Nice & helpful professor. Very passionate about the material & a good sense of humor. Interesting lecture. He really cares about whether you UNDERSTAND the material. Loves when you ask questions! Still the class is fairly challenging. The material is pretty dense & tests are all essay. If you’re willing to put in the work it’s a rewarding course.

He was an entertaining teacher that tried to keep students engaged. The exams were easy for the most part. He had short writing assignments, and if you put in the time to do them well the class you can easily get a good grade in this class. He wants to explain the material and provided a new spin on Medieval Europe which kept it fairly engaging.

Wonderful professor! Dr. Whalen is humorous, extremely passionate about what he teaches, and really makes sure you understand the themes of medieval history. I'm an English major and this was my favorite course the whole semester! It is a bit challenging and you MUST read, but it's worth it.

medieval hist, thought it would be bad and ended up loving it. Brett Whalen is the bomb.com. One of my favorite professors at UNC. Midterm/Final were very in depth required a lot of studying. recitation will make or break your grade. 2 page papers due every other week on the readings. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED class was awesome

Here is an honest, good soul who has a passion for teaching, and a passion for history--it's like having someone living in the tenth century come back to life and shed some light on the times. In these days of the decline of the humanities, it's nice to know that a few people still care for a real education. History matters!

Whalen is an awesome professor - energetic and interesting lecturer who honestly cares about what he's teaching. My favorite at UNC. Completely relatable, open to his students and fun to listen to while imparting alot of info. If you like history, you'll love his class. Even if you don't like history you'll probably still love his class.

What a passionate teacher! He's energetic, entertaining, and devoted to his subject. Classes consist mostly of discussion of the readings, occassionaly other fun activities & as long as you take notes on those discussions you'll do great. This class was far and away my favorite last semester. I would love to take another class with him!

What an awesome and engaging professor. He's young and passionate about the Middle Ages/Crusades. I didn't buy all his new age, revisionist cross-cultural thinking, but he is undoubtedly knowledgeable. Also, he has this air of princely nobility. After every class I felt like kneeling before him and kissing his feet & swearing fealty & obedience.

Great Guy. He truly has a passion for this subject. Listening to him speak will spark an interest in this subject.

I dont understand all these low easiness grades. He's not ridiculously easy, but I never once used the Textbook. He's a great, engaging professor who is also helpful outside of class. I recommend him to anyone! TA's grade most of it, if not all, the one I had wasn't the most generous grader...but ah well!

Dr Whalen is an awesome teacher, I definitely recommend taking him. However, the way he approaches the middle ages is a bit different than I was used to and it took a while for me to catch on. Make sure you really study the images

Great professor. Had him for my research seminar in my last semester at UNC and I wish I knew of him sooner. Really knows his subject matter and gets you involved in history. Helped turn what first seemed to be a really intimidating final project into a great experience.

Professor Whalen's intro class on the Middle Ages (HIST 107) was my favorite this semester. He is a really great lecturer, covering a broad variety of topics while being engaging and interesting. He also takes time to answer specific questions after lecture, which I really appreciated.

Professor Whalen is an outstanding teacher, plain and simple. He has passion for the subject and presents information with perfect clarity. It's nearly impossible not to become enthralled and interested in his class. Highly recommend. I can't wait to take another of his classes!

Prof. Whalen is great, his class is always really interesting and fun to go to. If you have a chance to take his class, DO IT. As far as history classes go, this one is definitely one of the best Ive ever had.

Prof. Whalen is one of the most interesting professors I have had at UNC. He is passionate about Medieval History and is fun to listen to. His lectures are always engaging, he is always cheerful and so excited about lecture you can't help but enjoy the class. The class is not the easiest but if you hit the books you should be fine.

Absolute best professor. He's very concerned with his students understanding the material, he's a fascinating lecturer, and he's very clear about what he wants.

Great professor, if you have the chance, take his class. Super helpful.

Great lecturer, but acts like you don't have any other classes to worry about. At least an hour of reading to do for every class period. Essays due way too often. Not to mention having an essay due on Friday and then a test the following Monday. Like I said, great lecturer, but way too much work for an intro level class.

Dr. Whalen is awesome!!! Funny, kind, fascinating lecturer, very helpful and accessible. Lots of reading, but reasonable amount of writing. Not an easy class, but definitely worth it. I hate history but I loved this class!

GREATEST. Professor Whalen is extremely excited about medieval history, and wants you to be as well. You must go to class and be typing notes nonstop, but his lectures are very interesting. Tests and papers are very straightforward, and a lot of your grade is participation. Hate history, but one of the top 3 classes I've had at Carolina!

I had Whalen for an honors course on medieval apocalyptic thought, his specialty. The readings were dry but he makes up for it in lectures--he's engaging, funny, and brilliant. He grades fairly (not harshly)--your grade equates to how much effort you put in. He values student discussion and input. Overall, an amazing prof-take a class with him!

Professor Whalen is one of the best professors that I've had at UNC. His passion for the medieval period is contagious (and I hated history going into the class). He makes boring subject matter extremely funengaging, but you do have to work for your grade. There is a lot of reading and lots of participation is expected.

Dr. Whalen taught my undergraduate research seminar for my history degree and I would not have wanted anyone else. He's funny, engaging and super helpful. He genuinely wants to see his students succeed and gets so excited when you're doing well. Incredibly smart- he knows what he's talking about. One of Carolina's best. Take him if you can!

Brett really cares about Medieval History! His passion for his subject is the strongest of any professor I have encountered at UNC. Attendance in recitation AND lecture is mandatory and taken daily. Everything is graded by TAs, so subjectivity often arises. It is a tough class but not impossible! It satisfies great general education requirements.

I took this class just to get rid of a Gen Ed, yet I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, all because of Whalen. Medieval History is not an easy subject and the class requires that you take notes, study, and read A LOT, but Whalen is the most inspiring teacher I have had. His passion and his genuine desire to see students succeed is incredible!

Loved the class, the documentary he showed that he was in was awesome!

He takes attendance every single despite it being a lecture class but it is worth going to class everyday. He seems like he will be tough at first but he is super animated with lecture and uses all kinds of guides and tools to make the lectures super interesting. Definitely a class worth taking even if you don't like history.

Professor Whalen did a great job. He's energetic, articulate and always gives a thoughtful and well prepared lecture. He gets the billing as the cutest professor in Christendom!

Dr. Whalen is a very passionate professor who is always enthusiastic about teaching his class. Although his focus (at least for Medieval History) was mainly on the Church (an important part of Medieval History) and not much at all on castles and knights (what most people take Medieval History hoping to learn about), he keeps class upbeat and fun.

Dr. Whalen is a great professor. He really knows his stuff and is very excited to be teaching it. He structures the class so it does not burden you too much. However, the assignments do not have clear grading criteria. Overall, a great class though and I would definitely recommend.

Amazing lecture. You must read all books, if you want to pass test. Also he is very serious about plagiarism. the work he checked by plagramme plagiarism checker.

Professor Whalen is one of the most enthusiastic professor I've ever had. His persona makes his class that much more enjoyable and he makes himself readily available during office hours. I had him for HIST-107 and, although it was writing intensive, both he and the TAs give feedback before you turn in papers and after you get them back.

Professor Whalen, if you're reading this, THANK YOU for being my favorite teacher so far at Carolina! Everyone else: please, do yourself a favor and take a class from this man. He is by far one of the most engaging and fun lecturers I've ever seen and genuinely makes the material interesting because he cares so much about it. 10/10 fantastic class!

Incredibly intelligent prof. My problem was my TA was a very tough grader. Hope that yours is not. However with the quality of lecture he gives you won't be able to slide by regardless of TA. Fascinating and really knows what he is talking about. A lot of reading though- very little of it necessary. Great guy- only downside is grades.

Dr. Whalen is so enthusiastic it's impossible to not enjoy his class. Four papers on primary sources, one midterm and a final. He really just wants to see you learn, so go to class, be attentive, go to office hours. Exam essay questions are based off his lecture outlines which are very helpful studying tools

Prof Whalen's lectures were enjoyable bc he's SO enthusiastic about Medieval History. He's a cool guy if you talk to him. The class itself was kinda challenging, with a couple of papers on primary sources, a midterm and final. The highest grade on a paper he lets you get is a 95. Participation matters in recitation and attendance was mandatory.

Brett is a very good professor, and knows how to keep lectures interesting. Doesn't overload with work, and the exams are fair. Sometimes it is hard to understand what he wants on a paper, but a lot of that depends on your TA.

Really passionate about the topic which made it a lot easier to pay attention during lecture. Nice guy and he cares about your grade and understanding. Papers make up a lot of your grade and for the tests he allowed a cheat sheet.

Best professor I've had so far at UNC. Spend time getting to know Professor Whalen--it's worth it. He gives great help on papers for recitations, as well as talking you through concepts for exams. Whalen's class challenges you to think creatively about history. Exciting lectures, ABUNDANT resources. There's no reason a student should do poorly.

In my four years at UNC, Whalen was the single best professor I've had. I think he's some sort of teaching savant. His lectures are incredible, he cares passionately about his students, and he makes history come alive. He assigns a lot of readings and they're usually pretty dry, but his lectures more than make up for that. Take his class!

He is the most amazing professor I've ever had. His lectures are so informative and well-executed, his use of visual aids help you remember the content. He provides an outline of the speech beforehand to help you follow along which compensates for the fact he does not post his ppt. He drops 3 quizzes and you can choose when to write your papers (3)

Amazing professor, convinced me to be a history minor and I never even went to his office hours. I plan on taking many more classes with him. Amazing lectures that made me excited to come to class every time. Very passionate about what he does, class is midterm and final and three papers, very easy to manage and very engaging!

Dr. Whalen is a GEM. I went into the class really just for the WB/HS credit, and I will say that I found the content to be a bit dry, but Brett's passion is obvious and really helps to engage students in the content. Take him!

This mans lectures are very interesting. I dont find myself zoning off in class.

Professor Whalen is a real gem! It is obvious how passionate he is about medieval history and it shines through in his lectures. He is super flexible and understanding and doesn't assign very much work. If you have the opportunity to take a class with him, I highly recommend!

I took this class for gen eds and usually hate history, but Prof Whalen made this class really enjoyable. Not to mention, he made the transition to online class really smooth and he was really understanding throughout the semester. The workload is not bad at all and I would recommend taking this class! The content can be quite interesting too.

I took History 107 in an online format over the summer. Professor Whalen assigned a very manageable amount of work, and all quizzes were directly based off of the textbook. He gave great feedback on all discussions and graded all assignments very promptly. He also made the class very funny and interesting. I would definitely recommend him!

I took a freshman seminar with him and really enjoyed it. Participation was graded somewhat harshly, but it was evident that he really cared about the content of the class. Overall a good choice.

For my FYS, there was a really good dynamic between Dr. Whalen and Dr. Clemens. Dr. Whalen really wants his students to understand the content, you can tell he cares. The class was meant to be a class discussion and both professors made sure to prioritize discussion. My only real critique is that sometimes Dr. Whalen would dominate the discussion.

Professor Whalen is a great professor! For this FYS, I learned a lot of new information, but Prof Whalen was always available to help us understand. Some days there was a lot of reading, while some days there was less work. Professor Whalen really cared about the content of the class, it made me more interested in what we were learning.

Dr. Whalen is very nice, approachable, and has a serious passion for the Middle Ages. The class structure was straightforward. Honestly, it can be a good deal of work for a 100 level course, but it isn't hard. Your TA will decide a good deal of your grade (at least 45%), so choose wisely.

Really liked having Prof Whalen for this class! There is lots of reading and it can get confusing but there are only open-note quizzes and 3 essays to do so it's not that bad. TAs graded the papers. Whalen was really interested to hear student's ideas and was very excited to teach students the content of the class which made class more engaging.

Brett Whalen makes medieval history a really interesting topic and his passion for the subject makes the class enjoyable. Would definitely recommend taking this class because of him. The class is 3 papers, a midterm and final and recitation forum posts. It was overall manageable.

This class was about the Black Death. Most of the class was centered around individual research projects. I liked that the first two essays worked towards a final paper, and he gave great feedback. Participation in class was important, and he really wants students to come to office hours. Class was interesting and cool to see ties to Covid-19.

Great lecturer. Super engaging and made class fun to go to. Grading criteria wasn't super clear at times on the papers, especially the final term paper, but made up for it by not being a harsh grade at all (12/15 of each paper were A or A-). Definitely recommend.

Great professor and not a super hard grader. Definitely go to class and participate in discussion, he's also always available outside of class to help work on papers and presentations.

super interesting class and topic! participation is important, but as long as you talk sometimes and do the readings, you will get a good grade! you do need to buy some books for the class though

Professor Whalen is a fantastic lecturer; it's clear that he has a great understanding and appreciation for the material he covers in his classes. He didn't post his lectures online, and his PowerPoint slides were somewhat vague, which made studying for exams a bit harder, but if you go to lectures & do the readings, you can learn a lot & do well!

Very good lecturer but grades the papers way too harshly and regularly fails students papers. Even for exams, he grades the justifications way too harshly so you can lose a large amount of points despite getting the questions correct

Professor Whalen is very passionate about this course, but I personally found it a little boring. If this is the content that you are interested in, then this will be a super easy class for you. If you're not as interested, it still won't be a difficult class, but will probably take a little extra time around midterm and final season.

Prof. Whalen is passionate about the middle ages, so if you are like me and taking this for genEd's or a GPA booster, you should be prepared to put in a fair amount of work. You must do all of the readings and be able to figure out what point he wants you to make if you want to make an A on papers. He doesn't give higher than 95s for participation

Very enthusiastic and engaging lecture style. Not extremely difficult, but reading is absolutely crucial for all assignments and they require more effort than it seems at first glance.

Professor Whalen has amazing lectures and is super easy to get in contact with if you have any questions. However, I would not recommend this class if you are just looking to fill a gen ed requirement as it is almost impossible to get above a B on the essays, which make up a good portion of your grade.

Wonderful professor who cares a lot about his students and what he teaches. Definitely recommend if you're taking a lot of hard STEM classes to fill in a gen ed, his expectations are very reasonable and the class is very interesting.

I took this class thinking it would be an easy gen ed and I was wrong. SO much reading and 3 big essays. The cheat sheet for the midterm did not help me whatsoever because I still failed. Professor Whalen is a great professor and passionate about his teaching, but do not take this class unless you are EXTREMELY interested in Medieval history.

Whalen is a very intelligent and caring guy. However, this class is unnecessarily hard for an introductory level course. I got A's on two out of three of my papers and an A on the midterm and yet i'm still on the precipice of getting a B+. The syllabus emphasizes it is introductory, however I feel like I'm in a 300 level course. Make it make sense

Very easy to approach professor, very passionate about the subject. Though the class is very Christianity-related, you may find some of the lectures boring if you are not interested in it (like me). And about the papers, it heavily depends on your grader(TA). But everything else is fairly easy: open book quiz and cheatnote for tests.

From the format of the class, I thought it would be fairly easy. I was wrong, the essays were harshly graded as well as the midterm. I found most of the lectures uninteresting mainly because history is not my favorite. If you like history I recommend this professor. If you're looking for a gen-ed, I would look for a different class.

Professor Whalen is extremely passionate about medieval history, and that makes lecture interesting. However, the TA staff grades this introductory level history class as if students are writing a PhD dissertation, and getting an A on a paper required hours of my time. Love the professor, hate the grading -- if you want a Gen-Ed, look elsewhere.

Choose another Gen-Ed. Professor Whalen is passionate, a great lecturer, and accessible, but the course is challenging. Grades only depend on papers, midterms, and finals, all graded harshly, expecting a historian's level of understanding. There are also daily readings which are long and boring. Class is also lecture heavy.

Dr. Whalen is a great professor who LOVES what he does and is always happy to give feedback on essays. The class was very interesting and discussion based, but NOT an easy A seminar. We watched a movie and read documents weekly outside of class. Part of your grade is from participation in discussions/group presentations and essays.

Amazing lecturer, however, doesn't take into account at all that this class is made of students fresh out of high school. Grades mainly consist of essays, participation, and presentations, which are graded fairly tough. There's definitely other professors who shape their first year launch better for freshmen, NOT an easy A by any means.

Super engaging lectures. You can hear his passion for medieval history. There are only 6 grades in this class but just have a clear thesis on your paper with info from the readings and you'll be fine. He also sneaks in extra credit on the final if you attend Friday lectures.

Cool teacher who cares a lot about history. The class was not hard at all. The only assignments we ever had were papers. There were 3 online papers and 3 papers were in-class "exams." All you have to do is read the textbook to do well in this class.

Professor Whalen is really passionate about what he teaches and brings a lot of energy every class. The main assignments were group presentations and papers, which could be long. He is very considerate and flexible. He made learning enjoyable.

Dr. Whalen is obviously incredibly passionate about the Medieval period and his students. Interacting with him is an excellent way to improve the uniqueness of his class.