PLIR 1010

#tCFF23

I loved him!! He made lectures fun, had engaging material, was a slow speaker which made it easier to comprehend. He was funny, kind, and reasonable with work. We had quizzes every Monday off of a huge chunk of reading, but I was never bothered by the amount of reading because of how INTERESTING all of the content was! Midterm and Final were optional. Pilot study at the end is a lot of work, but worth it for the slack he gave us most of the year.

I LOVED this class. It was my first politics class, and while I've definitely heard that it's very different from a typical politics class, this class really did pique my interest in the subject. I loved the way this class was structured, with the midterm/final (and honestly lectures) being completely optional. If you are genuinely interested in the class, the readings are captivating and moreso memoirs rather than textbook reading. The labs were quite easy and there was a lot of freedom in the pilot study (worth 30% of the final grade). I had a great TA, Layla, who made discussion sections so much better than any others I've had. A great easy, engaging class if you're interested in the subject - you'll take out as much as you put into it though.

I would describe this class as a large book club. I would say that if you show up to discussion with having read at least parts of the book, and put effort into the labs, this class should pretty much be an easy A or A-. I had a great TA (Layla Picard) that made the class enjoyable. Furia does tend to go off on tangents, but his lectures are optional and he always posts them online afterwards. Overall, I thought the class was enjoyable and a nice intro to IR, but not necessarily a good overview of IR theory etc

This class was definitely interesting, but not challenging. Whole grades are based on discussion participation, 2 labs, a pilot study proposal, and a final project (pilot study). I had a great TA for this class (Ferdinand F.), that made the course relatively easy to understand and made sure we knew what was expected of us as students. Recommend this class if your looking to get rid of gen-ed's this is a relatively easy class.

I took this class online asynchronously and liked it, although I'm not sure how well it sets you up for future classes in IR. You don't learn a lot of theory because the majority of the class is based around discussion for that week's memoir. That being said, I enjoyed all the books that we had to read and didn't find the reading assignments to be overwhelming at all because all of the memoirs are bestsellers/easy reads. Furia seems like a nice guy, but does tend to go off on tangents, which can make the podcasts useless at times. We tended to read a different memoir each week and Furia recorded two podcasts to go along with each reading assignment. The only other assignments were two labs (extremely easy and took 1 hour max), discussion assignments, and a 5-7 page pilot study (also extremely easy and not too time-consuming). My TA was David Stiefel and I would definitely recommend him. He's a really interesting guy and made the discussion assignments (which were up to the TAs to design this semester) enjoyable and quick. Overall, I would say it's relatively easy to get an A. The grade breakdown was: 10% discussion attendance, 10% discussion participation, 10% discussion assignments, 10% pilot study proposal, 30% pilot study, and 30% for labs. I enjoyed this class because I like reading, but you should know what you're getting into before signing up. This definitely isn't a typical intro class and you will only have one textbook reading for the entire semester. Whether that's something that you want is up to you.

Take this review with a grain of salt, as I took it when the class was online. Prof. Furia taught the material through biweekly podcasts, which weren't all that bad in that he had plenty of fascinating stories to tell. However, as others have said, these stories are often tangents. This can be good or bad; if you read the assigned book every week (most of which can be found online!), then it could be refreshing to hear his takes on how the reading relates to research or the world while you do the laundry - it's not just a regurgitated synopsis he gives you. Still, the readings may be bestsellers, but the tangents are less so. Up to you. Content for each week is themed, and the majority of the class was driven through discussion. You do two "labs" which consist of data interpretation in Excel. No exams (at least for this semester). Finally, there's a "pilot study" paper at the end where you do some semi-original research on variables which interest you, and it can be overall low stress if you go to OH and/or have the right TA. Speaking of which, I cannot endorse Aycan Katitas enough. She is kind, helpful, facilitates discussion well, and cares for the wellbeing of the students. Take discussion with her if you can! #tCFspring2021

This class was pretty much a huge book club. Furia's "lectures" were supposed to be about the book that we were assigned to read that week, but most of the time they went on tangents that were pretty much impossible to follow along. They were also podcast-style, so there were no slides or anything. I rarely did the readings just because they were so long and there was no assessments on them, just general discussions about the books' topics in discussion in breakout rooms. However, with that being said, most of the book topics were pretty interesting as most were NYT bestsellers. I found that this class depended on your TA and discussion section, as the TA's had different assignments. I had Harrison Weeks and we just had to do short weekly essays (1/2 page single-spaced) on the reading that week that were basically graded on a completion basis. At the end of the course we had to do a "pilot study" which was basically a 5-7 page watered down research paper. Overall, I didn't really get much out of this class and was pretty disappointed with it. It is definitely doable to get a good grade in this class; just make sure to go above and beyond especially on the lab activities to guarantee an A. I don't really know what the class will be like in person, but if it's anything like the online format this spring, lectures will pretty much be useless. #tCFspring2021

This class was completely asynchronous, which I am grateful for based on the other reviews. We had podcast lectures twice a week and Furia seemed to always go on tangents which made him go over his time limit. Everything was done through our TA, and I am grateful that mine was laid back and flexible. If you have the opportunity to take anything with Ferdinand Flagstad, I highly recommend!

For Ferdinand: I enjoyed discussion section with Ferdinand. He was laid back and flexible, but very thoughtful at the same time. For the first part of the semesters, as a class, we would discuss our thoughts on the books and then talk about Ferdinand's questions and relate what we read with IR. Then Furia made the TAs give us some sort of graded assignment, so for the rest of the semester, we would have presentations (you picked a day and only presented once over the semester) and then discuss questions posed by our classmates and Ferdinand in break out rooms for the rest of the class time. I learned so much from Ferdinand and his sections, much more than I ever learned from Furia's podcast lectures. Highly recommend taking anything with Ferdinand!!

#tCFspring2021

If you have ANY interest in international relations or any intention of being a Foreign Affairs major, take this class (... it also might be required haha I don’t remember). Yes, Peter Furia assigns a lot of reading. However, the exams were definitely easy and the TAs are there to help you succeed! With that being said, YOU MUST attend discussion AND lecture. I LOVED this class, and did well. There also is no final exam, you write a research paper/pilot study and you get to pick the topic. TA recommendation: Aycan Katitas -- she is the best.

Definitely an interesting class, very heavily reading-based although the readings were usually intriguing & thought-provoking with the exception of a few. Lecture is, as others have said, a bit useless, as Furia tends to go off on tangents and his powerpoints are typically not very relevant to the exams. I was lucky in that I had an excellent TA who prepared us well for the exams, and I tended to rely more on discussion review and the textbook with regard to preparing for tests. Typically the only reason I went to lecture was the lecture assignment, which you only need 20 of; however, I did feel that lectures were a bit tedious and could have been much more relevant to the class.

Lectures are super disorganized and the powerpoints make no sense and are thus pretty much useless. Furia just spends the whole time going off on random tangents that are basically impossible to follow and we don't actually learn any content in class at all, just irrelevant stuff. Tests are frustrating to prepare for because he gives us what we're supposed to know for the tests, but since he doesn't teach us about any of it we don't have a lot of information to go off of. Pretty much any learning that takes place happens in discussion, and luckily my TA was awesome so that made the class way more bearable.

Prof. Furia is a fairly interesting lecturer. He's fairly knowledgeable and brings in interesting outside facts to his lectures. The class basically focuses on authors of International Relations articles which are very dense and boring. However if you can get through them and understand them the tests will be easy. The TAs are very hesitant to give and As on papers

Furia is a pretty boring lecturer and gets sidetracked often, but his lectures aren't all that important. A lot of people just go for 1 session a week when you have a partner exercise, which counts towards participation. Discussions are a joke, but you have to go to get attendance. Two short papers given 4 prompts are pretty straightforward. Midterm is ID's and essay and if you get a review sheet with possible questions beforehand, so if you study you can ace it. Homework is a lot of readings placed on Collab but you really only need to go through them before exams and for the papers. There is no cumulative final which for me was a big plus. The second test is the week before finals and it is non-cumulative, same format as first. Content is pretty dry and you don't go into too much depth. Do not take it if you are looking for a history of IR. This one basically teaches you the vocab and various theories of how international relations works. Pretty easy A/A-. Chelsea German was decent TA and pretty easy grader.

Not a class I would recommend, that said, it's not horrible. The TA's are, for the most part, very indifferent to your experience in the class. Furia is a cool teacher but the readings are very long if you do them right and if you do them right you do not need to go to class at all.

The material has the potential to be interesting and Furia is a really nice guy but personally, couldn't stay awake/focus during lectures. His voice kind of lulls you to sleep...

Bit boring overall, wouldn't recommend it but it's a requirement for a lot of people. Most of it is stuff you pick up naturally anyway.

The TA matters a great deal. I had Yu Gin Woo who was not a good TA, though nice. Her English was bad and discussions were almost always quiet and painfully awkward, as well as pointless because you end up going over things that should be intuitive to any high schooler.

Absolutely no structure to his lectures. Disorganized, random. He goes off on tangents and never finishes any of his previous thoughts. The readings were more interesting than his lectures. Disappointing class and ended up causing more stress than anticipated.

Great class, Furia is good while Espey is fantastic

Professor Furia is not all that great at lecturing. Almost always he is rambling off and going on tangents. My TA was helpful in reviewing all the important points made in class, though she graded more strictly. All in all I didn't find this class all too interesting.

Prof Furia's lectures are somewhat disorganized and not all that helpful. Unfortunately, lectures are required since there are pop quizzes throughout the semester. I learned most of the information from reading and discussion. However, material is interesting. Exams are mostly reading based, not too difficult.

Furia is slightly disorganized and not a great lecturer. He does not use powerpoints or a projector. Lectures, while not mandatory, virtually are because there are 5 pop reading quizzes given in lecture. If you are not there, you get a 0 on the quiz. Nevertheless, the class is highly dependent on your TA. They grade everything and for me, Carah Ong was much more informative and allowed me to understand the readings better than the professor. The midterm and final are easy as you know exactly what is expected of you. There are a few critical response papers, but these are only 3-4 pages and relatively easy. I'd definitely recommend the class for those looking for exactly what the class is called--an intro to international relations.