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Ausmus, William 
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:48 am, May 26, 2010 |
He was an average teacher. I didn\'t learn a lot about public speaking but it was an easy and straightforward class. Our speeches were graded very easily, all you needed to do was follow his outline. He is a little creepy though, I fainted in class and told him I couldn\'t feel my limbs so he started rubbing them. He might have just wanted to be nice but eh... yikes. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 10:33 am, Mar 29, 2010 |
Goes over the notes and reading material, then takes any questions. CLEARLY tells you what he expects from your speeches/presentations. The only reason to do bad in his class is if you do not prepare for a speech. Also you do not need to read the textbook, unless you take the final, which is option. He goes over everything you need to know for the class in-class. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 10:19 pm, Mar 28, 2010 |
Great professor, he likes his beer and double cheeseburgers. He is able to help students with their public speaking anxiety and he also gives instant feedback after every speech. Overall, he is a fair grader. Course grade is based on 3 speeches and an optional final. Lectures were interesting, he would always talk about himself and his accomplishments and we would usually get out early 15-30 mins. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 2:16 pm, Mar 19, 2010 |
well ausmus is one of a kind. he is extremely cocky and loves to talk about his infinite knowledge in public speaking and goes on and on about how he got his PhD. he is a very sweaty guy, and doesn\'t seem to mind, not a pretty sight let me tell you. he is very specific about the way he wants his speeches: all the speeches are worth 50 pts and you have to say \"to grab your attention\", \"my statement of specific purose is\" and many other required elements every speech come with an outline and the outline is aas long as the mumber of minites of your sreech: i.e. 4 min speech, 4 pg outline...it really is time consuming, a complete waste...he tells a million stories about himself and wastes class time doing so...he is such a creeper. if you are a pretty girl then he is kinda weird. he always patted my back or my shulder and i felt like he wanted to look down my shirt half the time...overall, easy class if you follow all the requirements...do not say UM in your speeches because he takes away 1 point every time you do, but you can read off your notecards like i did and you should be fine...anyways, ausmus: sweaty and creepy and very arrogant | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:25 pm, Mar 16, 2010 |
Dr. Ausmus is one of my least favorite teachers at Cal Poly: He didn\'t grade the speeches on overall quality, but on specific objective requirements that became so anal and minute they bordered on insane. Example: you could say \"In Conclusion\" at the end of your speech but not \"In Summary.\" (and many many others) So really it should be called Jump Through The Hoops 101, not COMS 101. Furthermore, he took off 2% on each speech for EVERY instance of \"um\" in a person\'s speech, which means you can\'t afford to let even a few slip out. This really leaves no room for error, and promotes rote memorization of the speech, and indeed the the speeches that got the best grades were either memorized verbatim or read off notecards. So you don\'t actually learn how to speak without \"um\"s in regular speech, just that giving a robotic, prewritten speech gets you a good grade. I mean, I see what he is trying to do, and I agree that it is a good thing, he just fails miserably. Dr. Ausmus is one of my least favorite people at Cal Poly: He is extremely self-praising and he is perfectly content to use half or more of the class time telling stories about himself, not because we want to hear them, not because they are funny or particularly relevant, but because each one describes some noble characteristic he \"has\": heroism, courage, great intelligence, wittiness, foresight, athleticism, ect. And not in jest either; he genuinely needs to impress you and make you think he is God\'s gift to your life. He is overly confident: I don\'t think I ever heard him consider a student\'s or the book\'s opinion about something (\"The book doesn\'t know everything. That\'s why I\'m here.\") Sure he went to school for a long time and got a PhD, but he literally made us listen to him talk about it directly (\"here\'s how I got my PhD...\") and indirectly (\"We, the researchers, the academic elite of the world, the most professional and scholarly authorities on the subject, have found out that...\") ad nauseam. I just got fed up with his ego. So bottom line is you should steer clear of this guy. If you end up with him, you\'re in for a really unpleasant time, but you can still get an A if you do exactly what he says, however ridiculous it may be. As for the alleged creepiness, I didn\'t exactly notice or experience it, but then again I\'m male. He does a lot of odd smiling though. | |
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SPC 111 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 7:14 pm, Mar 16, 2010 |
There was a kid that sat next to me in the class that continually muttered penis to himself and picked his nose. Often times i would catch him starring into my eyes if i looked over. Ausmus was cool though. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 2:59 pm, Mar 12, 2010 |
He has no consistency in his grading. He is arrogant as they come, constantly talking about his book he wrote and begging people to by it. He tells the most ridiculous stories that are so far out there that they take away from the \"ethos\" he stresses | |
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CM 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 5:04 pm, Feb 18, 2010 |
This class is super easy with Ausmus, howevfer he is kinda a strange guy. He likes to talk a lot about his accomplishments, and takes you through every detail of the way he got his phD. And he FREAKS out if you are caught chewing gum in the class. He tells you at the beginning of class to spit it out, but one class I forgot to, and he pointed me out not just once, but three times during the class. The midterm and final are CAKE if you study a little. And the speeches are not hard at all as long as you don\'t have ANY disfluencies (um\'s like\'s uh\'s.) He counts all of them and marks you off. However strange he is though, he will geniunly help you if you have any problems with the class. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 12:39 pm, May 13, 2009 |
Dr. Ausmus knows what he's talking about, but he teaches in a very structured manner. For the speeches, he required that we say, "To get your attention," "My purpose is to," and "My thesis is." He uses this format for all the speeches, not only the first one. He presents class material in a mundane fashion. Dr. Ausmus is knowledgeable and can recognize when you're struggling, but he teaches and grades in a strict manner. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:39 pm, May 6, 2009 |
Dr. Ausmus is a sweaty creeper, and I'm certain that the majority of his stories are completely untrue. However, the class isn't that bad, and I loved my speech support team! All we did was pass notes and draw pictures, and everyone in the class was really supportive (including Ausmus). Plus, later in the quarter he lets you out early. I don't mind public speaking, so the class was a breeze. The only time I ever worked was before a presentation (and I made most of the information up anyhow). Tests are on terms, he's a fair grader on speeches (don't use disfluencies), and you HAVE TO turn in your outline. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 1:55 pm, Apr 15, 2009 |
I went into this class a little anxious because of the evaluations on here, but honestly girls, he's not perverted or inappropriate in any way. I never felt uncomfortable in this class at all. Dr. Ausmus is a great professor and knows what he's talking about. It's true that he likes to talk about himself and INSISTS on being called "Dr." but you get used to it and realize that's just he way he is. He's actually a really cool guy and you can tell he truly cares about his students. There were only 3 graded speeches: informative, persuasive, and career. They were all extremely easy..all you have to do is follow his guidelines..and I mean follow them exactly. He literally wants you to say "This is my thesis..." when you're giving your speech. As long as you identify everything in his guidelines and don't have any disfluencies (likes or ums), you're golden. For each speech, you have to do a 5-6 page outline, single spaced. It sounds like a lot, but it's really not that bad and it actually helps. There's also a midterm and a final, which are both vocab tests. They're kind of a pain because you have to memorize the definitions of about 150 words for each, but it's doable. He made the final for our class optional - if you wanted to keep your grade the way it was, you didn't have to take it, but if you were at, say, a C and wanted to try to bump it up, you could take it. Overall, a great professor. I definitely recommend him. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:52 pm, Mar 28, 2009 |
Ausmus is pretty good... you will get sheets that tell you EXACTLY what elements your speech must have, so the grading is decently objective and not subjective. However, you could end up giving a well written speech and get dinged for not explicitly stating "my thesis is..." and whatnot. Conversely, a poorly written speech could hit everything on the sheet and end up with a 100%. Both of these happened over the course of the quarter, but I feel that I have definitely improved as a speaker. The unpleasant thing about this class is that you have to write a 5-6 page, single spaced outline for three different speeches, but I guarantee that if you do it and make concise flashcards, you will never run out of things to talk about and have no need to use "like" or "um" (each of which ding you 1 point). Overall, be prepared to put in a good amount of work for this class if you expect to earn an A (it is doable, just not easy), but no matter what, you will feel a lot more confident as a speaker after taking this class. | |
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CM 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 12:57 pm, Mar 16, 2009 |
He's pretty cool, I don't know why so many people give him shit, he's kind of arrogant but a very likable guy! | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:14 pm, Mar 3, 2009 |
If you haven't had Ausmus, you haven't experienced true hell. His tests are easy, and his speeches are easy if you follow his criteria to a tee, BUT he is a a terrible person. He brags about his "accomplishments" and hits on all the decently attractive girls until they feel uncomfortable in class. Avoid him if you can! | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 1:10 pm, Mar 2, 2009 |
Bill Ausmus is of the most respectable people I have ever met. He knows his place in life. He understands everything that he needs to. He is a man to be looked up to. He knows that he is an awesome guy, and he will tell you about it. And every thing he tells you about himself will just make you look even farther up at him. >> He is not stuck up; he simply knows that he is better than most people alive today; because he is, by all means. Dr. Ausmus is a boss. He will teach you to speak; while influencing your life at the same time. TAKE HIM! Otherwise, you will not ever meet such a solid guy. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:19 am, Feb 17, 2009 |
There were three speeches, informative, persuasive, and a career speech, each 4-6 minutes long. He explained everything very clearly. I didn't like how long he required his outlines to be, 4-6 pages single spaced. The midterm is writing out definitions and giving examples of vocab words. He made the final optional. He spends the majority of class time explaining how he got his doctorates and boasting about himself, but you do get out of class early when speeches aren't being made. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 2:36 pm, Jan 20, 2009 |
Bill is a pretty nice guy. His class wasn't too hard. He only has one test and it's on vocab so you don't even need to read. The speeches are graded on his list of things he wants to hear you say like "My thesis is..." which is kind of weird but as long as you do those and don't say um or like you can easily get a B at least. Oh, he let us out of class early a lot too! | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:50 am, Dec 21, 2008 |
Great teacher, open to talking about speeches, and about issues. Would love to keep in touch with him throughout my years at Cal Poly. He definitely cured my speech anxiety, and I'm truly grateful for it! | |
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CM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 4:00 pm, Dec 7, 2008 |
I was a little scared to take this class after reading all of these ratings but it wasn't that bad. It is true that he is pretty arrogant and can go on for hours about himself. I never saw him be very sexist , I think a lot of these reviews are exaggerated. I started off as a terrible public speaker but the class helped me improve and I managed to get an A. Also, the only times that we had to stay the full 2 hours was when there were speeches being given, other than that we got out anywhere from 10 min to an hour early. The 3 speeches aren't that hard, it doesn't really matter what you talk about as much as how you present it. | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:46 pm, Aug 8, 2008 |
I really liked Dr. Ausmus. He can be really arrogant and cocky. He spent the entire first lecture of class explaining how he got a P.H.D. However, he is still an awesome teacher. He always explains things really clearly in lecture. If you just listen to everything he says, there is no reason you should do badly in his class. Most other speech classes had to do 4 or 5 speeches, and we only had to give 2 major speeches. Some people think he's creepy. But, he is also a very good coms teacher. He knows what he's talking about, and he is very concise when presenting his material. I loved his class, which was also never boring. Take Ausmus if you can, you won't regret it. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:46 pm, Mar 18, 2008 |
Arrogant and a creep! | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:44 pm, Feb 4, 2008 |
Ausmus is interesting. He talks about himself most of the class time and loves to tell you stories about how well he dealt with a situation. His classes are easy but boring at times. He is kinda creepy and told a story about how he watched girls mud wrestle in new orleans. But his tests are just based on the vocab and so is his final. Pretty easy class if you have lower then an A you dont have to take the final but if you want an A you do. Pretty stupid if you asked me I ended up droping from an A to a B+. Dont know much about the other coms teachers but ausmus is okay if you want an interesting quarter and stories to tell your friends. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:55 am, Nov 30, 2007 |
Dr. Ausmus was a great teacher. I'm a guy so obviously I didn't have the porblem of being hit on or anything, but I never saw him do anything like that to the females either. He was a pretty fun guy, and the class was really easy. All you had to do was give three speeches without saying "uh," "um," or "like." and stay in the time limit and you would get about 49/50 on all of them. And the course is only out of 250 points. The other 100 points are from a 50 point midterm and a 50 point final, both of which are pretty easy. I got a 50/50 on the midterm with about 60 minutes of looking through the textbook for vocab words a few days before...I didn't even have to read the damn book. He really does explain things that help you understand the concepts of good public speaking and I feel a whole hell of a lot better about giving speeches (I hated them before). Also, class usually gets out early except speech days, and the final/midterm only last 1 hour. All in all, a great professor. Take him if you can. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:44 pm, Nov 14, 2007 |
Dr. Ausmus is very well educated in communication, english, and philosophy. His lectures RARELY last the whole 2 hours, and he is always open for questions. His intelligence is truly refreshing, and I haven't seen any improper conduct in my class that others have posted on this site. He is interested in the welfare of his students, and I would highly recommend taking his class. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 5:35 pm, Jul 21, 2007 |
The tests consist of ridiculous vocab terms that you have to memorize. The final grade was mostly based off of these tests, and then the few speeches you make. He seems kind of creepy, especially toward females. He is pretty laid back, but does yell if someone is disrespectful. Make your speeches fun and interesting, and make sure you don't say "um, uhh, or like". Make sure you study all the vocab terms, and keep up with the studying (maybe make notecards after each lecture of the terms you got that day). | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 1:15 am, Jun 13, 2007 |
I'll admit some of his anecdotes are amusing but overall I found this guy completely unhelpful when it came to asking questions and impatient with students as well as chauvinistic. He let the two asshole macho baseball players in our class be totally disrespectful during everyone else's speeches while no-one else would have gotten away with talking. Also WOMEN CONSIDERING THIS PROF: I seriously wouldn't advise going to office hours, I don't know about the truth of all the comments on here but a number of people in my class, including me, saw him blatantly touching a female student inappropriately during class. It was investigated although I'm not sure of the outcome but I wouldn't advise being alone with him. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:47 pm, Apr 2, 2007 |
Dr. Ausmus is a pretty laid back professor. He lectures every class except when there are speeches being presented. Take notes during the lecture because some of the words that we emphasizes will be on the vocabulary midterm and final. The midterm and final are pretty ridiculous, but kind of easy. You have to memorize 200-300 bold vocabulary words from the assigned chapters and then are only tested on 25. Of the 25 that you are tested on you must give an example that relates the vocabulary word to speech communication. Really boring but if you study you should get a B on the midterm and final (which are exactly the same) and dont leave it until the last minute. The speeches are easy follow the guidelines, make sure that you DO NOT say any disfluencies because you get minus one point for each of those as well as false starts. Decent class short speeches just a lot of memorization for the final. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 5:45 pm, Mar 27, 2007 |
Easy speech class if you try, the speech rubric basically only grades you down for 'uhs', 'ums', false starts and stumbles. The Midterms (there are 2) are hard, learn the words really well. He is also really understanding if you go talk to him outside class, and i can totally see why people would see him as sexist, but that didnt get to me too much ( yes I am a girl). The class is pretty boring, but you get out early occasionally, which was nice since I did have a class right after this one. Overall, a decent speech class, you learn stuff , the speeches arent videotaped, and the test is just vocab. So take him for speech. | |
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SCM 102 Senior Grade Earned: B General Ed 7:05 pm, Feb 27, 2007 |
i had this guy last year and can not tell you how awful he was... i actually had to get ahold of the DEPARTMENT HEAD to discuss this guys inapporpriate and very very very offensive behavior towards me in class. he makes perverted comments..and i am very sarcastic and do have a sense of humor myself... but this guys was rude and crossed the line.. he stopped class more than once to tell me that i was being rude and to get up and cross the room to spit out my gum...WTF?!?! he belittled me and my friend and definetly had favorites. ex. my friend had a 103 fever and was basically dying during the final but he made her take it and graded her so hard... gave her an F... and a D in the class... his grading does not make sense b/c he is so full of himself and sits on his high horse! ah he is so frustrating to even rememeber.. DO NOT take this class with him, even if you have to stay at poly a quarter longer, its worth it! | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:18 pm, Feb 12, 2007 |
Overall a good and interesting teacher. His speeches are easy as long as you do exactly what it says on the rubric. EXACTLY what it says. And be careful about saying 'like' and 'um's' he will take off one point for each of those you say during your speech. Speeches are 50 points total, and I think we did 3 speeches. You can give your speech on anything you want. I got an average of 45-48 on my speeches. So not bad. His midterms are crazy hard. He is serious about the reading. STUDY the vocab words. The ones that are in the book and in class lectures will be on the tests guarenteed. Recomendation: Use flashcards to study the vocab words for his tests. Study with friends and quiz each other. If you do this it isn't so bad. My first midterm I practically failed, but I got good grades on my speeches and studied hard for the last midterm and I got a high B. He does grade on attendance for speeches, so make sure you are there on speech days! Overall- I recomend this teacher. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:26 pm, Jan 8, 2007 |
It was a good class overall. The speeches are hardly graded on content, so you can say just about anything as long as you meet his requirements and avoid saying 'like' or 'um'. Also, while doing your speech be aware of your hands because he will take points off if you don't have hand movement or if you touch your hair or face. Do not underestimate the midterms. There are about 140 vocabulary words and he picks 25 for you to write out the definition. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 12:26 pm, Dec 22, 2006 |
Two reasons why I would not recommend this professor. 1 - at first I didn't mind his "personal experience" stories but as the quarter continued they grew more and more ridiculous until I couldn't trust a word he was saying. Also, I'm a girl and I don't know if I'd flat out call him a sexist( maybe patronizing or condescending), but I certainly did not feel comfortable asking him questions or approaching him in any way. He used one of our vocab words alot too - marking - saying "lady friend" "woman doctor" when it was totally unnecessary. (If you are cute and blonde bring a sweater to wear to class so Ausmus doesn't drool over you.) 2 - I'm not the kind of person who likes to follow strict instructions. I'd rather bend the requirements but do a better job than the requirements permit. So having to explicitly state "this is my thesis" "To tie the elements together.." was really frustrating. I agree that the work load is not bad. And however irritating memorizing vocabulary words that you're never going to use again may be, it could be worse. I didn't really have time for this class so without trying I got a C. But I hated going to class and was frustrated with it the entire quarter. --Don't put too much work into this class. Your effort should be in following requirements and not wanting to give a good speech. HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT CONTENT. He does not give any lectures on how to actually give a good speech and apparently does not want you to give a good speech. You can do a speech on bellydancing (literaly) and get an A. Just follow his requirements - missing them adds up quickly. One more thing - I took 3 years of Latin which required studying rhetorical theory and history. But I found Ausmus' lectures on rhetoric to be very biased and one sided towards his own theories, studies or whatever, which, I guess, is to be expected. But it seemed like the information he left out made his lectures deceptive or just not clear. Plus, you hear more about how marvelous he is than anything else. He is incompetent. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A Elective 12:38 am, Dec 19, 2006 |
DONT BELIEVE ANY OF THESE STUPID EVALUATIONS--THEYRE ALL BIASED AND DIMWITTED | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 6:37 pm, Nov 1, 2006 |
Most of the stuff on here about Dr. Ausmus is either really exxagerated or altogether untrue. Sexist? Perverted? Incompetent? I never once saw Dr. Ausmus act inappropriately toward any student. He's certainly not incompetent; he's intelligent and his lectures are clear. And while he does talk about himself quite a bit, what would you rather sit and listen to? Entertaining personal experiences and stories or boring lectures that drag on and on? He uses personal experiences to illustrate concepts clearly. And this is really not a difficult class. For god sakes, he tells you exactly what to include in every single speech! Most people who lost points did so because they failed to follow the instructions which he clearly outlines for you--most professors will not be so direct about what they want. I disliked his strict time limits, but overall the speaking portion of this class wasn't too difficult. Nor were the midterms. I never read the book all quarter, but instead memorized a lot of vocab words from the book and my notes (which he writes on the board for you to copy) before the tests. Whether you like or dislike the public speaking requirement, Ausmus makes this class interesting, manageable, and not scary at all. | |
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SPC 201 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 10:58 pm, Oct 29, 2006 |
EASY class, all you have to do is follow the outline he gives you for ur speaches, 3 speaches, 2 vocab tests. EASY | |
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SPC 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 9:22 pm, Aug 6, 2006 |
Dr. Ausmus is a great speech teacher and all around good guy. The workload in his class is very easy. All you have to do is give three speeches and take two vocab tests. He gives you very straight forward layouts for the speeches, and you pretty much have to try to mess them up. The vocab for the tests then just come from the text. His lectures are very informative and enjoyable and he is enthusiastic about teaching the class | |
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SPC 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:46 pm, Jun 5, 2006 |
GOD OF RHETORIC! need I say more learn terms from chapters and don't screw up your speeches http://college.hmco.com/communication/osborn/public_speaking/7e/students/flashcards/index.html | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 6:10 pm, Apr 5, 2006 |
Here goes ausmus in a paragraph: "There exists a special journal so exclusive that only four in a hundred articles are publsihed. Those articles must be so great that they merit true greatness of being published in that communications book. I had three articles published in that one, plus many more, and I'm a PhD, so call me Doctor. With my PhD, I ran away from a bear, who could not mess with my PhD. Than, I won the world handball championship after getting a PhD, and than I went hiking in the woods with my PhD diploma as a map. Than, after my PhD ceremony, I did some research on ducks, than I thought I should act more PhD status and write a book. So, I wrote a book on wine to be published by a world famous publisher, but only I have a PhD in Communications!" -Ausmus in a nutshell | |
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SCM 101 Junior Grade Earned: B General Ed 10:58 pm, Mar 26, 2006 |
DR. Ausmus was terrible. He makes you explicitly state your thesis, main points, statement of specific purpose, etc.. That originally was the reason why I took the class, but I soon realized that Bill Ausmus is a sexist. If you follow his requirements exactly as a guy, and never put a single "ah" or stumble in your speech, you'll probably get an A-. Thats of course if you ace the vocab test that encompasses about 300 words (not all of which can be found in the book). Stay away from this teacher. He's incompetent. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 5:47 pm, Mar 10, 2006 |
Excellent Professor! I agree with the comment below. The work load for the class is clear from the beginning. 3 speeches, 2 midterms. Also, regarding the comments about his ego and arrogance: he was not egotistical or arrogant in my class at all. Either the other students exaggerated or he changed his ways. But, the bottom line is "He knows his stuff and is very nice." If you follow his directions for speeches, within time, no disfluencies, and required elements, then you have an easy A! | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 10:15 pm, Feb 12, 2006 |
Honestly, I'm still in his class now but what I read here really psyched me out going into his class. So far, half way in, I haven't found anything remotely close to what is presented here as truth. I find no favoritism to any one student, the gum allegation against him was very biased since he gives clear warning that there is to be no gum in class, and I haven't heard one word about handball, his amazing abilities, or his humble gesture of teaching freshman. If you just DO WHAT HE ASKS (common' guys, a vocab quiz for a midterm? How much easier could it get?!), you are set. It's the easiest class ever. I usually answer his questions so it's easy to understand why he calls on me a lot, but besides my own enthusiasm, there is no problem with this professor. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:06 pm, Jan 9, 2006 |
Dr. Ausmus is very intimidating. He grades speeches very hard and requires that you state what your thesis, main points, etc. are in the speech. Content doesn't have any relevance in the speeches, as long as you have the elements stated you will do well. He likes to talk about himself and all of his accomplishments, but he lets you out early a lot and there isnt much homework assigned. The midterms are all vocab and the reason i got a B- was because of those. If you cant get in any other class, Dr. Ausmus is bareable. Just do what he asks in the speeches. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 4:57 pm, Dec 17, 2005 |
ok, I'm going to tell this how it is....first of all, I think that Dr. Ausmus (oh and ps-- if you don't call him Dr. you're pretty much dead)is a tough but fair grader. For SCOM101, you will have to give three speeches (an informative speech, a persuasive speech, and a career speech) and take a midterm and a final. the midterm and final are pretty much all about short term memory becuase you have to memorize like....over 200 words out of which he will pick 25. You will have to define these words and use them in a sentence....this is the dumbest way to test a speech class...at least that is how I feel. Every speech and vocabulary test is 50 points and it is difficult to do well on them. I know for a fact without being modest that I gave the best speeches in that class and never got higher than a 94% on them. For speeches, you really dont have to make sense or do much research becuase as long as you include all the elements that he wants like stating the thesis, main point, preview of points, key thought, according to..., and stuff like that then you're find...its kinda weird...any way, all the rumors about him being weirdly perverted and stuff....TRUE...I liked him well enough becuase in the first week of the quarter, he looked at my notes and told me that I was doing an excellent job in his class, but he does have weird tendencies to kind of shut out the guys and focus more on the girls...anyway, as long as you do exactly what he tells you, you should be fine...OH and class usually gets out at least 1/2 hr early...that was the best part hah!!! have fun with this one! | |
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SPC 101 Junior Grade Earned: A General Ed 9:15 pm, Dec 12, 2005 |
I'm not sure if the post below is true, but if it is, I think that Judicial Affairs should get involved. For my part, I fould Bill charmingly pompous, an engaging lecturer and not at all sexist. I can't speak to that allegation, and I would only say that this doesn't fit my impression of Dr. Ausmus, which might very well be false. I wouldn't let it keep me from taking him, but I'd advise the ladies to be a little careful just in case, and I would prompt anyone else who suffers this fate to post here. If more people say the same thing, I think they should come forward. If it's true, this is just a horrible mark upon the university. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:47 pm, Nov 8, 2005 |
The weird speech formats and the fact that he does like to talk about himself did not bother me at all. The thing that made me give him such a bad grade was that I went into his office hours to work on not saying like and um. He said that hypnotizing could help me and so I let him. When he was hypnotizing me he asked me to take off my shirt. This was a traumatic experience for me since I have always trusted and gotten to know my teachers/professors. I just wanted to warn women who take his class, just don't put yourself in a place where you will be alone with him. | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 1:07 pm, Aug 5, 2005 |
First of all, it was a solid, interesting, and enjoyable class. Everyone in the class improved tremendously from the first speech to the last, and Bill does a good job at making it an easy going atmostphere. He is extremely full of himself though. Every story he tells is about something spectacular he has done or something spectacular someone he personally knows has done. We also picked out several accomplishments he told us that were straight lies. It was kind of a fun game to figure out whether or not the story was true. Even though he's arrogant and makes stuff up, it was a really good class and if I had somehow failed, I would definitely take Bill again. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 6:58 pm, Jul 29, 2005 |
This guy was so evil, he was so rude and cocky and just dumb. He loved telling the class about how prestigious his reputation was, jobs he'd been offered and the pay along with that. Who does that? The man has no tact and no respect for people who have differing views from his. I did really well in his class, practically aced the midterms and the final, and I've been giving speeches for a while, bu he totally hated me because I didn't agree with him. He totally treats everyone like idiots, has no confidence in your ability to figure things out on your own and write an effective and realistic speech, I learned nothing from this class. It was easy, but he's such a miserable person to be around that the easy A wasn't even worth it. On top of that, he makes you buy a book that serves no purpose and can't be sold back. | |
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SPC 100 Senior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 1:58 pm, Jul 2, 2005 |
This is a lame site. The comments are statistically insignificant. Most comments lack basic grammar and spelling skills. | |
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SPC 201 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:57 pm, May 5, 2005 |
this man is the most perverted and rude teacher i have ever had in my life.. i am a girl and, unlike what some other evalutions say, i was given so special treatment. In fact, i felt that because i was a girl i was harrassed everyday by this man. he is so cocky and wont stop talking about how great and smart he is, which is really covering up how stupid he is! he stopped somebody in the middle of their speech to tell me that i had to spit out my gum and then went back in his grade book and too 3 points off of my once A speech that i had taken the class before. He was so mean about it and personally attacked me on more than one occasion... please please dont take this teacher... | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 9:17 am, May 2, 2005 |
this guy is a pervert, hits on all of the ladies, and has his head stuck up his butt. he spends half of class telling you why college professors are the smartest people in the world, and how he's the greatest handball player in the world, how he is so humble for choosing to teach freshmen rather than grad students, blah blah blah. makes you take tests in addition to speeches, which is lame and won't make you a better public speaker. the speeches aren't bad, but this guys is a complete ass. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 4:53 pm, Apr 6, 2005 |
He is an excellent professor but his grading scale is bullshit. It is based off 3 speeches and 2 vocab tests which are all worth 50 points each. The speeches are super easy because he tells you exactly what to do. The vocab tests are stupid though and the material on them is completely random. I didn't do well on those so thast's why I got a C. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:00 am, Mar 28, 2005 |
Ausmus isnt that bad...but its pretty stupid how someone can get all A's on the speeches but end up with a B in the class cuz of the dumb tests (which no other speech classes have to do.) The class is for public speaking...not vocab. In regard to the tests, youll have to know the definitions of 25 words and give examples of each. That wouldn't be bad if he didnt give us a possible 130 words to study. That pissed me off but other than that, he is a pretty good teacher and his speech requirements make the speeches easier. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 2:47 pm, Mar 23, 2005 |
This guy is a self centered ass whole. The whole time he lectures he talks about himself, and how he has his PhD, and how he is God's gift to man. I recieved 2 A's 1 B on the 3 speeches we had to give. And a B and a D on the 2 tests he gave. I recieved a C in the class and am not bashing the guy because of my C but because hes a douche bag. The way he makes you present your material is so dumb EX: Hi my name is .... and My hook is.... Makes you say everything that you will present my thesis..ect... He also is sexist and favors girls and hits on them in class. He is unprofessional and should wait to teach until he is married so that is raging male hormones will not release during class. I'd strongly suggest to take another teacher because 90% don't make you take tests only speeches, unless your terrified of speeches then the tests might help you. Overall it is an easy class to pass. Most time I took on a speech was 45 mins and most time studying 30 minutes. IF YOU LIKE TO TAKE TESTS FOR SPEECH, HAVE WEIRD FORMATS FOR SPEEKING, BE HIT ON IF YOUR A GIRL, HAVE YOUR EARS BLEED TO DEATH FROM HIS SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HANDBALL STORIES, THEN THIS IS THE CLASS FOR YOU. | |
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SCM 124 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 4:47 pm, Mar 14, 2005 |
This class is easy to get an A in if you write out your speech on the guide lines Dr. Ausmus gives you and you cover and say all of the required elements that he gives you on his speech criteria. You have to do vocab and not many other speech classes have to, but it is not that hard either. Dr. Ausmus is a briliant person, and full of himself with good reason. If you are into philosophy he will be a great teacher to talk to. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 1:44 am, Feb 11, 2005 |
The worst teacher I have ever had in my life! Almost withdrawed because he was so horrible. He harasses students as well. | |
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SCM 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:45 pm, Jan 22, 2005 |
Best advice I can give for this professor is don't take him. He is cocky, arroagnt, perverted, and he flirts with the female students. However if you can handle this then go for it. Compared to the other classes there are fewer required speeches, but he is a tough grader. Tests are just defintions that are in your text book, and examples of the word. He is a stickler on your wording in the test, so make sure you have it down cold. We spent our days in his classroom listening to his stories about himself, and how fantastic he is. But to be fair he knows his material, (I should hope so after he recounted every school he's ever taught at, what boards hes been on, and every position he has turned down and why.) If you are a public speaking major then this might be a guy you can learn from, seems to have a lot of experience. Personally, I could'n't get past the arrogance and him being such a perevert. Good luck in this class if you take it. Not hard to get a B but requires work. | |
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SPC 217 Sophomore Grade Earned: B Required (Major) 6:23 pm, Jan 17, 2005 |
if you are a girl (which almost all scom majors are) he will love you! you have to get used to his personality ...but most learn to like him! dont be late to class! and you cant chew gum or wear a hat. I dont know of anyone who got an A in his class, but a B is def possible if you study his notes and the book for his tests. His tests consist of 10 questions that are 5 points each and they are short answer. So there is an a) b) c) d) and e) to each question and you have to answer it in one or two sentences (so basically memorize the key terms from the book and all the notes and you will get an A or B) THere is two midterms and a final (not cum and all cover 5 chapters in the book) and then one group presentation that you basically jsut read to the class so its a very easy speech (worth 50 points as well) ....overall a decent class, if you have him dont worry! | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:35 pm, Jan 11, 2005 |
It's very true - he's so intensely arrogant that it can actually get in the way of the class material. He spent a third of our time (it costs you about $70 per hour of class, if you're paying $1,300 per quarter) telling us about how gosh-darn awesome he is and just how smart and beautiful and cool he is. It's very distracting. The first thing he does is explain how you MUST call him DR. Ausmus because he's so gosh darn smart. There are three vocab and three 5 or 6 minute speeches, each worth 50 minutes. He has a little list of specific things you ave to say and explicitly announce in your speeches. If you get those, you've got yourself and A, no matter how boring and stupid your speech is. If you're really nervous, this could be a good way to work on that without the added pressure of having to give a decent speech. If you need an easy A, just put up with his arrogance and boring lectures and follow he little checklist to the T. Voila. A. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Required (Support) 12:44 pm, Jan 3, 2005 |
The problem with Dr. Ausmus is not that he's bad at teaching...it's that his rather inflated ego gets in the way of (pointless) class time and he frequently goes off on tangents, telling stories about how every college wanted him, but they weren't good enough for his standards, or about his books or about how he loves to hunt or why he was never married (no way did it have anything to do with his own flaws - God forbid!) He spends far too much of the two hours of class time telling these stories that noone really cares to hear so that you feel like you're wasting your time...but like a High School teacher, he requires attendance (2 unexcused absences and he fails you), he is terribly meticulous with his grading (he'll dock points if you lean on the podium or talk too loud or don't correctly word the things he demands you include in your speech), and won't even allow you to chew gum in class...wow, thanks mom. The good thing is you know exactly what you need to include in your speech. If you have to take him, which I don't recommend, this is my advice in writing your speches: don't waste time worrying about if it sounds good, or if your content is interesting or correct...all he cares about is if you fulfill his silly requirements. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B Elective 12:16 pm, Jan 3, 2005 |
This guy is very wordy, and this class is really boring...but in the end despite all the whining of the other people who evaluated him, he is actually good. The tests are all vocab, ALL vocab. It is straight out of the book, not the hardest thing in the world to do...The speeches are easy, doesnt' really grade too hard and he tells you exactly what he wants, you really can't do too badly if you but 20 minutes worth of work into them...good luck, don't dread his class, just expect to be bored... | |
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SPC 217 Junior Grade Earned: C Required (Major) 1:28 pm, Dec 30, 2004 |
This class wasn't all that bad so if you can't get anyone else it's semi barable...He uses all of the class time mainly because he talks so slow, also when he presents the material he does a good job at giving you all the details a little to much though because he'll define something help you memorize it then changes it to his opinion or a completely different definition that screws you over if you're an audio learner. His tests are rather difficult just make sure to study his notes for the first two tests and THEN the BOOK for the final!!! Also his inclass rules made me feel like i was back in elementary school..from no wearing hats, chewing gum, to yelling at you if you came in late! The class was called Small GROUP communication NOT BUSY WORK!!! the inclass group time was a WASTE of my time and the one group presentation we had to do was due the mon after Thanksgiving break and he let us pick our topics which was fun but only TWO DAYS BEFORE break!!! It's ok if you've come to the end of a rope...Overall nice guy..maybe a little too nice, girls, if you're pretty he'll love you but if need to go to office hours I would go with someone. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 12:31 pm, Dec 23, 2004 |
Dr. Ausmus isn't nearly as bad as people make him out to be, and his class isn't too hard. I realized by the last speech that your speeches aren't hardly graded on substance at all but whether you meet all the criteria of the sheets he gives you for each speech. The speeches can be a little awkward because he actually makes you say "My attention getter is..." and "My key thought is..." but once you get used to the idea that doing those stupid little things gets you an A on your speeches then you don't mind it so much. There are three tests, non-cumulative final, each worth the same amount as a speech and it's all vocab, mostly out of the book. The only class notes that you have to take are when he wants you to use his definition of a vocabulary word on the test instead of the one from the book. Other than that there is absolutely no point in writing down the other stuff that he talks about. If you're good at memorizing vocab then this class won't be tough for you. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:57 am, Dec 23, 2004 |
Ausmus gets a bad rap, he is an extremely fair professor and grades his students only on what he asks of you. You give only three speeches throughout the entire quarter and have three exams including the final which are only on the vocab. from the book. For a general ed class this is the one to take the work load is easy and you know exactly what is expected of you to earn an A in the class, take Ausmus. The only warning I can give you is there is only 300 total points in the class so there isn't much room for error if you wish to earn an A. The vocab can be hard because you must not only define the word but use it in a sentence within the context of public speaking | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 6:50 am, Dec 22, 2004 |
O.k, I never went to Poly, but I did take Bill when he was a professor at UNI (university of Northern Iowa) in 1992. 14 years later, I am still looking up the guy to see where he is teaching and what students say about him. Does that tell you anything? He may be hard, he may be arrogant, but this guy will have an impact on you the rest of your life. If you found him tough, it's because he is pushing you beyond your limits. May not be something you want to hear, but life only gets tougher. Learn from this man! He knows what he is talking about!!! | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 5:35 pm, Nov 3, 2004 |
I found this class cool...Dr. Ausmus is derided on this page as beeing a preening egocentrist, and I cannot argue with that. He does it, though, in a way that is charming rather than self-aggrandizing. He does care about his students, and he has a great sense of humor--I guess it might be annoying if you're not in on the joke. The class involved a fair amount of reading and preparation for speech-making, but was by no means difficult. It is more theoretical in the sense of identifying the components that make a successful speech work rather than actually delivering a good speech, more like a 102 class, I would imagine. However, Dr. Ausmus is always up front with what he expects and it really isn't too hard to get an A in this class. Follow the rules and you'll be fine. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:57 pm, Jul 12, 2004 |
GOOD MEMORIZATION--that's the chunk of how you're going to ACE those exams on "public speaking." Excuse me, I thought public speaking is public speaking itself, not a test on key terms and such. See, you don't need superb memorization for the speeches because you can IMPROVISE. The test, good luck becuase if you have good memorization, take him...otherwise, DO NOT TAKE HIM. Your choice ... | |
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SPC 102 Junior Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:11 pm, Jul 7, 2004 |
OK so he's not as easy as everyone claims he is in their evaluations, and it's pretty hard to get an A in this class unless you like memorizing 200 vocab words for each test. He's very cocky and LOVES to hear himself talk. To be honest his lectures are interesting, but you are graded for attendance-if you miss more than 2 classes, he fails you. In addition, he thinks he is the greatest thing in the world because he has a PhD. Yeah that's great, but you don't need to tell us a thousand times, we get the point. Very macho, thinks he's the shit, but not the worst I've had here. For a 100 level class, however, you could get an easier, less waste of time teacher. | |
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SCM 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:04 am, Jul 3, 2004 |
He's okay. Loves to hear the sound of his own voice, but I figure that's a relatively common thing among Speech Profs. Tells lots of stories in class ('cause present material on Speech would pretty much be even MORE of a waste of time), and he is fairly interesting to listen to. Three speeches, and informative, a persuasive, and one on your major. Three tests, two midterms and a final, all three are on the glossary in the book, basically, which is pretty tough. He wants your definitions to be pretty verbatim. | |
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SCM 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 5:34 pm, Jun 25, 2004 |
Bill is an unusual prof. He jokes around and seems to just waste a lot of time, however, he also teaches the stuff well. More importantly, he is FAIR. When he says he grades on this or that, follow it to the letter! 3 speeches and 3 vocab tests. There are probably easier profs for this class, but ausmus acutally makes you a better speaker. | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 9:22 pm, Jun 20, 2004 |
DO NOT TAKE THIS TEACHER!! HE IS ARROGANT AND ALL HE EVER TALKS ABOUT IS HIMSELF AND HIS STUPID ACHIEVEMENTS!! HIS LECTURES ARE POINTLESS AND THE WAY HE MAKES US PRESENT SPEECHES IS RIDICULOUS! "MY SPECIFIC PURPOSE IS....MY THESIS STATEMENT IS...MY ATTENTION GETTER IS...ETC.." DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH HIM IF YOU CAN GET SOMEONE ELSE! PLEASE! | |
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SPC 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 6:55 pm, Jun 18, 2004 |
He talks too slow. And, instead of getting to the point, he always has to say something along the lines of "and now I'm going to tell you about ____." He expects the same of you on your speeches. So instead of giving a speech like you would in real life, you have to say something like... my thesis is ____, my main points are ___, ___, and ____, my attention getter is _____. I thought it made the speeches sound kind of stupid, but oh well.. at least you know exactly what you have to include in the speech. He'll still mark you off for little things, though. He gives three exams, one of which is the final, but counts for just as much as the others. NOT cumulative. All of them are vocab tests worth 50 points. Out of the 80 or so terms you have to memorize, he only tests you on 25. So it's 25 points for the def. and 25 points for making a sentence... both MUST be in the context of public speaking. Definitely take his class if you have a good memory. For his speeches, write out your whole speech word for word, and then just practice a couple times, and you'll do fine. I took maybe an hour preparing my speeches, and that's including research and practice. GOOD LUCK. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:58 pm, Jun 13, 2004 |
Prof. Ausmus...opps, Dr. Ausmus, is a VERY tough SCOM teacher. Take another one if you can. He KNOWS his stuff pretty well and you'll learn a great deal such as the history of Rhetoric. However, what it comes down to is your memorization of your readings and his lectures. If you have a bad memory or do not want to memorize many key terms, do not take him. If you do have a good memory, this class might be right for you. Dr. Ausmust is smart but serious, SCOM 101 isn't based on "the history of rhetoric" is based on how EFFECTIVE you DELIEVER your speeches. That's my opinion. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:10 am, Jun 11, 2004 |
Dr. Ausmus is a great speaker and really knows how to talk about the history of rhetoric. HOWEVER, I do not believe that doing speech should be "judged" on tests but based on speaking. His tests are SO difficult that a person with a good decent memory could do it. I have SO much difficulty remember key terms. Not to mention that you have to memorize about 50 key terms and only about 20 are going to appear on the test. If I was you, I would HIGHLY suggest another teacher...indefinitely. | |
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SCM 102 Senior Grade Earned: B General Ed 10:57 am, Jun 9, 2004 |
Not that bad of a teacher I guess, but if possible take someone else. | |
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SCM 102 Junior Grade Earned: D General Ed 11:04 am, Jun 3, 2004 |
Cocky Perverted Bastard | |
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SCM 102 Sophomore Grade Earned: C General Ed 2:01 pm, May 19, 2004 |
do not take this guy. apparantly he's good at handball, be brags about it everyday. also you have to call him doctor because he went to university of seattle. last time i checked it wasnt a very good college. his tests are impossible and speech criteria lame, dont take him. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 4:20 pm, Apr 22, 2004 |
Dr. Ausmus is a pretty good teacher. I learned a lot by taking his class. He makes you work hard on speeches, but tells you exactly what to say and when in them so that helps. His vocabulary tests are okay, but you have to study for them, its a lot of definitions. He is a very hard grader. He will mark you off for anything from "mouth noises" to "noisy jewelry" in your speech. I feel like a better speaker after doing the speeches. Overall it was a good class. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:49 pm, Mar 29, 2004 |
Pervert. Cocky. But he pretty much tells you exactly what'll be on the tests. He's a little over the top on grading speeches. Marks off for stance, mouth noises, etc. I didn't work very hard and got a B. I wrote every speech the night before and pulled high Bs. I'd say it's kind of difficult to get an A though. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A Elective 9:53 am, Feb 19, 2004 |
Dr. Ausmus makes this class very easy on his students. To get an A, just do what he says. If you mention everything required in the speech, you will get an A. It's that simple. There are 3 exams, consisting entirely of vocabulary, but they are easy and should help your grade; just be sure to be very specific. There are also 3 speeches. This is the best public speaking class on campus. I highly recommend taking Dr. Ausmus' class. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 8:15 pm, Feb 16, 2004 |
After my second quarter at poly, I still consider Dr. Ausmus to be the best professor I have had. Truthfully, his class was the only GE so far that I have gotten something from. My recommendation is to take his class if you really want to learn something. His only real requirements are that you pay attention to detail and put some effort into your speeches. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 3:11 pm, Jan 6, 2004 |
Speech with Dr. Bill was always the highlight of my day. To be fair, all the other comments written about him on this page are true. He is smug, he can be arrogant, and he does have an ego. Nevertheless, all of this comes off as charming rather than self-aggrandizing. Ausmus is a very smart guy and he knows the subject well. The lectures are interesting and cover diverse subjects, since public speaking is interdisciplinary. You will learn about the psychology, philosophical roots, history, and methods of speaking. Although the book is long and you will have to read quite a bit from it, the information does help out a lot. His grading policies are very fair, there are only three graded speeches and three vocab tests, and a sentence outline. For all of these, what is required is clearly laid out beforehand. The vocab tests cover the readings and the material covered in class. Take good notes and make flash cards, even if you are good at memorization. The speeches are graded half by-the-numbers (do you have the thesis statement, summary of main points, etc.) and half by effectiveness of the speech. The sentence outline is probably the easiest, all you have to do is write out your speech and use the proper form and citation. This is all fair and equitable. And enough about the rules, okay! It all boils down to don | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 10:49 am, Jan 5, 2004 |
Professor Ausmus is a good teacher and lecturer. He will teach you the required elements in a speech, but will not teach you how to give a good speech. If you follow the outline for a speech he has developed and gives to you the first day, you will get an A. If you decide that you're going to give a good speech, in addition to following his outline, you're not going to get a good grade. Stick to what he wants and it's an easy A, granted you study for the midterms throughout the quarter. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 10:08 pm, Jan 4, 2004 |
This class helped me not only to become more comfortable presenting a speech but also helped me to organize my thoughts into a well organized presentation. If you follow the requirements of each speech and practice your speech a couple times to get your timing down and to minimize your ums you will do great! He is an awesome teacher!!!! I was afriad to speak in front of a class and he helped me get over my phobia. He also had an outlining sheet that would help anyone write an awesome speech. I learned an easy way to outline and write a good speech. In this class I learned tools that will help me in the future and it was not stressful. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 9:23 pm, Jan 2, 2004 |
Dr. Ausmus is an eccentric guy, but mostly in a good way. He's not the most humble guy in the world, but he is a smart guy and seems to be happy with his life. I think everyone who took the class was much more comfortable giving a public speech after taking this class than before. He helps identify common problems with speeches and gives ways to help improve. Most of his lectures were boring, but essential to his tests, which consists of 25 vocabulary words taken from a few chapters in a book he chooses and the most essential terms in his lectures. The vocab words in the chapters are listed at the end of each chapter and there is an easy index in the back with the definition. Not necessary to read at all, although when I was preparing my speeches the book helped clarify organizational and logical thinking issues. If you are on top of your speeches and can memorize some vocab this is the class for you. He is a fair teacher and will honestly help you with speech, rather than many speech teachers who don't improve speech techniques at all. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 2:30 pm, Dec 26, 2003 |
When I first began SCOM 101 with Ausmus, I thought he was a complete ass. He'll actually said stuff in the syllabus like "you should always address the professor as 'doctor' or if you aren't sure of their educational status, call them 'professor'". He sure loves to remind you of how he got his doctorate--that was about all he talked about. He also loved to tell stories about how they asked him to be some great position at Cal Poly, but he said "no, no, just let me teach a GE class of freshmen." Wow--what a martyr. We would have a break half way through the class, and we would complain about him in the bathroom. I have many funny stories about this guy. Like once he told us a story about when he and his "ladyfriend" were at the zoo and he stared down a silver backed gorilla. Funny stuff. My roommate and I were rolling on the floor laughing when I related it to her. He was abused as a child though, so I do feel really bad about that. Once we started giving our speeches (we only had to do 3), he just sat there and watched the speeches, so we didn't have to deal with his inflated ego. On the whole, I don't think Ausmus is a bad guy. Something changed him in the middle of the class, once you get to know him better, and he started to come across as caring and stuff. He sometimes would greet us individually by our names, and seemed on the whole pretty nice. He is a stickler for detail though, so make sure you have the right font size, etc. The class work consisted of 3 vocab exams (no final or midterm, but be sure you have the definitions EXACTLY right. They have to be defined as they relate to public speaking), 3 speeches, and an outline for one of the speeches. The work was pretty easy, I never felt stressed out by it. we took some notes, but not a whole lot. The thing that annoyed me were that some of the words on the last exam weren't ones we were told to study. Other than that, the class was fairly small so no one seemed that nervous about giving speeches. I had a lot of anxiety, but here's a hint: if you have to write a speech, don't try to memorize it (because he'll take points off if you say "um") instead just write out the entire speech on your notecards. That's what I did, and I never got marked off for saying "um". He never checks notecards. Good luck with Ausmus. His bark is worse than his bite, and I think he really does care about his students. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 2:56 pm, Dec 17, 2003 |
Ausmus was terrible. He has no consitency to his grading...two answers that are totalyl simmilar can be totally wrong. i had A's on all of my speeches, and one of my tests...a b on my second test....and apparently the final dropped me to a c even with all of the other grades being high.... he stunk | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 2:04 pm, Dec 6, 2003 |
The speeches are easy, and the 3 tests throughout the year are all vocab. I would have gotten an A, but i didnt study my 2nd test's lec notes. He only lectures on material that will be on the test the day before the actual test. The only thing about him, is that he isn't affraid to toot his own horn. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 12:45 am, Nov 13, 2003 |
This professor sucks. He talks about himself all the time and about how he is so good at everything that he does. The worst part is when he tells you all about a phD, and how they are so much smarter than the average person. He claims that the only way knowledge advances is because of phD's. Then you can only use phD citations in your speeches, which like everyone else said is the most childish thing you can imagine. Whatever you don't take the guy. He is so specific on the exams. If you miss the keyword the question is wrong. The class is a joke. During our break everday, we would go outside and complain about how this guy is an idiot. DONT TAKE THIS PROFESSOR!!!!! | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 12:53 pm, Nov 3, 2003 |
This man is a creep! He flirts openly with female students and relates a lecture to sex every class period. Not only that but he makes you feel like a little kid by making you do childish things during your speeches such as saying "my thesis is ... and I plan to show you this by..." . If you think it can't get worse...the rest of class is filled with his ridiculous comments that stray from lecture and telling you how great he is for having a PHD. Wait a quarter for speech class to avoid this guy he is a waste of your money. | |
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SPC 102 Junior Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:53 am, Jul 30, 2003 |
My speaking abilities improved drastically after taking this class. 4 speeches are given and tests are vocabulary words taken from the reading... not necessarily bolded words :( This can make things difficult even if you studied. He is intimidating to talk to but is secretly quite a good guy once you break him of his shell. He wants to give college students the tools present themselves in a professional manner when needed. Overall, I'd recommend Ausmus especially to people who are terrified of public speaking. He really can make speech more of a pleasant experience. Oh yeah, attendance is mandatory so be on time unless you want your grade to drop... 1 tardy = 1 lower letter grade and 2 tardies = F. | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 3:14 pm, Jul 25, 2003 |
okay so this guy was kinda annoying. Ya kno those professors that wont stop telling you how hard it was for them to get where they are....he DOESNT let you forget how smart he is. Its almost freakish. Anyways - tests werent bad - but let em tell you - focus more on the class notes than the book definitions. He tricks ya evertime. i think i failied the final bc i didnt kno i had lost a page of notes . 25 definitions, each with an example - three tests...50 pts each. 3 speeches - 50 pts ea, 1 out line - DONT FORGET TO FOLLO HIS EXACT DIRECTIONS. i think i accidentally used a size 12 font on my cover sheet, and i lost 2 points - crap if you ask me - but whateves - i got a B+ - and i SUCK at public speaking. It soudned like i was gonna cry each time - oh well - im over it - be prepared for a pretty BS class tho - " my thtesis statement is, to catch your attention, to refute teh arguemnt...yah its crap - but easy crap...good luck | |
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SCM 102 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 5:23 pm, Jun 30, 2003 |
This professor is the best I've had at Cal Poly so far. He was awesome! He made speaking in front of a group a fun thing to do. He is very organized, presents the material clearly, and I loved going to his class. If you are deciding to take him or not do it because out of all my classes so far his was the best. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:05 pm, May 7, 2003 |
Ausmus is great. Take him. That's all I have to say. Take him. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 12:13 pm, May 1, 2003 |
Although DR.A is an EXTREAMLY easy teacher,all his mid-term are vocab right out of the book, and each speech is divided into parts that you have to announce in class, easy A. I will warn you not to get on his bad side. When it comes to understanding a student as a person he doesn't get and A in my book. He is an ego centric person who talks about himself and his wonderful life, like the university should be glad he is teaching here. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 7:45 pm, Mar 28, 2003 |
I thought SCOM 101 would be an easy "joke of a class," which is what most of my friends told me to expect. Well that doesn't apply to Dr. Ausmus - his class ended up being fairly difficult yet extremely rewarding. I learned a ton in his class, much of which will be invaluable for life in general (interviews, job presentations, ceremonies, etc), worked hard, and got an A. Dr. Ausmus is a top-notch graduate professor (very intelligent, publishes and researches regularly) teaching BY CHOICE entry level speech courses. He really wants to help prepare you for the future and develop your confidence and professionalism in public speaking. Those who think (actually seem to cry) otherwise are probably slacker, less-than-intelligent kids who have little-to-no motivation and likely will not advance very far in life. Sorry to be rude, but Dr. Ausmus is the REAL deal and takes teaching very seriously. If you want to learn and be challenged, there is no better professor. Otherwise, find someone else. | |
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SCM 101 Freshman Grade Earned: C General Ed 7:52 pm, Mar 19, 2003 |
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS WITH AUSMUS! Whatever you do, it is a mistake do not do it...I can not stress this enough, the worst speech teacher by far! If you like saying things like; in an appeal to mythos, to refute this and I beg the question then by all means put yourself thru the torture of Ausmus! Okay, to be fair he is a nice guy but thats all I can say! You will regret taking speech 101 with Ausmus! Oh and one more thing if you like saying...to get your attention, my thesis is, my purpose is, to preview my points, to review my points,to leave with you a key thought with no substitutes then by all means this class is for you! Dont get mixed up in a stupid speech class, cause come on now its hard enough to get up in front of 40 students! | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 7:00 pm, Mar 10, 2003 |
Dr. Ausmus was the best teacher I have ever had in my entire life. He makes you feel totally comfortable with speech, even if you are really nervous. I hated speech and was not looking forward to having this class at all. Dr. Ausmus made me feel confident when I was speaking in front of the class and helped me overcome my speech anxiety. His speeches are really easy to get A's on. All you have to do is state everything he wants in the speech so he can mark off that you said it. The only downer is that he gives tests on speech vocab where you have to know the definition of the word and how to use it in a sentence. The tests are no too hard though. Overall, I would take him again. He is an excellent teacher! | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 6:22 pm, Mar 4, 2003 |
This guy is a cocky dick. Worst guy ever. | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: B General Ed 1:10 am, Feb 1, 2003 |
What can I say but Dr. Ausmus has to be the best speech communication instructor that you can possibly take. His grading policies are completely fair and are consistent with what I thought I would recieve. Homework is basically reading the text and understanding keywords in the text. All the midterms are simple. He tells you what chapters they are on. All you need to do is study the key terms (I used notecards) and review lecture notes. Make sure you take lecture notes seeing as how at least a few of the terms are not in the text but come from his lectures. The speechs are pretty simple. We gave a total of 3 graded speeches and 2 CR/NC speeches (which only required about 30 secs of speaking or less.) His final is NOT a speech like other instructors but actually the same format as the midterms and it is NOT cummulative. When I took him, he reduced the amount of information we needed to know on the final because he took into account that we had other classes to study for. He definently looks out for you and your grade. As long as you give the speeches in the format told, study for the midterms and final, and turn in the one or two outlines, you'll do excellent. I give him an A because he presented the material great and if you had difficulties, he made sure you overcame them. If he taught other classes at Poly other than SCOM, I would take him for sure. | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:06 am, Dec 16, 2002 |
Professor Ausmus is one of those teachers you always hope to get, but never seem to find. He teaches clearly, succinctly, and manages to be humorous and lively at the same time. His 101 class was extremely engaging, and he clearly adjusts his material to his students | |
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SPC 101 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 11:39 am, Dec 9, 2002 |
I came to Poly Ratings when I had to choose a professor for speech. Dr. Ausmus didn't have the best ratings. I ended up taking his class anyways and I am that much better for it. The first few days of his class are crazy because he comes off as though every detail matter with him because he has weird policy's about yawning and such. But don't worry that wears off and when you get down to it his class is great. His midterms are easy and really help to boost your grade, they are straight vocab tests. He does grade speeches hard though, but is really willing to work with you and help. Often times people get lower grades on speechs because they don't meet the requirements. However, he gives you the requirements before every speech. He really encourages class feedback and questions. he wants you to participate and be more than just some stranger in the class. This is a great class, Ausmus was an awesome teacher. Note, if you are looking for a class that you don't have to go to, don't take Ausmus, he takes roll everyday and he will drop you if you have two unexcused absences. I really liked this class and the teacher. He knows speech and he wants you to do well!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck!!!!!!!!! | |
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SPC 101 Senior Grade Earned: B General Ed 2:23 pm, Nov 14, 2002 |
Bill is a pretty good guy. He is a bit odd with some of his rules as others have said, but once you get used to them it is fine. Contrary to what others have said I found him to be a very easy grader on the speeches. I didn't really think I did that good, but I always got good grades. The tests were easy, just vocabulary tests. It would have been very easy to get an A in the class if you study, but I decided against it and still got a B. | |
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SPC 201 Junior Grade Earned: B General Ed 8:22 pm, Nov 2, 2002 |
Bill is the best speech professor at Cal Poly. He emphasizes professionalism in his class room hence the rules about caps and being respectful to the teachers while they are lecturing. It personally bothers me when late students just cut in front of a professor and disrupt the class because they can't bother to come to class on time like the rest of us. Bill is very personable which is beneficial for people who haven't spoken in front of large audiences and are kind of nervous. Bill gives 3 tests and a Final, all based upon comprehension of the vocab of the assigned chapters. He also assigns about 3 to 4 speeches grades directly off of a "procedure" which he hands out before each speech. He is very personable in office hours and had extensive knowledge on what appeared to be everything to help with creation and perfection of your speeches. | |
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SPC 102 Senior Grade Earned: N/A General Ed 11:03 am, Jun 21, 2002 |
Dr Bill is an excellent professor. He does try and scare you off the first day, but don't be afraid of that. He treats you as if you were in the real world. He grades very hard on the speaches, but makes up for it on his easy tests. I highly reccomend taking him for speech. You will actualy learn something in a 100 level class | |
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SPC 101 Sophomore Grade Earned: B General Ed 11:58 am, Jun 12, 2002 |
Ok, whoever wrote the evaluation beore mine must have been taking a different professor. Someone had recommended Bill to me before I chose him for Speech, well apparently christmas vacation did a number on Bill and he went bezerk winter quarter, which was when I took it. He has a million rules ranging from no hats to standing at the front of the class until he acknowledges you if you are late. He is an extremely harsh graderon speeches, and even if someone is the absolute worst speaker and sucks and is totally uninteresting, he will give them an A if they have their components, which is fine if you suck but for those people who are good, their style gets minus points. He definitely has favorites ( I absolutely cannot stress this enough) and once he forms his opinion of you it cannot be changed. I got a B in the class, and worked my butt off. We were all sitting there thinking, holy hell, how is this a 100 level class???!!! TONS of work and not much reward if you ask me. Overall I would rate Bill a C. he gets minus points for being anal retentive. | |
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SPC 102 Freshman Grade Earned: A General Ed 2:11 pm, Jun 10, 2002 |
This is the best teacher that i have had at Poly! Don't let Bill scare you off the first day, even though he seems intimidating and demanding at first, you'll find out that he is the nicest, smartest, and coolest guy youll ever meet. Bill really LOVES to teach and is so DAMN good at it. He realtes so well the the students and makes you wanna come to class and hear what he has to say about the Communications world. He is so freakin smart it will amaze you. He is fluent in five launguage and knows every thing you could possibly think of. He has three tests (including the final) which aren't tough because he is able to teach the info so brilliantly. If you are nervous about public speaking dont be--Bill is able to make everyone in the class feel so comfortable with talking in front of a group. So when you have to take a public speaking class, take this one, i promise you wont regret it one bit! | |
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