John McCauley

This professor has taught: GVPT210, GVPT282, GVPT289L, GVPT289U, GVPT354, GVPT484, GVPT484H, GVPT780, GVPT884, GVPT888D

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John McCauley GVPT354 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/19/2024	Very interesting topic, covering and providing the foundations for the minor in international development and conflict management. This class is definitely a paper-heavy course, with no exams but 4 1/2 papers and very easy weekly reading checks. Would definitely recommend this class for Gov majors. It will be the most writing you do for the minor. However, I used some of the papers I had written in class to land internships in DC, so it didn't matter to me. You can take notes if you want, for concept retention sake, but they aren't really needed for any of the assignments. Dr. McCauley is definitely one of the best professors you'll ever take at UMD, and his in-class presentations attest to that. Everything covered in class is reinforced through actual in-country experiences, jobs, and assignments he's done throughout the years in his career, and he might be abroad mid-way through the semester for you like he was for our class (he went on an assignment to Benin). You'll definitely enjoy this class, so take it at some point of your time at UMD.
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/11/2024	MCCAULEY IS SO NICE AND THE EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS CLASS ARE ACTUALLY CLEAR. He is so funny and cool and the classes he teach are always interesting. I’m a STEM major and this is the first humanities class I’d really love. Mccauley is the GOAT
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 03/11/2024	Amazing professor, fun class
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A+ MNull 03/08/2024	GOATed teacher. Course is interesting, well taught and entertaining and I wasn't expecting to like it. Definitely take this class if you can
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/30/2023	what a guy. incredible professor who makes the lectures incredibly fun and something that’ll honestly stick with you for a while. super interesting course content coupled with a pretty interesting guy makes for a great time. course was honestly pretty easy too! just make sure you’re watching everything because there’s only a few assignments
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2023	I really enjoyed McCauley as a lecturer- he is fantastic at it and really engaging, though the pace is what you can expect of a 200 level course. To date, he had given some of my favorite lectures that I have attended in my three years at this university. He also does try to get to know his students, particularly those who often participate in class, though he is less likely to call on you if he doesn't know who you are, particularly as the semester progresses. My biggest drawback is that I do feel the grading of this class tried to implement a distinction between letter grades that is not there given the exam grading was a bit harsh and did not always seem to make sense, but I would still recommend the class since it was really interesting and engaging.
John McCauley GVPT354 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2023	DO NOT JOIN THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS!! I made international development and conflict management my minor this semester and I am dropping it so fast after this course. All McCauley talks about are his trips to underdeveloped countries for two hours straight. He told us that he went through assignments after the TA's already graded them and put them down to an 89 if they were a 90 because if students see a 90 they stop trying in the class. I personally did not like that and did not like his teaching style. I disliked the class ALOT but it might be because I was not a government or politics major/minor and policies do not excite me.
John McCauley GVPT354 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/01/2022	Wow. Not only did McCauley learn the names of everyone in our 60 person class and make sure to talk to those that came to class a bit early, but also genuinely knew so much about the topic of development and aid. He works on development professionally, so I feel there is no better source of information on how it works. It is an almost two hour lecture and I am engaged the whole time (rare; he is just that great). The class was easygoing, but that is not to say I did not learn much; we had readings due every week (that we had a short quiz on) that covered a variety of topics and we completed multiple issue and conflict briefs on topics of our choice. We had every opportunity to explore our areas of interest. Rarely am I ever given this much freedom in a class, and I appreciate Prof McCauley for that! Take a class with him if you can, you won't regret it.
John McCauley GVPT210 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/18/2022	Professor McCauley is a great, charismatic, easy-going, and empathetic professor. Doesn't make the class harder than it needs to be and is very engaging. He very clearly cares about his students and his work and is flexible. Great guy and great class.
John McCauley GVPT289L Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2020	Prof McCauley is the man. GVPT289L was one of the favorite courses I took in college. McCauley is a very talented and charismatic lecturer. He learns the name of all the students in the class early on, despite the lecture being fairly large. Each lecture is a different topic relating to government and religion where he surveys different views and opinions and sometimes builds an argument. Often he tries to make a novel point that is interesting and thought provoking. Week to week the class has very little work. There are a couple of interesting readings each week. 25% of the grade is based on participation during discussion section. My TA made sure that everyone participated so that they got 100%. There is a midterm based on class material and readings that is pretty straightforward. The big assignment for the class is a essay on any topic you want that relates to government and religion. McCauley is genius because he basically wants to limit the amount of work in the class and just give students the ability to explore their passions and write their own essay. I thought that it was a pretty cool opportunity. However, you may not like it as much if you don't like writing. I highly recommend this class with McCauley.