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Vakalis, Ignatios

Cumulative GPA: 3.80/4.00 with 15 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 3.87
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 3.73

Computer Science Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:09 pm, Mar 27, 2012 Report Evaluation		Dr. Vakalis is a great professor. He knows the material very well and, in addition to teaching it, tells the class how it is applied to computer science. He has many stories that he tells as "jokes" or "motivation" which are not always relevant but always interesting. However, this class is tough. He makes a point of telling the class if a problem will be on a test but there is a lot of material to keep track of. This means you will need to study to get this material. While very busy being the head of the department and not always available during his office hours, he is more than willing to help if you have questions. And most importantly, his accent is awesome.

CSC 445 Junior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 6:33 pm, Jul 26, 2011 Report Evaluation		You will enjoy learning computational theory from Dr. Vakalis. He knows how to keep his lectures interesting with jokes and analogies, and he assigns the perfect amount of homework. The tests are based on the homework so you won't have any trouble on them if you understand the homework. THe class is also curved.

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 9:21 pm, Jul 23, 2011 Report Evaluation		From what I've heard, Dr. Vakalis is the best professor for this course, or any discrete math course. It's not easy, but like any math class, if you do the homework and study for the tests, you'll do fine. Be sure to study all the material for the final.

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:48 am, Mar 21, 2011 Report Evaluation		I really liked Professor Vakalis. He has some of the best stories and takes his time to explain new concepts. However, his tests can be difficult. All the material on test was covered in class and they are still hard.

CSC 400 Graduate Student Grade Earned: Credit Elective 8:35 am, Jan 4, 2011 Report Evaluation		Dr. Vakalis is reason enough to be a CSC/SE major at Cal Poly. Most days, I can hardly get over how awesome he is. It\'s pretty rad being in the department with the coolest department chair on campus.

CSC 445 Senior Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 3:13 pm, Jun 18, 2010 Report Evaluation		Vakalis is a great teacher. Definitely try and take Computer Theory with him. He can make an otherwise daunting class appear doable and easy to understand. He\'s great at explaining things in lecture and gives great help for the homework because as he puts it, he is there to teach you and not just give out grades. His stories are entertaining too and make the lecture more enjoyable. The midterm and final are pretty big and in depth so make sure you study for them and as he repeatedly states, explain your answers to the fullest detail you can think of.

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 10:23 am, Mar 10, 2010 Report Evaluation		Vakalis is an excellent teacher. CSC 141 is a really difficult class, and he tries his hardest to make is understandable. He genuinely cares about his students and whether they understand the material. He goes really slow in class and shows every step to make sure that everyone understands the problems. He is really helpful in office hours also.



CSC 445 Senior Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 12:04 pm, Jun 20, 2009 Report Evaluation		Vakalis is an excellent professor at teaching theoretical material. I was able to grasp all the concepts and problems when he first covered them. For the people who didn't understand proofs as quickly, Vakalis was always willing to go over the problem a second or third (in one case, 5th) time in class and was additionally very helpful in office hours. He gave a few (usually ~5) homework problems per week; it is worth your time to do these correctly and see Vakalis in office hours if you can't solve them on your own as many will be on the midterm and final. For people who enjoy math and prefer minimal busy work (who doesn't?), Vakalis is a great professor. P.S. Know your proof by contradiction :).

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 6:52 pm, Apr 8, 2009 Report Evaluation		Vakalis is a really cool guy. He's Greek so he has a little bit of an accent, but he's not hard to understand at all. He's really funny and entertaining and likes to tell stories. The subject material of this class is just so damn boring. Vakalis does his best to make the subject material as interesting as possible. Homework load isn't too much. He usually assigns homework on Thursdays and Tuesdays and it's due the next Tuesday. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. It's worth as much as a midterm. He goes over a few of the problems on the days that he assigns them, and usually allows people to ask questions at the beginning of class. The only tests in the class are the 2 midterms and the final. All the problems are from the homework or the book, so there really aren't any surprises on the tests. The tests are still pretty hard and you absolutely need to do your homework and study your ass off. He's a pretty harsh grader in terms of showing all your steps and your work, but he usually gives everyone 10 bonus points on each test.

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: A Elective 1:57 am, Mar 23, 2009 Report Evaluation		Dr. Ignatios Vakalis is Greek. Naturally, he likes to incorporate a daily math lesson like "why pi equals 2 in spherical geometry" in his lectures. He has the best grading system. He teaches you how to get an A: please the grader by showing what you know on the exams. There are 2 exams and a final in Discrete Structures. Homework was easy. I took this class purely out of interest for computer science. Dr Vakalis was entertaining and well-worth the $1000 I paid for this course as an out-of-state student.

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 4:24 pm, Mar 11, 2009 Report Evaluation		Vakalis is a great teacher. He's very passionate about his work, and while sometimes he can be a pain in the ass, especially when he discusses homework problems that he went over class the night before, he's still a very great teacher. His stories are interesting and the material, while n ot exactly the most fun, are very bearable as long as YOU make the effort to pay attention. Overall, a good teacher.

CSC 141 Sophomore Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 9:53 pm, Mar 3, 2009 Report Evaluation		The guy really knows his stuff! I'd take him again in a heartbeat. He does a really good job explaining the material and the tests are straight forward. If you do the homework, and review it before the exams, you shouldn't have too much trouble...

CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:46 pm, Dec 15, 2008 Report Evaluation		I thought this class was neat. There wasn't a big workload, and listening to Vakalis talk was always intersting. He did lots of example problems from each homework on the board, and the book has everything you need to know to do good.



CSC 141 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 1:42 am, Mar 15, 2008 Report Evaluation		This teacher is a really funny guy and really enjoys teaching this material. He grades pretty tough, but if you actually do the homework and pay attention to the problems he addresses in class, you will do fine. But really, all the questions on the tests are straight from the homework or from problems he does in class. I tried to to skate by, but I know an A was possible if I just paid a little more attention during lecture

CSC 445 Graduate Student Grade Earned: A Required (Major) 4:20 am, Apr 21, 2007 Report Evaluation		Vakalis was very good. He presented the material clearly while keeping things almost conversational. The lectures and homework progressed such that later concepts built upon earlier ones, which was very satisfying. He had an excellent sense of humor and regularly told jokes and interesting stories. There was homework, a midterm, and a final. The homework was pertinent and lean, covering just enough to ensure we understood enough to progress to the next concept. He didn't waste your time with busy work. Before each exam he told us precisely what concepts and problems he expected us to know for the exam. He was very helpful in office hours with homework or exam questions. I highly recommend taking Vakalis for CSC 445.

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