Rebecca Bennette

I did not enjoy the course much. It focuses on genocides told through graphic novels, which is sometimes a lot to emotionally deal with. Beyond that I do not feel like I gained any reading skills and minimal writing skills, which is what I would have wanted out of a FYSE course. Professor Bennette is a lovely person, but did not seem much interested in graphic novels themselves and more interested in the history, which makes sense but is not helpful when the class should be reading and writing focused. Overall it was a chill course but I would have ranked different FYSE.

I did not enjoy the course much. It focuses on genocides told through graphic novels, which is sometimes a lot to emotionally deal with. Beyond that I do not feel like I gained any reading skills and minimal writing skills, which is what I would have wanted out of a FYSE course. Professor Bennette is a lovely person, but did not seem …Read more

To get the most important part out of the way, Professor Bennette is a great teacher with a lot of passion for the subject, which definitely carries the class. There is not much homework, and assignments are graded leniently. One issue with the pacing is that there are long stretches with no real work, and then a three-day stretch where you have to work very, very hard to finish a project. Also, you are somewhat stuck with the same partner for the whole class, which is great if you love your partner, but if you end up with someone you don't work very well with, you can't get out of it. There are also a few books we probably could have left out and spent more time on the other books: for example, Maus by Art Spiegelman is a great graphic novel that we only read 1 volume of. It felt like the course was designed to cover too wide a scope, when a narrower focus would have been better. Overall, Professor Bennette is great, and the course is not very difficult, but I believe a better-designed curriculum and schedule would have taken this class to the next level.

To get the most important part out of the way, Professor Bennette is a great teacher with a lot of passion for the subject, which definitely carries the class. There is not much homework, and assignments are graded leniently. One issue with the pacing is that there are long stretches with no real work, and then a three-day stretch wh …Read more

The lectures are thought-provoking and well-organized. The professor is excellent, knowledgeable, approachable, and passionate about the subject, which makes learning both easy and enjoyable. Highly recommend this class for anyone interested in history and understanding how Europe shaped the modern world.