PUBPOL-205
US & WORLD, 1898 TO PRESENT
Not in Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos.
DepartmentPPS
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment17–46
Semesters of data2
4.1
Hrs / week
19
Responses
63
Enrollment
30%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.4
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.5
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.4
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.2
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysismedium
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 67 comments across 2 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that teaching clarity stands out. Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Lecture-heavy
Lecture load looks real. Students talk about dense or central lectures, and staying on top of them seems necessary rather than optional.
Strengths
• Teaching clarity stands out; students repeatedly say the material is explained clearly and effectively.
• Readings, films, or outside materials come up repeatedly as a real strength rather than filler.
• Discussion is a clear strength; students repeatedly describe the class conversation as engaging and useful.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who want a structured class rather than chaos.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
In class discussion was best for me to learn and grow.
Fall 2023 · Colbourn, Susan
This is a great introductory survey to U.S. foreign policy in the modern era. I learned about most of the major events, figures, developments, and themes in U.S. international relations from 1898 to the present, as the course title promises. I learned how to analyze primary source speeches and government documents more effectively as well, because those play a large role in the course readings.
Fall 2023 · Colbourn, Susan
I took this class to gain a high-level understanding of current world history and I definitely did! Just some highlights, I learned the general order of presidents and important information from each term, what the Cold War actually was, and "isolationism" in a pre-WW1 context.
Fall 2023 · Colbourn, Susan
I learned how to write concisely, to read primary as well as secondary sources efficiently, and to write policy-memos.
Fall 2023 · Colbourn, Susan
1. Continuity and change over time in historical policy, and how no foreign policy is ever created in a vacuum. 2. Strong analytical skills, especially in regard to a mix of primary and secondary sources 3. Strong writing skills, especially when writing about historical policy and its implications in the modern day.
Fall 2023 · Colbourn, Susan
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | Colbourn, Susan | 4.1 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 46 |
| Fall 2023 | Colbourn, Susan | 4.7 | 3.2 | 4.7 | 17 |