WGS 2125

Professor Orsak is clearly passionate and educated about the topics, but that passion did not translate into effective teaching. The course is not really that difficult if you have taken previous WGS courses, but I would like to emphasize that I relied heavily on previous knowledge from other courses to succeed in this class. The majority of class time felt more like a bad book club than a college-level WGS course. This is not a good representation of the amazing WGS courses and professors at UVA, and honestly, this class was a disservice to the quality and experience expected. I have taken over 30 credits of WGS courses, and this is, hands down, the worst one I have ever taken, which is unfortunate because it is a requirement for the major and the minor and a really interesting topic. It is not hard to do well, but it is definitely not an enjoyable experience. Take this class with literally any other professor if possible!!!!

This was probably the worst WGS class I've taken at UVA, maybe the worst class overall. It wasn't difficult but I didn't find Professor Orsak to be a good or prepared lecturer. Almost every lecture had no prepared material like a slideshow, and she would instead project a piece of paper and take messy notes depending on what other students said. About a third of each class would also be spent on announcements or just be otherwise off topic, especially when Prof. Orsak would go on a tangent. We were asked for feedback multiple times this semester but no changes were ever made, even when the feedback I saw was mostly just asking for more preparedness. Since the class is required for the WGS major and minor, I would definitely recommend taking it with a different professor.

With all due respect, Professor Orsak cannot teach. It took her halfway into the semester to admit that she needs to put up some slides or a better visual. She spent too much time on reminders and introductions and not enough time on the actual content and readings that we had been assigned that week. Her class is simply disorganized and her grading policy isn't the worst but it's definitely not great. She does not hand out 100's easily and can be snarky in some of her remarks. Some of the assignments seem to be simply for busy work and I was excited for this class but Professor Orsak made it painful to sit through. Recommend taking with Professor Speidel