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Prof. Bruhn is very intelligent and nice. I was not happy about my final grade but she taught me a lot and I rather have someone to say that my academic skills need to be improved than to have someone to patronize me, which at the end it does not help:)

I believed she explained everything very well and the topics she talked about were interesting.

knows her subject well and easy to approach. gives fair tests and papers. moves quickly in lecture, which creates a lot of information to process in 50 min.

Knows a lot and I really liked lecture. She is easy to follow if you try because she stops for all questions. Also, check out her outfits!

Wow--she was a great professor--really challanged her students to push beyond their comfort level. I'm surprised at some of the comments--obviously her genius was lost on those idiots.

Clear lectures, tests are very fair. She stops for questions and is helpful in class. She's funny and her class was pretty interesting. The only thing that sucked was that we wrote a 5-page paper that was worth 5% of our grade. Otherwise, I say take this class!

Lectures are vital, the book sucked; I read maybe two chapters. Bruhn is helpful in lectures, tries a bit too hard to be funny, but overall she's a fairly good professor who is quite enthralled by her work and field. That gave me confidence in her, the class, and the TAs. Read supplemental reading!

This was a very easy class. If you go to lecture and read in the reader you should be fine. Her tests are very easy but the reading in the book is pointless.

She's flaming liberal like every other teacher on campus but knows her material. Jokes aren't really funny but does help prepare you for the midterm and final. My TA was a joke which was the reason why I got a C+ in the class. Just show up, take notes, and you'll be fine and can easily get an A.

She is a great professor. The book was the worst part of the class, really crappy and hard to read but lectures were really important. It's constant note taking, but the material is easy to understand and the class was not boring at all. She loves Mexico.

Everything you need to know is in her lectures. Don't even worry about the book. She can go fast and usually doesn't have overheads but will stop for questions. But, class doesn't fulfill any GE's.

her tests are extremely fair.she gives out a review sheet before the midterm and final.throws in extra credit questions. reading helps but she goes over alot of it in class.go to lecture it isn't that bad.one of the easier pol s classes i've taken.she deserves more credit than she's been given

very interesting class. Clear, informative, well organized lectures. reading material isn't bad either. Going to lecture is a must. Most of the material she tests on is directly from lecture, so take good notes and you can get away with skipping some of the reading.

Easy, especially for an upper division class. The study guides she hands out are essentially spoilers for all three (equally weighted) exams during the quarter. Two 5 page papers barely make in dent in grading allowing students to produce them with little or no effort. Bruhn herself is nice enough.

The class cemented my decision to be a poli sci major. She can go fast and doesn't really have overhead notes, but is always willing to slow down if you ask. Go to lecture, that's where 90% of the test material is from.

She is pretty hard, but a good teacher! Very cool lecturer

nice lady. definitely go to lecture. i have really good midterm and final review notes if you want me to email them to you email me. [email protected]

Gives very interesting lectures, but puts up few overheads so it is hard to follow. Your hand really hurts after lectures, but always go to the lectures. Forget the book. Her exams are really fair and straightforward, and are all based of the book.

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Class lectures and text were very interesting..broad range of countries and topics studied. Getting a good TA (as opposed to a psycho) makes a big difference. Prof. is the closest thing you could call to hot in the dept. but doesnt like to give any gems of wisdom. I asked here to elaborate a little more on oil politics in Nigeria (something not dealt with in the lectures or text) and she told me to read up on it on my own. :[

Lectures are very clear and interesting. Most of tests are based on this and i didn;t do much reading. I really good class if you get a good ta especially.

She is the best lecturer i've had. She is incredibly clear on the material and never needs to repeat herself. The essay topics are good and and the material is interesting. I didn't do 90% of the reading and i still got a B, so it's super important to go to lecture. Recommended

Very clear lecturer. No surprises on the exams. You don't really have to read, she'll tell you if something is important enough to read.

The class material itself was very interesting but she goes way too fast in her lecturing so its hard to keep up when taking notes. She's also very very ackward to talk to. If you ask her a question she'll give a concise answer and then she'll state are you like "why are you still here?" Sometimes she won't even finish her answer and she'll stare..

She is a hottie. Besides the best prof. I ever had at UCSB. She revived my interest in pols. Once again, she is pleasant and so hot!!!

Good professor. Covers a lot of material but is fair.

She was an awesome professor! Very clear, cracks a few jokes, interesting material. Gives extra credit if you show up to lecture the day after Halloween and on really rainy days.

she is not that hard of an prof but atendance is mandatory in her class, you can get away with not reading the textbook because her tests are pretty much completly based of her power points, her extra credit policy is prety awesome

This class was great. The lectures were clear & focused. Exams & papers were fair & corresponded to the course. She was one of the best lecturers I've had. VERY GOOD PROF. & GREAT CLASS

I think she is a pretty good lecturer, not the most exciting but not bad by any means. Her lectures prepare you well for her exams. Use of powerpoint is helpful. Does make some biased comments, has a leftward bias. In honors section, very pleasant, prepares us well for papers, exams.

Professor Bruhn was a good professor. I recommend her to anyone interested in studying Third World Politics. Only advice to her would be to more open to students when they come to her office. Sometimes seems uninterested in students questions. But Great overall!

I had this prof. some quarters ago and she left a wonderful impression on me. She is the most interesting and intelligent professor I ever had at UCSB. People say she is shy, I say she is reserved but very approachable. Teaches well and prepares you well for exams and papers. Comparing to other political science professors she is by far the best! G

Bruhn is a good lecturer, but speaks very quickly. Be sure to bring your laptop if you do not want carpal tunnel syndrome. Two 5 page papers, midterm, and final. If you go to lecture and do the readings you will do well.

Hard class, took a lot of reading and a lot of work to keep up. Her lectures go very quickly. She is so very devoted to what she is teaching that her passion makes the class interesting. It is a ton of information in a short quarter but incredibly useful. I started out hating the class for the massive amounts of reading but grew to love it!

I found the class extremely interesting and really well rounded. She discusses different opinions and formulates power points that are really helpful. She doesn't email them though so I would try not to miss class. Once in awhile she gives attendance pop quizzes. Papers aren't too hard and she gives you a study guide for the midterm/final.

took 6 and found myself wishing I went to lecture more just to hear her lecture (& to help my grade) so was interested in taking 147. passionate and straightforward lectures. she really knows her stuff and engaging. didn't do much reading. gives study guide and occasional extra credit. posts lectures. tests can be tricky if not prepared

I took 134 Spring 2015, and found myself wanting to take her again (the TA made the class hard, but if you go to lecture and hear her out/engage with the material, you'll see that in your grade). I then took 147 and 148 because Bruhn LOVES what she teaches which makes it interesting. She gives out study guides, and tests are straight forward.

The lectures and the book cover pretty much the same material so you really only have to do one or the other. This class is fairly easy if you pay attention in lecture.

Content-heavy lectures, but they align decently well with the reading. Not a ton of grading opportunities outside the 35% midterm/35% final/20% reading quizzes/10% participation. Midterm grades took until Week 10 to be released, so that limited how much you could improve your grade. Do the EC and you'll be fine, just grind on essay skills.

I thought this class was very interesting, The lectures sometimes were confusing because she would talk a lot about things that were not directly stated on lecture slide, She has a lot of knowledge and experience in her field which makes her lectures engaging Quizzes not that hard if you have good notes,read, Overall enjoyed class

She is a really amazing lecturer and she has designed a wonderful class. But pay attention to the two papers, which gonna kill you if you had gone through the motions!!

Professor Bruhn is very knowledgeable on comparative politics, especially in terms of Latin America. The lectures were very dense and long. The reading is not too difficult, only one chapter per week with an easy 10 question quiz on Friday thats due by Monday. The grade was mainly based on the two papers which are graded by the TA's.

Ok so I agree with another comment that said she grows on you throughout the quarter the only issue is essays can be unclear and some TAs are unhelpful and unapproachabe. Final was fairly easy as it was reused quiz questions and an essay you could answer if you knew the basics of the class

Bruhn is a really interesting lecturer, and she talks about her time and studies a lot in Latin America a lot. Lectures are very content-heavy, and it's important to take notes. There are weekly quizzes that are sometimes a little random, but for the most part, if you took notes on lectures and read the textbook you'll be fine. TA's were unhelpful.

Bruhn is one of the best lecturers I have had so far. She ties her lecture topics in with real-world examples, making it much easier to comprehend. One of the best Poli sci professors

Lowkey a lot of reading but it was chill....shes a fun lecturer and a lot happens in her lectures. She is so interesting cool career stories dropped. Fav Poli Sci class out of the intro ones rlly liked.

Just give a reasonable effort and you'll get a reasonable grade. Some of it was entertaining, most of it was not, but it was never putting anyone to sleep. All of the quizzes were online and the lowest one was dropped. The midterm was an online essay and the final was an in-class essay and wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Pretty relaxed class, lectures weren't super crazy but her stories are interesting. The quizzes are super easy and the 2 essays weren't super hard. The rubrics for them are pretty clear and she always answers questions about them if you ask. I like her but I can see why some would call her boring. Nice class with little stress.

Content was interesting and relevant to the assignments which were 3 papers and a final essay. Honestly a super easy class and as long as you go to lecture and take notes you'll get a good grade.

The lectures were good, but we did nothing helpful in the section. Wasn't a rubric for the essays, expectations unclear, and feedback didn't come til the day the next essay was due. I don't feel like I learned about how to write for pols, and my grade flopped because of it. I couldn't improve because the TA was so unclear and unhelpful. ugh.