Gregory Staley

This professor has taught: CLAS170, CLAS276, CLAS289A, CLAS470, HHUM105, HHUM206, HHUM328, HHUM329, HONR208C, LATN301, LATN303, LATN405, LATN415, LATN424, LATN488K, LATN605, LATN688K, LATN688L, RELS170

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Gregory Staley CLAS276 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/19/2024	I took this course over winter break and this course was significantly more work than winter break courses I have taken in the class. I hate to give him a bad review because he was genuinely nice and I think that most of my issues are related to the time frame of the course(I don't know if he has taught winter break classes before?) He released all of the assignments in mid December because I emailed him and asked him if I should drop the class because I had a commitment in the last week of winter break. He also takes a lot of time to respond to each individual students work daily. However, even though I was able to spread out the assignments over more days than I was given, I spent way more time doing work than I felt was reasonable each day. Most days consisted of 50+ pages of dense reading, 4 20 minute videos and a long harshly graded discussion post. The class had 7 people and we were expected to respond to two peoples discussion posts the same night the discussion posts were due. As a result, I ended up staying up until 11:30 on multiple nights waiting for other people to submit theirs. Grading criteria was not communicated clearly. There were no rubrics, leading to a mismatch of expectations(He was looking for a well developed, thought out response when his rubric looked like he was grading for completion). On tests, he is nitpicky for exact details and wants way more than is possible given his word count/time guidelines. I was not able to get everything in despite using my notes(it was supposed to be closed note) and writing about half of my responses in advance. I literally would have gotten a 50 on these tests if I had taken them honestly. Again I don't think this would have been an issue in a normal semester class because I would have known the information better through having longer to study and do assignments, actual in person lectures and I would have been able to recover from bad grades on the first few assignments.
Gregory Staley HHUM105 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2019	I had Prof. Staley in my first-semester Honors Humanities course. He’s a wonderful person/professor who can speak about the humanities well, and who has a lot of stories to tell (of course, not on class-time). In discussion, he welcomes any and all ideas, but also challenges us to develop them on a deeper level. The only thing I’d warn people is that, since the “humanities” is really broad, taking this course requires a lot of personal interpretation and it may seem that you’re going in circles and circles. But it’s definitely manageable. I believe he’s retiring next year, so I’m grateful to have had him in at least one of my classes!
Gregory Staley HHUM105 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/11/2018	Prof. Staley is like Santa Claus, Papa Smurf, and Aristotle all rolled into one lovely old philosopher. As someone in the Honors Humanities program, I suppose I have had more personal interaction with him than the average student who's just taking one of his classics courses, but he's a wonderful person who is really invested in his students and in his subject. Would highly recommend taking any class with him.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 turtlefucker 05/20/2014	Is he a bad professor? Maybe not. Good? Hell no. I give him a 2.5 (rounding to 3). He does not seem to understand the people that are taking this course are NOT taking it to hear about Freudian psychology. Everything is either a womb or a phallus. Seriously. They went into a cave? No they went into a womb. He expects you to either have some psych background or pick it up on the side, while still completing his massive number of readings. He also expects you to be Christian, with decent knowledge of Bible stories. And into Star Wars. Don't know them? Well then you're going to have to do a bunch of additional work for some of the weekly assignments. The assignments are all over the place; organization is very much not his thing. He also publishes everything in html pages that are so poorly coded that some browsers cannot open them. Have fun figuring out what the readings actually are through the wall of random text that has the titles and pages included, since he thinks that the return key doesn't exist. His exams are terrible. There are a list of essays that you have to prep for. Then there is matching from hell and a short answer section that has occasionally super vague questions and you will inevitably run out of time to answer. Then the pictures. There's a whole bunch of random pictures in his slides and html pages, and you need to be able to recognize a tiny grayscale version of them. We complained that it was hard to tell what they were, and he got defensive and yelled at us for making excuses. The quality is often so shitty that you can't pick up on the clues for what it is and just need to memorize the pictures. Oh, despite the fact that spellings of the names vary between the readings, spelling counts. He is a generally agreeable guy and a good lecturer, but his disorganization, womb obsession, and painful exams make him not even close to your best choice for this class.
Gregory Staley CLAS289A Expecting a B+ Anonymous 07/05/2013	Greg Staley is one of the nicest guys you will meet. He is very passionate about the classics but comes off a tad pretentious at times. His lectures were quite boring in my opinion. As a bio major who took a classics class as a gen ed, I felt completely out of place. Discussions were based on classical readings we were assigned and often wandered off into other classical stories that I had never read. This left me clueless at times during these discussions. The class was not too difficult, not too much work, and the tests were fairly easy. However, about 30% of the grade was based on two group projects. Don't take his class if you do not like group projects. The group projects we're partially to blame for me not earning an A.
Gregory Staley CLAS289A Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2012	Professor Staley is one of the best professors I had this semester. In the future, I would take a class just because he's teaching it. He is engaging and entertaining and I enjoyed going to lecture This class is not a piece of cake but it's one of the most interesting classes I've taken my freshman year. I learned so much and would recommend it to any friend that is interested in learning something new. There is a good amount of work which also means a good amount of grades. I never did the readings, only skimmed them for the exams and the clicker questions on the readings, you can guess. Take this class!
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/10/2012	Professor Staley is a wonderful lecturer as well as a caring and kind professor. The work in this course was not hard at all as long as you did the readings - there are a lot of those, but most are interesting so it wasn't so bad. There are 3 exams, 3 papers, and a final. Discussions were mandatory and helped to clear up confusing topics in class. I would wholeheartedly advise anyone to take this class if they can.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting a B jnt14 12/27/2011	This is a really great class. I took the class for a core credit because of the great reviews on this site, but they are true. I thought the material was very interesting, and Staley is a great teacher. There are two exams during the semester, and you have to submit homework for discussion each week, which you must also attend. You also have readings for each class, which I would recommend doing as it helps you understand the material and it also helps you on the exams. There is kind of a lot of work to do in the class, but I felt it was worth it. Staley also tried to use clickers with his classes this semester and ended up having a lot of technical problems, but they helped you know if you were understanding the material. If you don't mind a little bit of work and want to take a great class, I would highly recommend CLAS170.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/17/2011	Dr. Staley himself is a wonderful professor. Extremely sweet and nice guy who is very approachable and easy to talk to. There is absolutely NO way you can dislike this professor. That being said...I don't like this class. I'm just not into mythology. Took it thinking it was gonna be an easy HL core, but looking back sadly, I probably would have enjoyed another type of literature class, even if the professor wasn't as good. That, and my brain's just not very literature oriented (I'm a science major). Me disliking the class however has absolutely nothing to do with Dr. Staley. He is a great, funny guy and an excellent lecturer. Yea I know, totally mixed feelings, however, if you are interested in myths, this is the class to take!
Gregory Staley Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/16/2010	Professor Staley is one of the few professors I've had in school who really cares about his student's understanding of the material. I had him for classics170 as well and he is pretty consistent across the board. His lectures are interesting but his readings are very long. He grades fairly but he gives you every opportunity to excel in the material. For our class he set up a notes sharing folder on elms so that everyone posted their notes from one day before and after the midterm so that before the midterm and final notes were available from every class. This made studying much easier and it was not too painful if you missed a couple of classes like I did. This class is a lot of work but it is very interesting and worth the time
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A rnb110 12/16/2009	Professor Staley is an excellent professor. It's definitely not easy and there's a lot of readings but it's really worth it. You don't have to be majoring in the classics to like this class. Staley is like a cute little grandpa and I loved him. He puts so much effort into his presentations and they are perfectly timed, you never get out early or late, always on time. He tries to make his presentations relatable to the students. He knows how to keep the students awake and interested. Two exams throughout the semester and a final. Two essays due throughout the semester also. You have to answer about 5 questions weekly, due in discussions, which are mandatory. Great class overall.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A+ laurelapollo 12/01/2009	Not gonna lie, its not an easy Core but its so worth all the work that I put into this class. Staley is a wonderful lecturer, I never missed any lectures. It was something I looked forward too. You don't have to be in love with the classics to appreciate this guy. A lot of readings but if you fall behind a little, wikipedia is always there. But you need to be able to analyze the myths you learn for the test. He gives the essays that will be on the test and also he gives you all the important names that you need to know. I had a dictionary of classical myth which proved to be very helpful.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/19/2008	Staley is a great guy and a good professor. He does a good job of presenting the material, and although mythology can get kind of boring at times, with all the readings, he does a good job keeping it at least fairly interesting. Still, this is definitely not an easy A. I had a low B in this class and did poorly on the final, pushing me down to a high C+. There is a lot of reading and if you do all of it, especially when you are supposed to, it makes it a lot easier to follow the lectures, and you'll probably get at least a B. Some aspects of the tests can be difficult though, because there is simply just a large depth of information, and there are usually some pretty specific questions.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 mhd101 02/11/2008	Dr. Staley is a great professor. His lectures are interesting and I always enjoyed them. He is not an easy teacher though. The tests are difficult but he made the class so interesting that I barely minded studying for them.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Anonymous 12/04/2007	Dr. Staley certainly knows his mythology. The course is interesting, just be prepared for 3 readings a week of 15+ pages. This is NOT the easy A core that I was told it would be. The textbook fell out of the binding after the first month.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A TVanBlar 11/28/2007	Staley is a master of mythology. His lectures are interesting and hilarious. He gives you outlines to follow along with his lectures and routinely uses movie clips in lecture to make a point and get a laugh. Readings can be lengthy but are, for the most part, interesting. 2 mid-terms, 2 essays, and a final. One-page writings due at discussion every week and discussions are mandatory.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/15/2007	i took his class as a core, but it really got me more interested in mythology. there is a lot of reading, but if you go to lecture, most of it isnt necessary. he makes lecture interesting and holds your attention. he is also really helpful if you have questions about anything from reading or the lecture, and the tests arent too bad if you take notes during lecture, he gives you the potential essays.
Gregory Staley CLAS170 Expecting an A BriBri013 11/14/2007	Dr. Staley is an amazing lecturer and I enjoy coming to class every day. He obviously puts a lot of effort into making his presentations, and they are well thought out and offer answers to his essay questions. In fact, most lectures will have the potential essay topic at the beginning, and he will give you answers to the question throughout the lecture. Each test has 2 essays that come from about 8 that he gave during lectures, so you should have answers and notes for any essay he gives. The tests also have short answer/multiple choice that comes from notes mostly (some reading) and they are a bit difficult because they usually aren't the big ideas, but include smaller, relatively unimportant characters and places from Greek myth. For example, you might not see anything specific about Apollo, but you will need to know the name of one of his lovers. But once you take the first one it will be easy to see how to study, and I did so much better on my second test. The TA does all the grading so they are very important- James was really great and very interesting in discussion, which is mandatory and part of your grade. The responses to reading give you easy points to bring up your grade. Dr. Staley is a wonderful professor and I really recommend his mythology class.