9/20/04
By ANNA DAVISON
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Sociology's on the rise, the next generation's going global
and many UCSB students are willing to give you the business as they pick
an academic path.
Out of 85 majors offered at UCSB, the 10 most popular --
excluding the "undeclared"
option -- have remained "pretty consistent for about two decades," said
Al Wyner, dean of undergraduate studies. The only new entry has been global
studies, now sitting at number 10, five years after it was introduced.
However he's says there's been a swing away from the sciences
-- particularly biology -- although
"it's not dramatic."
At the same time, there's been "a very large increase
in interest in psychology, which on our campus is heavily science based."
Business-related courses remain popular.
"We are turning out more future accountants than we
were a decade ago," Mr. Wyner remarked.
"I think there are trends that come and go with respect
to student interest in careers,"
he added.
"Student interest in international affairs, broadly
defined, does seem to be on the upswing" -- evidenced by the popularity
of the global studies major, which now attracts more than 500 students
out of the campus' enrollment of about 20,000.
"We do a fair amount of advertising to students about
the new opportunities," Mr. Wyner said.
Another relatively fresh addition to the UCSB calendar have
been freshmen seminars, which were introduced three years ago at all UC
campuses and have proved "extraordinarily popular," Mr. Wyner
said.
The classes involve a maximum of 20 students and a senior
faculty member teaching on a subject of their choice. It's a chance for
new students to get to know senior faculty and each other, and to ponder
some pretty interesting topics. Many of the seminars involve field trips.
Among this fall's freshmen seminars are "Enron, WorldCom
and Andersen, Or Why Accounting Is Not Boring,"
"The Iraq War as History" and "You Are What You Eat."
Mr. Wyner teaches a freshman seminar on American political controversies
in which students read and discuss Supreme Court cases on issues like
abortion, capital punishment and free speech.
"My own personal experience is that the students thrive
in this kind of environment," he said.
There's plenty of other esoteric offerings on the campus
calendar -- chances to brush up on Korean word processing, dwell on detective
fiction and ponder the religious significance of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
But the most packed classes deal with the basics that have filled blackboards
for decades: introduction to psychology, sociology, biology, economics,
chemistry and so forth -- courses that offer a foundation for many of
the advanced offerings.
Still, Mr. Wyner noted that a course on human sexuality "attracts
many hundreds of students" intrigued by the prospect of exploring
the biological, emotional and sociological aspects of sexuality.
"Not surprisingly, young adults find that an interesting
course," Mr. Wyner said.
But students expecting to kick back during that class may
be surprised -- "this is a course that's very hard, in fact," Mr.
Wyner said, adding that "more often than not," when students
sign up for something they think is an easy course, it turns out to be
rather demanding.
One way for incoming students to try to figure out whose
classes are hard and whose aren't -- not to mention which UCSB chemistry
professor resembles Kramer from "Seinfeld"
-- is to browse the Web site ratemyprofessors.com -- the most popular of
several such sites.
Ratemyprofessors.com has nothing to do with UCSB, but offers
students across the country the chance to rate lecturers, including UCSB
staffers -- on easiness, helpfulness and clarity -- and to rant if they
choose.
Advice ranges from the useful: "go to all the lectures," to
the vicious: one UCSB professor is described as having "terrible notes" and
a "creepy grin."
Most professors only warrant a few ratings from students, but a few draw
dozens of responses -- often reflecting differing opinions. One UCSB
women's studies professor is heaped with praise by a student who describes
her as "fabulous to talk with," then slammed by another for
being "very mean and weird."
A UCSB economics professor has drawn 100 comments from students disagreeing
on whether he's a "hateful old man"
who "might make you cry," or in fact a "hilarious"
teacher whose class is "pathetically easy" and whose foes must
be "dumb blondes."
But the site's founder says it isn't just a way for disgruntled students
to take revenge on the professor who failed them last semester: more
than 65 percent of the ratings on the site are positive.
Raters are also given the chance to dole out As for attractiveness.
Highly rated hunks and babes are honored with a chili pepper next to their
names.
Teachers can't have their names removed from the ratings
list -- "Think of this site as an opportunity to hear what your students
normally keep secret from you,"
reads a note from founder John Swapceinski.
"Students are free to say absolutely everything they
want, and they should, but I don't want to read it,"
said Sara Lindheim, an associate professor of classics at UCSB, who's deemed "awesome" and "a
hoot"
by raters on the Web site.
"It's nice that they have a chance somewhere to have
an outlet and express themselves," she added.
But Ms. Lindheim pointed out that ratings on the site are
hardly representative, and there's no way of knowing how well the students
did -- and therefore their possible motivation.
"I don't place much credence on what I see there," added
Mr. Wyner, who hasn't been rated on the site.
Both he and Ms. Lindheim prefer the feedback they get from
the anonymous teacher evaluations handed out at UCSB, which the vast majority
of students complete.
"Those are actually much more helpful,"
Ms. Lindheim said.
Mr. Wyner regards the results as "a very valuable tool
for faculty to learn and become better at teaching,"
he said. "I try to improve as a result of that. I welcome the criticism.
... I want to know that. I want to profit from feedback. ... Anyone who's
been teaching for a long time gets into a groove, and hopefully it's a
good groove."
"Criticism," Ms. Lindheim added, "while difficult to swallow
at first, on reflection is very productive."
But along with comments on what parts of classes worked
and what didn't, "I've
heard a lot about how people look; how they dress," she said. "Surprisingly
unhelpful things."
Top 10 majors* at UCSB for the 2003-2004 academic year (the
most recent for which data are available), by number of students:
1. Business Economics (1,942)
2. Biological Sciences (1,524)
3. Psychology (1,509)
4. Communication (895)
5. Sociology (829)
6. Political Science (777)
7. English (623)
8. Computer Science (585)
9. Law and Society (575)
10. Global Studies (539)
* 2727 students had an undeclared major
back to top
