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Hafemeister, David

Cumulative GPA: 1.43/4.00 with 15 evaluations
Presents Material Clearly: 1.21
Recognizes Student Difficulties: 1.57

Physics Department, Cal Poly, SLO
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PSC 307 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 12:34 am, Jan 10, 2012 Report Evaluation		He is the smartest guy in the world when it comes to bombs. He knows all about the politics and the science behind making bombs. It was a very interesting class and I would have loved it but he is not a good teacher. He is a politician not a teacher. Also guy though. We chatted in his office hours.

PHYS 307 Junior Grade Earned: C General Ed 3:49 pm, Dec 15, 2011 Report Evaluation		DH is a nice guy, but he doesn't know how to teach. In lecture, he didn't have any lecture notes or anything, he just talked about whatever for an hour and a half. This not only made it extremely hard to tell what information was important, but put me to sleep instantly. The book was actually pretty interesting though. I read the book, thinking I would be able to learn the material since I couldn't learn anything from lecture, but only about 1/3 of the questions from any test were from the book (don't know if the other 2/3 were discussed in lecture or not because I couldn't stay awake). His answers to the homework and past exams often didn't make sense, and sometimes didn't even answer the question. One exam question was "If the IAEA Bd. of Governors determines that a serious violation has taken place, then the next step is to _____" and his answer was "Go UN and pray." All of his tests were fill in the blank format, but he would often make the question too vague to be able to know what he was asking. He was a nice guy and really knew a lot, but I got my first C ever because he didn't know how to present the information in an effective manner and pulled questions out of left field for the tests.

PSC 307 Senior Grade Earned: N/A Elective 9:41 pm, Nov 21, 2011 Report Evaluation		He is a very intelligent guy but cannot teach for the life of him. He uses an overhead and writes very little on the board so it makes it difficult to take notes. He is super old and has a monotoned voice that could put anyone to sleep. His tests are straight from the book, but the book is very vague so you have to do your own independent research to fully understand the material. He acts like he's super laid back but when it comes to grading...good luck. I heard he curves the class heavily but ill have to find out for sure at the end of the quarter. I definitely do not recommend this class as an area F.

PSC 307 Senior Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:06 am, Feb 11, 2008 Report Evaluation		Hafemeister was a pretty cool guy I thought. He jokes and goes on random tangents during teaching. Which helps a lot because the subject can get pretty boring. But it's expected really considering the class title. The class is pretty hard in that it can get very technical (large amounts of chemistry in the beginning) but he knows that, so he curves the class accordingly. He's amazingly smart and he has real experience from his international assemblies so it's nice to have someone who knows what their talking about.

PSC 307 Junior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 10:13 am, Nov 15, 2007 Report Evaluation		If Osama Bin Laden got his hands on Hafemeister, Afghanistan would have the bomb in a matter of weeks. This guy is one of the most brilliant people I kno in the field of nuclear proliferations. Sure, it's all rocket science, but what the hell do you think you're signing up for when you take a class called nuclear proliferatinos. Do your homework, and the simple paper, and hell be very lenient on the tests. Just go to class, and you might actually learn some surprising things about our past. Take him before he retires.

PSC 307 Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 6:39 pm, Apr 2, 2003 Report Evaluation		Before you think this guy is hard, realize he is smart as hell and used to work for the Senate. The guy knows his shit and can pretty much answer anything you ask of him and seems willing to answer any and all questions you may have with great enthusiasm. However, that is the problem. If you aren't a Science major, he can very quickly give you an answer that goes right over your head. Just remember to remind him that you aren't a science major and he will work with you. Oh yeah by the way, go to lecture and you won't have to read the book. He explains everything.

PHYS 307 Junior Grade Earned: A Elective 4:40 pm, Mar 28, 2003 Report Evaluation		I like Dr. Hafemeister. He is very friendly. He is also very knowledgeable about this subject. He needs some serious reorganization, though. It would help immensely if he had a good text. He has a supplement, but it isn't very good. He needs to edit out the unimportant information, and make the material clearer. He just kind of threw some papers, reports and charts together. The other major problem is only indirectly his fault. We had some old army guy in the class who was a know-it-all. He would constantly interrupt Dr. Hafemeister. Plus, he went on long-winded rebuttals. It didn't help that they were friends. Dr. Hafemeister should have told him to shut up, and let him teach the class. It would have been a great course if he hadn't been there. I'd recommend Dr. Hafemeister.



PSC 307 5th Year Senior Grade Earned: A Elective 11:55 am, Jan 11, 2003 Report Evaluation		This teacher is very knowledgeable on the subject. He has had a lot of experience with the subject matter. He understands that you have other classes and that usually this is not a major course. He often goes off on tangents, but it is usually interesting and if you get confused he is always willing to help. I suggest going to the reserve room and checking out the books he puts on hold. They often contain the missing links from his lecture...they really help to clarify some of the issues. It is an entertaining class which is extremely relevant to the world today if you can put up with his scatter-brain teaching style.

POLS 307 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 9:53 am, Dec 3, 2002 Report Evaluation		Oh boy. Where do I begin? Let's just say this teacher is an absolute failure at teaching. You can't understand anything he says (for the most part) and half the time you find yourself counting marbles in your head because the professor talks about the weirdest stuff ever. I went into the class very interested the 1st day, but this teacher made it everything but that. It was uninteresting, ridiculous, and dispicable.

PHYS 132 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 8:42 pm, Aug 1, 2001 Report Evaluation		Back from a million-year vacation, he has the largest office in the department. Don't let his black-belt, time in the Senate, or his license to drive a tank fool you, he cannot effectively teach physics if his life depended on it. He often forgets students are present during his lectures. He is extremely absent minded, and doesn't mind admitting so. He'll drive you crazy all quarter, but if you are stuck taking him, don't fear, his curve turned out quite nice for most.

PHYS 132 Sophomore Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 11:04 am, Jun 20, 2001 Report Evaluation		Let me clear things up for all of you considering taking a class with this fuck. Those people above whoever decided to tag this man an erudite might need to be checked into a mental hospital. This man who I cannot believe actually received a doctorate from some po-dunk university has no ability to convey a single subject matter on Physics. However, there maybe light at the end of the tunnel for DH- he's fabulous at confusing the hell out of you. I would definitely reckon that you take someone else, he's the devil's red headed step child.

PHYS 131 Freshman Grade Earned: C Required (Support) 12:10 pm, Mar 27, 2000 Report Evaluation		Okay, Let me be fair. DH is a nice guy, and he knows what hes talking about . . . but most of the time, nobody else knows what hes talking about. Goes off on tangents very easily, and he tries to help you out, but if you don't have a strong physics background going into the class, you will have a hard time with it. He does grade on a curve though, and generally they end up OK.

PHYS 131 Freshman Grade Earned: Withdrawn Required (Support) 10:49 pm, Mar 8, 2000 Report Evaluation		First of all, let me just say that there was no way in hell that I could possibly complete this course with him as my instructor. I had him for lecture and lab and I strongly recommend finding another professor because DH is way too confusing. It is true that he has a brilliant mind but he's not on the same wavelength as his students. I even went to office hours to get help with my homework and I tired to explain where I was getting lost, unfortunately, I ended up deeper in the hole as I walked out his door. In class he would be lecturing and all of a sudden he'd start talking about wierd shit that was totally irrevelent. No one had a clue what he was talking about. But don't take my word for it. All I can say is GOOD LUCK!



PHYS 131 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 9:41 pm, Mar 6, 2000 Report Evaluation		He goes to fast. I thought I would enjoy physics and breeze through the class, but he pulled fmt(fuc&ing magic theroms) out of his butt. I became easily lost in his lectures and walked in before tests knowing that I could not possibly get an A on his tests. I do not recommend him. Even though he is smart as hell.

PHYS 132 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:45 pm, Nov 3, 1999 Report Evaluation		I totally agree with the person above. I couldn't say much more than that, because that's exactly how I felt. He's a nice guy, but a horrible lecturer. I also had him for lab, which wasn't AS bad. He's one of those people that's too smart intellectually to be a teacher because he's so far above everyone's level. His lectures are very scattered and he likes to focus on Thermo cycles, but is horrible at teaching them and tells you not to read the book because "the book is wrong."

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