Jim Ralph

Professor Ralph is very enthusiastic about the the class material. Well put together lectures that explore the history of cities and historic developments of American cities. Quite engaging if you make it past early-morning hazes and history-paper-style eloquence. Papers and projects are very engaged in the historic and contemporary scene of American urban lives and encourage students to explore topics of interest in pressing urban issues today. He is also very willing to learn about the students personally, as well as students' personal experience with urban lives, and reference them in discussion sessions. Discussion attendance is mandatory unless excused. One of the classes I found worth getting up early for.

Professor Ralph is very enthusiastic about the the class material. Well put together lectures that explore the history of cities and historic developments of American cities. Quite engaging if you make it past early-morning hazes and history-paper-style eloquence. Papers and projects are very engaged in the historic and contemporary …Read more

Professor Ralph is very passionate about history and the American urban experience. That being said, his teaching style is very boring and he just reads from his notes for the entire class. If you find the content interesting, then it is a good class, but if you don't like history, this class is not for you. He assigns a lot of reading each week, but you can get by easily without doing it.

Professor Ralph is very passionate about history and the American urban experience. That being said, his teaching style is very boring and he just reads from his notes for the entire class. If you find the content interesting, then it is a good class, but if you don't like history, this class is not for you. He assigns a lot of readi …Read more

If you want an easy, boring class this is for you. Did I learn much of anything? no. Did I have to do the readings? no. Theres four assignments for the whole course: a media presentation, a research probe, a group presentation and a final paper. This class is co taught and the dynamics between Spears and Ralph are very entertaining, they are nice guys who are very interested in Chicago unfortunately this class and the readings are incredibly dull. They also are very easy grader and give little to no feedback. If you need an easy class with little work this is a good one, but don't expect to learn much.

If you want an easy, boring class this is for you. Did I learn much of anything? no. Did I have to do the readings? no. Theres four assignments for the whole course: a media presentation, a research probe, a group presentation and a final paper. This class is co taught and the dynamics between Spears and Ralph are very entertaining, …Read more