In the Bill Roth thread, someone mentioned wanting to go back to school just to take his classes. This made me ponder which classes I'd go back and take again, and the ones I missed. Further, what if I could just make up my own schedule?
I never got to take, and would like to take:
World Regions
Any of the Civil War classes by Dr. Robertson
Creativity and Aesthetic Experience. (I don't know why. I just sounded like a fun class)
The Bill Roth Classes would be great.
Some of the Food Science classes.
Geography of Wine
Brewing Science and Technology.
Would take again:
Both Semesters of Bill Greene's History of Industrial Design. Best class I took at Tech.
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World regions really should be a required class to graduate from tech. I loved that class.
Boyer was, is, and will always be THE MAN
For the movie nights my buddy and I would go to sharkey's and slam a couple steins, then fill up my bag with a 12 pack of bottles cuz we were classy (bud light cuz we weren't classy) and go polish them off during the movie. One night got too drunk and went to put the folding desk down and knocked the 5 bottles that were on the ground over. Managed to grab 4 of them as they were bouncing around on the ground, but the 5th rollllleeeedddddd slowly and loudly all the way to the front of the auditorium and bounced off the stage.
The next class was interesting.
I'm just sitting here thinking...
"If I were a UNC "grad" shouldn't I HAVE to go back to school and take different classes?"
Creativity and Aesthetic Experience. (I don't know why. I just sounded like a fun class) - I took it, mostly felt like a waste of time, but that is coming from an engineering major.
It definitely could be. I was also an engineer but I went to talk to the professor during office hours when we were doing stuff with classical music because I really enjoy that and he was really cool. The class is just ok but I thought he was a really cool professor and if you went to talk to him one on one about a certain class that interested you it was fun. I think it's just a class they set up so that you barely have to do anything and because of that you can just relax and try to absorb what theyre teaching and hopefully become interested in one or more of the topics they cover.
I took it. Big waste of time.
I enjoyed it. I was an Engineering major but I test as a right brainer and play a couple of musical instruments. It was a good way to get a high level introduction to the arts without having to necessarily get too deep in the analytical parts and just enjoy the products.
+1, Bill Greene is the man, and he has a posse.
As a 10+ year homebrewer, I wish brewing science was available when I was a student
I second
I think a bunch of us saw that as a class option (or some variation of it) during our junior year. We wanted to all take it during the spring semester of our senior year. It would have been perfect, since we were HTs, it would be a class that we could wear normal clothes to (can't drink in uniform), and it overlapped with band practice.
Alas, it wasn't offered when the time came.
well, now through our collaboration with TUM- Weihenstephan you too can have a great experience....
Intensive Brewing Course in English at Weihenstephan open to public
Geography of Wine was a fun class but it was kind of difficult. I can't remember if it is because I drank too much wine or it was actually a tricky class.
This. If you expect geography of wine to be all fun and games like world regions you will be mistaken.
Really? Most of our grade was based on writing one-paragraph wine reviews once a week of the wines we tasted at the Vintage Cellar. By the time the exams rolled around I only had to get like a 50 or something in order to pass the class.
Yeah that is not the same class that I took.
Geography of Wine was awesome....and it actually taught me about the wine, wine history and processes. Awesome class that took some time...definitely worth it.
Creativity and Aesthetic Experience was kind of a joke class to be honest. Only 1 credit hour. You had to go to a play, visit a museum, stuff like that. Kind of interesting but kinda pointless too.
I took an Intro to Food Science class which was really interesting. I still remember a lot of information given in that course. Practical as well since we all eat and/or cook.
Didn't get to take World Regions and I wish I had. Also wish I would have taken some sports electives, golf, weightlifting, swimming, something like that.
Hope nobody puts P-chem on their list. 1/10 would not recommend.
How about Polymer P-Chem?
That sounds....awful. Is your PhD from VT?
Yup. BS '11 in Chemistry from Rowan University and then made the move south for a PhD in Polymer Chemistry from Tech. Polymer P-Chem and Polymer Viscoelasticity were the two worst classes I've ever taken.
I had Dr Long (First name Tim if I remember, there were two Dr Longs when I was there) for Polymer Chemistry. He was a fantastic professor. Did you have him?
yeah! he chaired my committee. Nice guy. The other Dr. Long in Chemistry is Gary who does analytical chemistry and is involved in the Integrated science curriculum
Baird's class? It was basically a non-Newtonian fluid dynamics class as I remember
I never had Baird -- Herve Marand taught CHEM 6674 when I took it
I think I'm thinking of a different class. Polymer processing
Blargh. Analytical Chem was enough to make me change majors.
Yeah that one wasn't too much fun either. Organic was good though.
I regret that I never took Wines and Vines or Physics as a Liberal Art.
I never took world regions, but i did take geography of wine. That was a great class to enjoy and actually learn stuff
Intro to Film was great if you're a movie person. A lot of people took it because they thought it was a bird course but it actually took a little effort. Every Monday night we had to come to the lecture hall to watch a movie which was pretty neat. All in all it honestly changed how I watch movies as I'm able to appreciate a lot of things that I wouldn't have noticed or understood before.
^^ This right here. I learned a lot of that from a UCLA film major coworker later, but it would have been nice to have that knowledge years earlier.
Yep, took that one as an elective junior year, fun class for sure, and I definitely pick up on a lot more while watching movies
11 years later and I'm still pissed that I was never able to take World Regions.
Oh I'd LOVE to go back just for fun. And 5-hr calculus at 8am would NOT be on the schedule this time, although Dr. Clara Brinson was the best!
Courses I'd repeat:
Dr. Robertson's Civil War History classes
Representative Americans -- also Dr. Robertson
Catastrophic Failures, Past And Present -- Dr. Louthan, MatE
Aircraft Engines -- Dr. Ng, ME
Theory of Organization -- Dr. Torgerson (may he Rest In Peace)
Classes I would take in a do-over:
Music Appreciation
more history!
any of the neuroscience classes
anything taught by my thesis advisor, Dr. Walter O'Brien, ME
+1 for Music Appreciation. Really enjoyed that class.
Theory of Organization with Dr. Torgerson was by far my favorite class. What a great class and a great, great man. Yep, RIP Dr. Torgerson.
I clicked this link and immediately Control+F Theory of O...
Yup there it is. There was never a better class. Took it in 2005 I think, you?
Lord, hon, it was more like 1987 for me, back when the department was still IEOR. 😃
World Regions would definitely be on my second lap.
Also, while we're on the subject of do-overs, I really wish I had gone to surf camp, or taken lessons when I was younger. I spend a lot of time in Wilmington these days and I've been trying to get up on a board, but if I had done it when I was a kid and had that muscle memory I would have a lot more fun. I sooooo get the whole surfing counter-culture. That shit is addictive. I would've failed out of UNCW first semester.
I would go back and take Intro to GIS and rock the hell out of that class! Raise that A- to an A+++!
You haven't lived til you've taken Intro to GIS with Carstensen.
FTFY
Or, so I've heard. I managed to get through without taking a single class with him.
I was a glutton for punishment, so I took a GIS programming class with him, too.
I had the upper level analysis class they offered in 2007 with him too. That one actually wasn't as bad as Intro was, but I think it was due to the fact there were a lot of grad students in the class and the IDRISI software's learning curve wasn't as steep as ArcMap's is for newbies.
Class I took almost every afternoon the 2nd half of my junior and senior year that involved a Supermug at Sharkey's....That place even there anymore?
Sharkey's? Oh ya, it's still there. I went back this summer and didn't even recognize it because there was space to stand and sit and I was sober(ish).
dafuq?
Heat & Mass Transfer
Dynamics
Differential Equations
Thermodynamics
Riveting, riveting stuff. Would LOVE to go back and do these all over again!
Loved thermo! And Heat & Mass. And Compressible Flow -- do they still offer that as an ME elective?
I've actually looked into re-taking classes like Dynamics and Deformables online, just to see how much more I learn second time around (and many years later).
Not sure about Compressible Flow.
I liked Heat & Mass, Deforms, and Thermo was okay, but I hated Dynamics and DiffEq --- so many of those classes depend on your professor though, sadly. Luckily, I was able to get Roger Chang for a lot of my classes. Best professor to ever live.
Heat transfer and Diffeq were 2 of my favorite classes
Diffeq can choke on a giant bag of dicks. I hated that class. lol believe it or not I found calc with several variables to be easier.
Also, being a Civil engineer, I never had to take Heat transfer or anything, but I do kind of wish I had taken dynamics instead of only deforms.
Dynamics was AWESOME.
Theory of O was the best class I ever took but Dynamics just makes you think in a totally different way and is brain-changing.
I barely survived multi variable, but Diffeq just clicked for me. Plus Eulers equation is dope.
Honestly, I wish I could go back and do my entire spring semester of my senior year again- just to have a normal semester and be able to complete each of my classes. It was the same semester as April 16, and I still feel like I never fully have 'closure' on my college education because of how that semester ended for us.
However, I live each day for those 32 Hokies that had much more than just a college career cut short.
I graduated that spring too, definitely understand how you feel
Any class taught by Ioannis Besieris. EM fields was tough, but he made me voluntarily take microwave system design as a senior elective. His enthusiasm for the subject was unmatched.
And any class that had hot chicks.
I took a organizational leadership class with Dr Torgerson which was quite incredible. Not sure I learned a whole lot in terms of academics but he told some amazing stories.
He also had us over to his house for hotdogs which was pretty awesome.
I was in the Jazz orchestra for 1 semester. I would have kept with it except immovable required major classes got in the way. I would have loved to keep doing that (also satisfied my creativity credit).
I took Leadership in Film with Karl Precoda, and that was a real treat. He did a class in avant garde film that was supposed to be great. He was one of the most engaging professors I had.
When were you in it? I was in Jazz Orchestra in 96.
I THINK fall '05
I took two classes with Dr. Robertson, it was an amazing course. It's amazing how the class plays out like a story, and it really brings this desire forth to just sit and talk to him and pick his brain, because he has so much knowledge about the Civil War, and you know that it's but so much that he can shoehorn into a class each week. Would go back to take another class if I could.
One of my favorite classes at Tech was Intro to Science Fiction and Fantasy. When I took it, it was an online-based course that was graded based on forum posts. So obviously it was not difficult. But man, it exposed me to some books and movies that I might have missed out on otherwise and really expanded my reading palette.
Any chance you still have the reading list? I'm always looking for books to add to the reading list.
I don't have the list, but I can pull a couple out of the old bank here: Prey, by Michael Crichton was a weird, but fun book. A Wizard of Earthsea is the first novel in a series by Ursula K. Le Guin. This was one that stuck out to me most from the whole class.
As an aside, if you're into fantasy and haven't yet done it, check out literally anything by Brandon Sanderson. His best series (Stormlight Archive) is my favorite series of all time already and he's just releasing the 3rd next week.
Intro to detective fiction was that way for me too. Really really fun class
Ditto. I took it my last semester and it was online based too. It really opened me up to some authors that were not my radar at all.
Oh boy. There are a lot of things I would do differently. Not spend a year and a half figuring out I didn't want to do engineering. not miss out on semester abroad on the southern coast of France because of Comm Research. Be an architect major. That covers most of it really.
As far as individual classes though, World Regions and Comm Law with Dr. Myers are must retakes for me
The brewing class, a food science class, and Roth's class were ones I'd like to have taken.
Did anyone else take Mysterious Mushrooms and Malicious Molds ( or whatever it was called) with Dr. Schmale (sp?)? That was by far and away my favorite class at tech, better than World Regions and better than Geography of Wine and I retained just about everything that was taught in the class.
The Civil War class was great. Very engaging. It should actually be broadcast nationwide on a live feed so that certain morons that live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue don't propogate some watered down bullshit that the Civil War was about a "lack of compromise" and get their idiot minions to believe it.
Community Guidelines.
Those are not alternative facts, everything I typed is true.
I actually just finished World Regions this week. It was great class and of course very easy. Unfortunately I had the online version so I never got to see Boyer in person, but he is a really cool teacher.
Couldn't you go to the lectures anyway or did they change that? I had the online version too but still went to Burruss for his lectures because they were that good.
My wife (gf at the time) was in World Regions and I had a break between classes that wasn't long enough for me to go back to Maple Ridge, so I sat in class with her a ton just to listen. Unless theyve changed it since 2011, there was never any sort of attendance or anything and there were always a ton of random people in the auditorium.
Wish I'd had more time for Boyer's classes, the first semester of Robertson's class, and Wines and Vines. I'd retake anything with Plotica, Charles Taylor, and Romanella in the PSCI department. Plotica knows a ton of stuff and likes to let debates happen, Taylor had a ton of great stories from his time in the "State Department," and Romanella gave fun projects (and was 'well qualified' in addition to being well qualified.) Also really enjoyed senior seminar in international relations, because the second half of the class was just wargaming for half a day every other Monday. Would also go back and actually put effort into Physics 2305/06, cause those Ds killed my GPA.
I was supposed to take Racquetball but had to have shoulder surgery two weeks before the semester started. It was very upsetting.
Thinking back more, I should have taken more history classes. I took one to fill a core area requirement (I think it was an American History, but don't remember details). The teacher was lousy, and I decided not to take anymore. Plus with Architecture, I didn't really have a lot of free time anyway. I took what I had to, then spent the rest of my time in studio.
I should have also capitalized on more of the pottery/printing/etc classes in Architecture.
We're really behind the times here. As I understand it, UNC had been somewhat experimenting with this concept for some time now...
The creativity class was, okay. But, one of the last classes of the year, he'd bring in a VT alum from Hollywood. Neat to learn that we've sent quite a few alums into the media.
Never had a Boyer class, but my philosophy professor my 3rd year took us to TOTS once. For class.
If I could redo my study abroad in Costa Rica, I would a thousand times over.
Didn't realize Dr. Neck is no longer at Tech. But his business class was right up their with Boyer's World Regions class. If you didn't have to take Dr. Neck's class you missed out.
I had Neck and Boyer. Neck's class was enlightening at the time, but I'm not really sure I got anything from it except diversity and many different perspectives are a good thing when solving complex problems.
Money and Banking was easily the best class I've taken at tech. Never taken a class that applied to reality like that course did. World Regions and Geography of Wine were also great.
Those of you who took foreign languages, what were some of the memorable ones? My favorite was German Literature.