Excellent professor. Easygoing, excited about subject, great at teaching, really helps you learn subject. Highly recommend his Chinese Thought prosem.

Bob Shep is the man!

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Great guy, very friendly; however, becareful about your grades i got screwed over for my final grade.

Chinese Philosophy was great with him. The prosems normally are worthless but his was engaging. He is on the easy end of grading but you still WANT to work for it. By letting us do a rough draft he also helped improve my writing skills.

Shep is awesome! He makes you turn in rough drafts, then gives back comments, and you can make an A on your final papers if you just follow his advice from the rough draft.

Took him for Prosem Honr 15 aka Early Chinese Thought. Pretty easy--you can hand in a rough draft which gets peer-graded and then you correct it and hand it in for a guaranteed A/A-. You don't even have to read; just pay attn in class. Great guy!

The Man!

Amazing Anthropology teacher... if you do most of your reading and are able to write the English language with some proficiency you are guaranteed an A or A-. I'd minor in Shepology.

The class started off a little slow, but as we've gotten into it I like it more and more. He's a great guy but class can be a little dull sometimes depending on the reading and how people respond. There is a lot of reading but you can get away with not having it all done by class. B+/A-/A grades

Great class. very open to other's opinions but does not tolerate ignorant chatter. Vey good with names and getting to know each student one on one. Tells alot of personal storeis that relate to the class

One of my favorite GW profs. Great class discussions and really helpful. Do the reading because he gets annoyed when people aren't prepared, and WORK HARD ON THE ROUGH DRAFT because it guarantees you an A on the major project. Can't stay enough nice things about this guy.

he's a good guy, you don't have to do the readings, but they aren't that bad even if you do...just give him what he wants on the papers, which is a lot of quotes from the readings..peace out

Fun teacher, very enthusiastic and engaging. He does a good job using an overhead projector and he posts his notes online. You HAVE to read the books in order to do well, as he makes you write a paper on each. Still, great teacher that taught me a lot about Southeast Asia

Helpful, Clear. Class is easy if you do what he asks. Take any class with him that you can.

Great professor! Very intelligent and enthusiastic. He really encourages group discussion, and is very interested in getting to know his students. He will teach you a lot! The papers are okay, if you write exactly what he wants.

This class was a lot of fun to take, and really developed my interest in the subject. Prof. Shepherd shows a genuine enthusiasm for the subject, which makes the class even more fun. Really enjoyed myself!

Slightly left-wing in his lectures, but generally recpetive of other world views. Assigns some terribly boring readings. But very nice guy, very understanding, and a good lecturer. He makes you want to work hard because you don't want to disappoint him, even though you're likely to get an A anyways. Good class.

One of my favorite professors. Very articulate...knows what he's talking about and fields questions well. Relates well with students. Grades pretty easily but assigns a good chunk of reading (and not the Harry Potter kind).

Knows lots about Development because he's done it. A great lecturer who loves students, he's extremely accessible and friendly, and you'll learn a lot. The fact that he doesn't have tenure yet is one of the great mysteries of this world.

Great professor - lot of reading though - I mean A LOT - if you'll do well in the class.

I loved his class. Yes, you have to read many books throughout the semester (lots of reading), but his lectures are very clear and straighfoward and exams are ok if you study. Not very easy, but not hard either. Very nice guy and is there if you need him, during office hours and after class

Shepherd, oh Shepherd...great guy and great professor. He actually cares about what he is teaching and he does not hate anybody and does not hate IA majors. He makes you think and isn't that what you're supposed to do in college? Hard grader and read or you will have no idea whats going on. If you want to think, take his class.

Great, caring professor. Genuinely interested in his subject matter and it shows. As mentioned, there is a lot of reading, which I put off until the paper (3 papers), but I wish I did it as assigned. I agree: he will make you think, but he is not a harsh grader. If you are interested in human rights, take the class.

great prof; really made me think and expand my notion of human rights; quite a bit of reading but if you space it out, it's fine; need the reading for papers so recommended to do it as you go through the class; really knowledgeable and organized; not that much discussion; overall a really great class; fair grader

Genuinely nice guy. You can't help but like him even if sometimes you wonder what the point of some of his lectures are. Pretty funny and easygoing in class, likes to joke around with the students. He comes off little odd at first but he totally grew on me. Like him a lot.

Great guy. Lectures are somewhat confusing, but you get the idea that it's just because he knows so much and wants to teach you everything. 4 papers and a presentation. Lots of reading. Great class, one of my favorites so far.

he is very helpful, extremely intelligent and well spoken, funny, and likes his students. He doesnt grade that hard either. very interesting class

PHENOMENAL professor, probably my favorite at GW. He keeps everyone engaged and delves into some really fascinating and new material. Grading is tough, but you should expect a lot from yourself after taking his courses! He fully prepares you for the essays and tells you exactly what to write.

Some of the test were confusing, in the end it is very helpful if you want to go into working in the Emergency Department. His class prepares you well for not only the ED but for other departments.

He does talk/ramble but if you pay attention, he writes your papers that make the grade. The reading is alot but try and skim and/or bookmark the pages he mentions in class because it comes in handy when having to cite pages. He's a pretty easy grader as long as you give him what he's looking for which he will basically tell if you talk to him.

he is by far one of my favorite professors at this school, he is extremely knowledgeable and teaches in a way that gets you interested in the course

Great class and Shepherd is extremely knowledgable about the subject matter. There are 3 papers with relatively easy prompts, just make sure to answer all aspects of the question and you'll get an A.

Great professor. He really knows what he's talking about. This is my second class with him and both required only 3 papers. They aren't the easiest, but it's the only work you have to do for the semester. Take him!

Fantastic professor. He comes off like a jerk at first, but really just enjoys playing devil's advocate and forces to you have very well considered viewpoints. His class really became fun when we started talking to him like he talked to us and realized that he was joking around rather than being mean. Does tend to ramble a bit, but awesome class

He is EXCELLENT at promoting discussion, so take him if you're in a small Honors class. He is a modest intellectual who will listen to your comments in class and comment constructively on your papers. Each paper is only 5-7 pages long. And he's not "mean" at all; rather, you could easily get stuck in a conversation with him forever b/c he's cool!

SHEPHERD IS GREAT! Fantastic pick for origins. Grade is participation (20%) and 4 papers, each 5-7 pages (20% each). Grades firmly but fairly, paper topics are specific, and he'll read your paper before due date to help improve it. VERY HELPFUL! Lots of discussion, and he asks engaging questions. Nice guy to talk to after class. TAKE HIS CLASS!

Prof. Shepherd is incredible! He brings his experience from the Peace Corps into different discussions and maintains a non-biased view on development. This is one of the best classes I've taken at GW.

Helpful, enthusiastic, intelligent prof. Introduces very interesting theories and one of the best lecturers. Pushes students to think outside the box. There is a lot of reading (that must be done to write the papers well and there's no getting around that) but if you go to class, he will break them down for you.

Very interesting to have a good discussion with. Wouldn't say its easy to talk about the theories he presents though. Very sweet professor with a laid back persona.

Shepherd is a great professor! He takes a genuine interest in his students and tries to make you think in different ways. I would recommend him over any other professor for this course. His assignments can be a little unclear at times, but he is more than willing to work with students and will improve your overall writing.

A great professor. He is really there for students, really wants improve our learning and expose us to different ways of thinking patiently. Lectures can be a bit hard to follow sometimes but it's because he really wants to make sure we get the points he is trying to say so he expresses his points in different ways. He is a truly nice man too.

He is one of those professors who really encourages you to think. No answer is necessarily correct without thorough argumentative backing- he loves to play Devil's advocate when he calls on you, which I found to be pure pleasure. All in all a thoroughly stimulating experience. Hard work definitely required but worth it. Shepherd is a true scholar.

The subject is interesting but the readings are dense. Don't worry if you fail the first paper, most people do. As long as you do the readings and follow the instructions step by step you have nothing to worry about. But if you are looking to take an easy anthropology class to fulfill your requirement this is not the one!

He does grade papers harshly, but only because he provides a clear outline of the criteria expected, so not that absurd. Readings can be dense but the discussion sections helps. I found his lectures stimulating and refreshingly non-biased- he encourages dissent. Overall, interesting topic taught by a knowledgeable prof- definitely take!

Good professor. I enjoyed all the readings we had in class.

I had Prof. Shepherd for ANTH 3513 and was not overly happy when I learned he would be teaching the Anth seminar. But, I was completely wrong about him! He turned out to be one of the best professors at GW. Class was interesting, so was reading material, and discussion. He was also very helpful during office hours. I wouldn't change a thing.

His classes can definitely be dense, but the material is interesting. 1 group project, participation, 2 papers total, and he is a relatively tough grader. No textbook, but you need to purchase several smaller books, which are very inexpensive.

Lectures are dense and heavy, but with readings they synthesize clearly into interesting material. He does not want fluff in your writing, make sure you can be clear and to the point, take time to understand and interpret the views he presents. Values participation in class and will ask for self reflection, as noted below.

Prof. Shepherd is easily one of the best professors Ive had thus far. I looked forward to his lectures every week, he is incredibly knowledgeable and well spoken. The course is challenging but most definitely worth it, it expanded my perspective on human rights and IA in general. Take this class if you can!