fun guy

He uses Mondays and Wednesdays to lecture and Fridays to do a semi-discussion on assigned readings. He isn't really all that great of a speaker (he has a tendency to speak low and stutter), but he knows what he's talking about. The quizzes are multiple choice. He's an okay professor.

Great Professor. Knows the material well, well organized, clear, precise, lets the class know what's expected, and makes the class enjoyable.

Paul is an excellent teacher! He is very considerate of each students level of understanding and is very conscious of their progression in his class. He is incredibly smart, very funny and well worth taking a class from. I had him for two semesters in a row and hope to have him again!!

He is organized, clear about what he expects from you, very helpful and very nice. I had him for 3 semesters and his classes are always a lot of fun. And Paul is soooooo cute!!!

Class is boring as hell.. tests come right from the book.. as long as you read the book and pay attention to details, the class is simple.. didn't really get much out of going to the actual class...

Helpful, insightful. He gives useful handouts for studying/notetaking most class periods and tries to adjust the class material to make it more accessible and manageable.

Good- He loves what he does. He has so much passion for the subject. Bad- Sometimes he gets so involved, he jumps around and you get kinda lost. He stutters a bit and it's hard to hear him. Overall- I was dreading Ancient Greece. I haven't fallen asleep yet :)

His lectures are pretty interesting and entertaining, especially in History. There's not a lot of tedious homework, and the quizzes are pretty easy so far. A good professor overall.

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Very interesting and knowledgeable (though slightly intimidating, at least to me). The class is fairly easy and highly interesting, though he is soft spoken. Sit in the front and you'd hardly notice.

Enjoyed both of these classes. He is very interested in the material, energetic, and has a good sense of humor. Class can drag towards the end, but the class is good overall.

Love this guy! So enthusiastic about the subject (Ancient Greece). Very knowledgeable. Quizzes and tests are fairly easy; he tells you exactly what to study. Definitely take if you get the chance.

He has a wonderful personality, and is one of the best professors at ASU. He keeps the classes exciting and offers both intellectual motivation and empowerment to the students. He is an ideal professor for the early LAT classes. He is not, however, a history professor despite his effort to teach classical history.

The instructor for this class is very helpful and nice. If you a question about anything he knows it. I would recommend this class to everyone because you really learn a lot and it isn't that overwelming. There is reading, but it is interesting and not that bad.

Paul is the greatest human being who teaches at Arizona State University.In fact, he's so great that he might be a robot.

Arena is enthusiastic about Ancient Greece, wants his students to succeed, and makes the class fun with discussions. I only wished that more people participated. Oh, there is a lot of reading, but nothing terrible. I learned a ton!

One of the best professors I've ever had. I used to look forward going to his class, and I'm not even a history major. Makes the subject incredibly interesting, he's very funny, and he's willing to flex and help you if you ever need it. I've recommended him a few times already, and would DEFINITELY take him again.

Great, easy-going teacher. He likes what he teaches, he's flexible with deadlines, and it's great material (reading assignments aren't bad at all). Fully recommend.

Paul is a great professor who knows and loves his stuff! He was so knowledgeable about Rome and latin and had alot of anecdotes that he knew off the top of his head! He was very approachable and helpful. Quizzes and exams are multiple-choice with essay term identifications. If you read the material and pay attention its an easy grade. Great prof!!

Great teacher! hardest class ever!

he is helpful. greek is hard. he is good at this teaching you another lang thing! sexy sexy man! just keep up and he will give tons of opportunity to do well. learn how stuff declines and stay on top of vocab and all will be well. buy a white board it will save your life.paul is great and an easy grader. lots of take home quizs

paul is great. this class was superfun. not easy greek is hard kids so practice in between grk101 and 201 or it will eat you alive...and smile as it does it. class hard, Paul cool

Paul Arena is the LORD OF LATIN!

Excellent introduction to the world of Classics, for all majors. Class was always interesting and new, and Paul is incredibly helpful in responding to any questions. He is very knowledgeable in all facets of Classics, but particularly Latin. I highly recommend this course!

Paul is a great teacher! Latin is hard. He will make time for you, very accessible. Al you need to do is ask.

Paul is fantastic. This course is really difficult and requires a lot of memorization and studying, but Paul made it fun; I loved this class. I actually enrolled in another one of his courses entirely non-related to my major because I enjoyed his teaching so much. Teacher is great, subject is hard but worth it.

Really nice guy, and pretty easygoing when it come to due dates, at least in intro to classics.

AWESOME teacher. Fun and nice and very helpful, he loves his subject (ancient warfare for my class). Lots of out of classroom(group) work if you want to do good, but its kinda fun (gaming sessions). Makes you do groups though, I always hate that. aside from group project, this class is great! take Paul's class!

Professor Arena made this course an absolute delight. His amazing knowledge of 'classics' was apparent from day one. Great little book which perfectly summarized the course.

I had very low expectations upon taking this required seminar, but Professor Arena made it entertaining with a quirky sense of humor and a delightful sort of lovable nerdiness.

Paul is an epic teacher and is really fun to take a class from. I would highly advise his warfare class. It's not hard and very interesting to participate in. Hope I get a chance to take another class from him. In the world of teachers he's a win.

Paul is a great professor. I've had him for two semesters in a row now, and I'm going to have him again next semester. He is more than willing to help you out if you're feeling lost, and he's an extremely fair grader. He wants his students to succeed. And the best part about Latin is that there are no oral exams. :)

entry class for classics majors. easy class. great guy.

Latin is hard. Paul makes it fun! Take him, but realize you are responsible for the workload.

Roman Erotic Poetry was a great class. I learned a lot. Very fun!

take him.

War is a great class. A word of advice pick your group wisely!

I've had Paul all 3 semesters of latin so far, and he's the best teacher I've had at ASU. He's a nerdy gamer, and has that type of humor. Lots of translating, but he can tell if the class is having problems and will give quizzes as a worksheet if needed. Take his class!

Laid back kinda guy, but don't fall behind on your translating! He reads the class well, so there's little chance you'll get in over your head if you do the work. I didn't have him for the warfare class, but I picked up CC: Ancients after talking to him about it after class one day, and it's a really fun game! Take his class if you get the chance.

One of the best teachers I've ever had. Very patient and never condescending. He bends his syllabus to cater to the class's abilities, not the other way around.

Mr. Arena was by far one of the greatest professors I've had. He made the course very interesting. Don't be intimidated by the number of textbooks the reading is reasonable. He is a fair grader and cares about his students success. You'll enjoy his class.

Paul is a solid guy, my only real issue with him is the lack of feedback on grades in the class. I think he genuinely cares though which goes a long way. between the participation points and worksheets you should keep an ok grade!

What a great person. Not only was the course very fun and rewarding (if you like hands-on learning you'll love this), the professor is a fun and easily accessible guy. I have heard some negative things regarding his tests (he is admittedly unclear on some course content) but if you are willing to work with him he'll make sure you pass.

Paul is a major sweetheart. He has homework, but it's really just to make sure you read the primary sources so you know what's on the quizzes so you can snag an easy A. He even has reading guides. Easy-to-follow tests and if you're a good writer and know your stuff his exams are a cakewalk. He's super flexible and kind and will work around anything

This class, Ancient World on Film, is one of the most fun classes I've taken in awhile. Super chill online class, watch fun films like 300, Gladiator, Cleopatra, talk about them in the forum, write some really short papers. Paul is a really great professor who really knows his stuff. He's also very understanding about deadlines.

Loved this online class. Very interesting and prof is great. Didn't buy the book (although you might need it, I managed to still do well with some Google searches).

I have never felt more challenged while trying to learn a new language, but Arena's approach is straight-forward, by the book, and easy to keep up with.

The Beautiful Game is one of the best classes I've taken at ASU. Paul is very understanding and is very clear about the way he grades. Need to show up to take easy quizzes every Tuesday and submit reading response questions on Thursdays. Very easy class and I got to meet super stars such as Bruce Arena and a young academy player from Man Utd Easy A

Prof. Arena is amazing! He truly cares about what he teaches and his students. Be prpared to read a lot, but it is definitrly worth it! He is super nice and is always willing to help you!

You learn about Ancient Battles and get to play board games - literally no downsides here. Exams can be difficult but this is offset by the fact that, once again, you are learning about cool battles.

Professor Arena is one of the most genuinely nice professors I've had at ASU. He's a funny guy and cares deeply about his students. He's incredibly patient and treats students with an abundance of respect when correcting mistakes. If you're looking for a Latin professor or a language professor, Professor Arena is your man.

Easily my favorite class of college so far. He's incredibly kind, well-spoken, and just seems like a good dude. You'll have to buy a few primary sources from Herodotus and Plutarch and the like, but it really is a simple class. You watch movies, read the primary sources and the "textbook", and you write about them. As long as you try, you will pass

Super friendly professor who very actively engaged with students, and was available for extra support and advice. He was very understanding about late work and gave helpful, fair feedback. The content was really interesting, with a variety of tasks, a lot of it discussion based. It honestly didn't feel like work to me, that's how fun it was!

This class is more than just watching films. You learn how to critically evaluate the choices filmmakers choose; while also diving into the rich history of the ancient Roman and Greek societies represented in cinema. Professor Arena is excellent at providing supplemental explanations I highly recommended attending the virtual chats. FANTASTIC!

Really passionate about his subject which is SO refreshing. Interesting lectures with homework/assignments that are relevant and enlightening to what you learn. Also just a nice guy in general. Does what he can to help you really appreciate the material and learn something while in the class.

You can tell that he really cares about his students. He made reading classics fun! would def recommend

He was extremely knowledgeable about the classics and that made the lectures he gave extremely enjoyable and interesting. Clearly passionate about the topic which made the class. Consisted mainly of reading & analyzing literature but Paul made it a lot more bearable than normal. Also, very accessible outside of class and gives incredible feedback.

A very caring and funny teacher that listened to students' ideas. Gave clear and well-written rubrics that made the assignments clear. Would definitely take another class with Paul!

This was for sure one of the most interesting classes that I've had, but there was a decent amount of work. There is a ton of readings and writing based off of these to be prepared, but a lot of the literature is provided for free which is very nice. There are many group discussions and a group project. Arena was a very nice teacher and helpful.

Lots of communication & daily required participation, very lecture and textbook heavy, but I enjoyed the content. Mostly discussions and small quizzes, relatively easy.

While his class has a lot of work and requires a lot of time, Professor Arena's courses are set up to help you succeed. Assignments, readings, and videos are very organized and simple. He is very helpful and leaves feedback that helps you improve.

My experience with Paul as a professor was great, I was already a fan of Roman history but his course introduced me to many aspects of and perspectives on roman civilization that I had never heard of before. The grading policy is very generous if you do the work and read the materiel before taking the quizzes.

A very fun class, Topic: Comics, Manga & Bande Dessinée, provided an area of study I never knew would exist. I think this should spread further. I enjoyed the lectures and I really liked the discussion. I don't know many of his other classes, but I recommend him as he would make any difficult material fun.

Paul cares a lot about the subjects he teaches, and it shows. His lectures are interesting, and we follow along with notes to fill in. Show up, take the notes, and you'll do well. Readings are interesting but lengthy at times. There is a short paper as the final, but everything else was short quizzes on each reading and the lectures from the week.

Although I did not love the material we did in class, you can tell Dr Arena is a really nice guy who cares about his class. It is easy to do well in this class if you come to class and you do the reading. Not a super hard class. I will say if you have a hard time sitting through lectures, I would not take this class since it is 3x a week lecture.