Usama Soltan

Professor Soltan was a delight. He has a very calm demeanor but clearly cares a lot about his work and students. The course was a very introductory overview of linguistic concepts. The work was very manageable, and I even enjoyed sections of our required textbook. Homework problem sets often felt like working out word puzzles. His grading is pretty fair, and in some cases I would say pretty easy. We had one 15 min group presentation and then a couple mini ones. Exams were low stress for me. As long as you keep up with your readings and pay attention in class, this is a great course.

Professor Soltan was a delight. He has a very calm demeanor but clearly cares a lot about his work and students. The course was a very introductory overview of linguistic concepts. The work was very manageable, and I even enjoyed sections of our required textbook. Homework problem sets often felt like working out word puzzles. His gr …Read more

This course was enjoyable. It was a lot of reading but the homework was usually pretty short and just meant to see if you understood the readings. The lectures overlapped with the readings and Prof Soltan was very open to questions and taught in a very straight-forward way. His expectations for everything are very clear, with readings/short homework every class, two small group projects, a midterm and a final. If you do the readings and pay some attention in class this will not be a difficult course. Overall a good class if you are interested in linguistics.

This course was enjoyable. It was a lot of reading but the homework was usually pretty short and just meant to see if you understood the readings. The lectures overlapped with the readings and Prof Soltan was very open to questions and taught in a very straight-forward way. His expectations for everything are very clear, with reading …Read more

I had this with Soltan. He is a wonderful professor who taught a great course. He is the most organized professor so I was never unclear on what I needed to do. He also has a great heart and is willing to accommodate your needs.