anyone to fail just wants to share some stuff about satellites.