Dicus, Christopher  

I would prefer that the instructor for this class had more firefighting experience rather than a PhD. The material he goes over in his class and the books we use are good wildland firefighting resources, but Dr. Dicus likes to try and trick you on his tests and quizzes, which is the only reason why this class can be challenging. This is a fire class, and fire classes are supposed to be fairly easy. At least they should be rather easy for Cal Poly students. Going into this class I was thinking easy A, but I ended up doing better in my GE classes, which I thought was a joke. We had a pretty cool lab teacher, which made going to lab fun. You get a few certs from the class, but they don't do much for you unless you want to work for the Forest Service. Luckily for anyone taking this class next year they are stepping it up a notch and after completing the course you will receive the CDF 67 hour wildland cert, which you pretty much need in order to get hired with CDF. I came to Cal Poly for this major because I want to be a firefighter. So far this is my first fire class, and I haven't learned much more than I already knew from previous experience. I think it would be crucial for Cal Poly to form more of an alliance with CDF to offer more classes that would benefit those wanting to become firefighters and giving recognized certs for those classes. Some examples would be Firefighter I, Rescue Systems I & II, Fire Prevention 1A, Basic ICS I-200, Haz Mat FRO & Decon, EMT, and other courses that Cal Poly students would benefit from. Getting the CDF 67 hour wildland cert approved by CDF for this course for next year is a great start, but I think this program has a lot more potential to get even better.

Totally and 100% agree with other eval. I know a few others that do as well.

itseemslike 1/2 of the Forestry department are Fire and Fuels concentrations, it is sad that Dicus is our concentraton professor and that by the time we graduate we get no certifications that are worth while. We need an experienced firefighter for Dicus's job, he hs a PHD but if something is not in a book he does not know the answer. They do a lot for the students going into the logging industry but Dicus does nothing for students going to make careers in firefighting (he has no connections as he was not in the business). Some of the students are more knowledgeable about his material. I am really disapointed that my friends giong to Handcock college are more ready to get a job than we are after fire and fuels concentration. I get the vibe that he wants us to do bad as his tests try to trick you, testing you on how you can take test rather than knowledge on the material. Now that I have taken most of his classes and been around the business I just feel there are better people for the job, or Dicus needs to do a better job.

Dr. Dicus is a very fair and thorough teacher. He lectures via power point, and although he goes through the slides fast sometimes, he always makes sure to put the lectures on blackboard so the students can access it at their leisure. His quizzes are multiple choice, and as long as you look through the notes from the previous class and do the assigned reading, you really should be fine. Yes, some of the questions can be tricky with the wording, but this is college, not kindergarten. If you know what you're doing, and you understand the material, you'll know what the right answer is. I don't think he's trying to trick us, I think he's challenging us to understand the information. As far as people saying how he's got his PhD instead of more fire experience, I think their being a little too critical. Dr. Dicus is here to present us the thinking skills and background info that is imperative to know before becoming a firefighter. Dave Fowler, the lab instructor and a firefighter himself, is the guy who is here to show us how to do use the equipment, apply the safety precautions, etc - that's why there's a lab and a lecture. I think Dave and Dr. Dicus do a good job in their respective classes and it's a great way to learn about fire with a hands-on approach and an informational approach.

I think Dicus is a good guy who presents the material to us... as every teacher does...so it is up to us to learn it. I think he doesnt trick us and he offers lots of insight into fire and fuels. I am in the fire and fuels concentration and i think i am getting a good deal. Take the class it is interesting and it is hard to fail.

Hey... in response to the guy that said "No student would say this about Dr. PHD Dicus. Dicus obviously wrote this last entry about himself" that was MY evaluation, and I am NOT Dr. Dicus. Don't make assumptions. Dicus is a good guy, so back off.

Dang what the heck, man. I ain't his mommy, but I bet his mommy could kick your butt!

listen all of you, stop your damn arguing, you are all a bunch of laymens, stop insulting the instructor, or just chiming in if you are simply wanting to be heard, he teaches the science of fire, not how to sweet and lay hose and drive an engine, you don't need a 4 yr school for that stuff, you can graduate highschool and get certifications, and drive the big red fire engine. just remeber when your doing that at 40, and looking back at how much your life is stagnant and that you haven't got a raise since you were 28, that if you actualy learned the science of fire management, that you would be inturn a fire manager, not humping hose up the hill. which is still a very honorable profession, and important as related to the public well-being and safety..... This program is designed to give the "fire fighter" the ability to promote and manage forests in a smart manner.

Ok so lets be real...if you get past the fact that B & T, you all know who I mean, are not funny and actually pay attention in class, study a little, and keep your nose clean you will succeed in this class. Yes sometimes Dicus can word questions a little tricky, but lets face it most of it is common sense...READ CAREFULLY and THINK!!! Dicus is a good teacher who does genuinely care about his students and wants to seethem succeed. Do all this and it should be at least an easy B, maybe more if you really try.

I think that a lot of you need to realize that Dr. Dicus isn't teaching you to become Fire Fighters, you are being taught to become Fire managers. I agree that it does help to have someone that has more fireground knowledge than he does, and that is one of the reasons that Dave teaches the lab, but he works hard to learn the the things that he needs to teach. He also teaches things in his class that you wouldn't get until you take s-290, or s-390 (NWCG classes). Coming out of that class (if you paid attention) you will have learned a lot more than most new Fire Fighters learned in their training. As for becoming a Fire Fighter nothing is stopping you from going out and testing with departments right now, or getting seasonal jobs. There have been pleanty of CP students that have gotten fire jobs without taking FNR 204.

I will start out with posotives about Dr. Dicus. I actually like how he organizes the material on power point. I think it is easy to follow and that he does a great job of breaking the text up with pictures. Yet this is where the posotive ends. The tests he gives are worded in order to trick you, in many cases the questions are asked in the wrong way which will lead you to the wrong answer. If you ever confront him about it he will give some generic bullcrap excuse and and change the subject. He is one of those guys that will refuse to admit he made a mistake even if you have the evidence right there before his face. So pretty much you can get a question wrong just because he messed up even if you knew the right answer and he will not even consider your opinion or veiw. Dont get me wrong, he is a nice guy that probably went through a lot of schooling to get to the point his is at. Yet his experience in the feild is lacking and his overall knowledge of the topic is less than par. To all the FRN students that have the wildland fire and fuels major...just do you best to get through the classes he teaches, they are extremely frusterating and disapointing but that life...

Dicus is amazing! He presents information clearly, the lectures are really interesting, you know exactly what is going to be on the tests, and the tests are way easy. As long as you show up to class, this class is an easy A.

Dicus is an awful teacher. make sure you spend your time on the 5th floor in 208 though from the beginning, and don't fall behind

No student would say this about Dr. PHD Dicus. Dicus obviously wrote this last entry about himself.

I never called Dicus a bad person, if you are not Dicus then you must be his wife or mommy or someone like that.

If you want a teacher to make a class harder than it really is then take "Dr." Dicus. He is a teacher that could give a crap about his students when it comes to questions outside of class. His tests are worded poorly and there are usually mistakes on everyone one of his tests. Seems like the kind of guy that likes being a teacher because he has power over his students.

Dicus isn't the worst teacher I've ever had, but definitely not the best. His lectures are all powerpoints which he puts online, as other people have said, but his questions on the tests always seem to be much more specific than the powerpoints. He expects you to remember ridiculous details about trees/plants for midterms, and the questions are often not worded clearly, or have misspellings. It seems like he whipped up the tests at the last minute, and it frustrates everyone in the class. He uses the same stupid jokes every single class period, and some of them are can actually be pretty offensive. He has been at Poly for over 10 years, I would expect a much more professional teaching style.

I am halfway through this class and already thoroughly enjoy it. I don't really know why he has such bad reviews. Maybe it is because I am in the summer course, but personally I think his expectations are very straightforward and reasonable, the lectures clearly presented, and he tries to make the assignments fun even if they are a little silly. He is clearly very knowledgeable and experienced on this very interesting subject, but also recognizes the fact that it is a GE and it is not the focus for many of us. I loved the online lectures, and although he kind of annoyingly plays up the (literally uses the word) "redneck" thing I've had WAY, WAY, WAY worse professors like LOL at some of the things these people say. Get a thicker skin and stop being so combative. I'd totally recommend this class. Don't let the bad reviews scare you away of this professor or this class.

I've taken Dicus for 2 classes, Dendro and Fire Ecology, and from a purely academic standpoint I would not take him again. Ever. While other reviews have stated that he is a nice guy outside of school boundaries, which I agree with wholeheartedly, his teaching ability is not up to Cal Poly standards. I found him to be wholly unorganized, and in the dendro class he actually mislabeled some of his slides, leading to confusion on the midterms. When I went to office hours and pointed this out he pretty much told me I was wrong and that he wasn't going to change my grade. Same thing happened in Fire Ecology. He's not good at returning emails, to the point where I almost wasn't able to add the class because he didn't respond with an add code until the last day of the late appeal process. Just be prepared to work harder than you should to get a good grade in his class.

After having Denrology with Dr. Dicus I was very dissapointed with his performance as a teacher. Some of that may have been due to the class itself and not the teacher, but overall he seemed more into locking the door at ten past the hour so people could not take the quiz than actually teaching. That being said, FNR 307 changed my veiw of Dr. Dicus. In my opinion, he did a great job teaching this class. He stayed organized and was always prepared for class. The powerpoints were put on blackboard within the day of the actual presentation along with all assignments and readings. I dont know what has changed but he seems like he actually cares about the student understandding the material. He would always answer questions to the best of his ability and whenever I approached him after class he was always willing to help. Overall I think if he begins to treat all his classes like this class then he will can much more respect from the student community in the future. Coming from someone who disliked Dr. Dicus, he has honestly turned my opinion of him 180 degrees.

I am very greatful for the B in the class, but grades shouldn't be the goal of the class. I am writing this a year after the class, and I remember almost nothing of what was taught. The only thing I clearly remember is how poor of a teacher Dr. Dicus really is. Hopefully other teachers in the department read these and can do something about it. I feel it is my obligation to post this, and this is the only poly ratings I have ever posted. Unfortunately for the students who read this, there is probably no alternative teacher. Fortunately I think there is for Dendro (Dr. Dicus, auxillary buds are not stipules!). How this teacher became a Doctor I don't know (Oh yeah, LSU, cause you know how much Louisiana is a harbor for geniuses). Make sure you know the LSU scores (thats right fellow teachers), cause that might be on a quiz. In every class I have taken with Dicus he is completely irrational when it comes to any sort of compromise with students. A teacher should be focused on getting you to learn the material and getting you closer to graduation, not to be solely mindful of your p's and q's. Unfortunately I cannot give specific examples because I still have another class with him. The only benefit I think of him being a teacher is taking pictures of the class and having you remember everone the people. Another teacher can easily pick up the slack on that. ASK ANYONE! 39 of 40 will say he is a horrible teacher and should not be a teacher. I know the major is a big family and it would be hard to disown him, but for the sake of the students, PLEASE GET RID OF HIM, a grad student would be leaps and bounds better, none of his personal experience enriches the course. His kid sucks ass too and should not be allowed on field trips.

Dr. Dicus is a hilarious, easy going professor who tries to make the class funny and enjoyable. Some people bag on him, but I think he is an awesome teacher. He teachers with powerpoints, so if you ever miss class you can just get the notes off blackboard. Study hard, his questions can be tricky (e.g. lots of A, B, either A and B, neither A nor B kind of stuff) but he is only trying to help you learn. Also, its great he takes our pictures and then tests us on people's names (easy points on the test). He's encouraging us all to get to know each other, which I think is something overlooked by most profs. (P.S., Chris should make his own show called Dicus' World like Wayne's World.)

crap teacher, narcisist, poser. He just sucks, sorry if you have to take him

Dicus seemed to be generally affable and was somewhat enthusiastic about the material. In all my interactions with him outside of lecture/lab hours he was reasonable/understanding. That said, he has a kind of shitty attitude about his job as a professor and is absent too much. He also ends up rehashing a lot of the same information for labs, which is good for test grades, but makes them kind of a waste of time. He often is distracted by irrelevant anecdotes which take up a not insignificant portion of class time.

Dr. Dicus is an energetic lecturer who, in my opinion, does not have the passion to teach. He seems more like the kind of guy who should actually be doing something out there helping fight fires instead of sitting here at Cal Poly teaching. He doesn't seem to really care about his students and can be unprofessional in communicating with them. I had a bad experience where I *had* to be gone during the week of the first midterm (had mandatory training for work that week, cannot miss otherwise I'm fired which means that I cannot pay for school). Dr. Dicus let a grad student teach the first 4 weeks of the quarter for him, so at this point, I have never even met him. I e-mailed and phoned Dr. Dicus regarding possibly meeting with him to discuss my problem. I received a brief answer on the matter through his student teacher that "No, you cannot make up the exam." He didn't e-mail me for another week with the same answer in the body of the message. Dr. Dicus did not even once want to meet with me to discuss ths matter. I understand that he is strict on his policies (which in my opinion, he should rethink), but why did he not even want to meet with me? He did NOT want to listen to my problem and did NOT want to deal with it. His policy forced me to take the class CR/NCR. The most frustrating part of all is that after he showed up to start lecturing in week 5, he kept calling the course a "flaky GE course". Honestly, if this class is as unimportant as he makes it out to be, why is he such a stickler on make up exams especially when his student is stuck between a rock and a hard place? Other things worth mentioning: Dr. Dicus can be unprepared. He went out of town and was supposed to have us watch a presentation/video that we can get from Blackboard. That file was not made available until two weeks later right before the second midterm. Last but not least, there was a 30-minute presentation that we're supposed to do in class, but he *forgot* to give us the assignment and so at the end of the quarter when he switched back to having the student teacher teach us, she had to give us the assignment just 4 days before it's due. Dr. Dicus may have a PhD, but he is most definitely not the best teacher in the world and is below average regarding student relations.

Worst teacher at Cal Poly...nuf said...

Fire and Socity was a cool class. The only people who fail this class is the students that don't go because they think they know it all (yes I am talking about you FNR Fire students) Go to every class, study the power points and DO NOT BLOW OFF CLASS. He gives points for stuff in class that if you were not there you loose. If you like a fun light BS class, then take FNR 308. I had fun and enjoyed all the activities. I would take this class again in a heart beat, just study the ppts more before the tests.

If you show up to class, review the PPTs which he posts on-line, the weekly quizzes are a breeze. The in-class or take home assignments are easy points. The final is just a repeat of the exact questions from the weekly quizzes. The only challenge is the paper but if you can't write a 6 page research paper then what are you doing at Cal Poly. Dicus is funny and easy going. Take this class.

Dicus is definitely full of himself. If you like listening to how much of a "Christian" he is, how much his wife adores him, and enjoy the degrading slides showing animal cruelty and those making fun of Louisianans (depite the fact that the man when to LSU), then this class is for you. This man needs to grow up.

You have to show up to the labs and actually put down legit answers, grades them way too hard and cost me a whole letter grade. Besides that lectures are ok and easy tests.

I have been at Cal Poly for four years and have taking a lot of classes, but \"Dr.\" Dicus is by far one of the worst contributions to this university. He is lost in his own studies and seems completely disconnected from the class for the most part. In addition he lost school work and needs to go back and learn how to do some math.... giving a class of almost 30 in 2 days with 2 hours for each student to do 15min presentation... you do the math. How in the world people like this are able to teach or much less get a PHD is beyond me

I took FNR 340 with Dicus and the class was not what I expected. I was very frustrated with the fact Dicus was seldom there during the quarter. It really was agravating when we would get our homework back the day of the midterm without any feedback. I am also sick of Boudreux and Tibido they need to die and never comeback. On the other hand Dicus tries to keep on top of the fire community and has a lot of academic experience and knowledge- Dicus has his faults and he is not my favorite teacher- and I will ding him when he needs it- but most of those comments in the 455 class that were just posted were rather unfair. Dicus is hardly the only teacher to mention his religious beliefs in class or the only one to make cracks about school time interfering with family time.

Dicus does a good job in 340 teaching us on how to utilize the fire programs (i.e. behave plus, farsite, fire family plus) just like fbans do on real fires. The one-day trip to Yosemite was a bit much to ask for in terms of driving distance, but once you get there its pretty cool. The only thing that sucked was that for a good few hours we were literally just standing and listening to people talk instead of seeing firsthand examples of how fire is managed at the park like we did later in the day. Overall, Dicus's tests are hard and a bit tricky, even though they are not mult. choice in this class, so be careful. On the farsite test, there is a question that is kinda tricky, so make sure to put "night time" because the fire slows down at night. Everyone in our class missed that one.

What the guy/gal below said. Amen. I too took this class and have long since graduated from Poly, but I was cruising Poly Ratings for a kick and thought that I should pipe in and let you know how much of a joke this prof is.

As I continue to take more and more classes with Dicus, I continue to lose respect for the guy. Like many of the other professors in the FNR department (Gill, Vilkitis), he is full of himself and thinks he should be worshiped because he has a Phd. He treats his students like they are sixth graders and holds himself on a platfrom like he is the president. These professors need to remember that they work for the students, and are here to give us an education, not brag about having a degree. Above all he thinks he is some sort of fire guru. The fact is he understands the science of fire in a lab, and that is it. There is not only a gap, but almost no connection between this scientific theory he knows and continually talks about, and what the real world is really like. What kills me is he takes moments to reflect on this utter genious he thinks he has, to comment on some nearly completely made up fact that I know is wrong and ficticious. I think he tries to be something he is not. If he would stick to presenting what he knows and what he has studied, and stop acting like he is all-knowing, people would have more respect for him.

Dr. Dicus needs more experience before he can begin to answer questions that are not in the book. What he says is what he knows. If you ask him a question you are most likely to get a response saying "I'm not really sure" or "I don't know". He's not even resourceful. That's all he says. He won't tell you where you might be able to find the answer or even try to figure it out himself and he doesn't even bother looking it up himself and getting back to you. So don't bother asking questions because you won't get an answer. If you are unsure of what he's asking on the tests, ask before answering. Sometimes he paraphrases questions incorrectly and asks the wrong thing. However if you answer correctly he still deducts points. Even though it's his fault that he meant to ask something else. He needs to rewrite his questions correctly.

First of all this class covers EXACTLY THE SAME SHIT THAT DICUS TEACHES IN EVERY FUCKING CLASS HE INSTRUCTS. We need a new fire "expert" in the Forestry department. Hey Dicus why has it taken you 3 fucking times to try to pass the RPF and you still haven't done it, oh wait I know, YOU are a fucking high and mighty idiot. I am sick of hearing about how you didn't get any from your wife cuz you were grading your stupid fucking tests that are so long it would take 3 hours to finish. Also try and be a little more professional and keep your religious beliefs to your fucking self, lucky I don't report your ass for imposing your values and morals on us and for all the sexually harassing comments you constantly make. No one cares about your worthless and boring personal life, so keep it to yourself and teach us something you haven't already taught us and leave your religion and morals at home, no one in their right mind would ever want to be like you.

I think that some people are going off on Dr. Dicus too much... some of it is deserved for sure, but some of it is probably just letting out some built up frustration. The exams were too long for the time we were given, which majorly sucked and why all of us are pretty pissed, but the class was definitely informative and taught how to keep homes and infrastructure more fire-safe.

Dr. Dicus, RPF Phd as he likes to be called by his students. This man has to be one of the worst teachers I have ever had in my life. He admits to the students that he doesn\'t even enjoy being a teacher, he uses his power as a professor to gain access to research grants so he can further buld his name. Chris Dicus is a man filled with insecurities and internal. In classes he is rudely unprofessional and demeaning to students who are eager to learn the material. I know that he is well know among all students as the worst teacher in the NRM department. I truly hope he reads this and makes improvements in his teaching and his ridiculous stories that everyone has heard ten times over. If you are a freshman or sophmore I would put off his class because I dont think he is going to last to much longer at Cal Poly, even with his ten year behind him which he loves to tell you about. Sincerely- a concerned student

Totally uncompromising pompass ass. Completely full of himself yet still very unintelligent. This man should not be teaching anyone anything. The fact that the administration has kept him around boggles the mind. We can only hope he finally gets the boot when someone acuses him of sexual harassment or something.

In now way does this evaluation reflect Dicus's personality or character outside of the classroom. Truth be told, he isn't such a bad guy outside campus boundaries. However, this is, hands down, the worst professor/educator/knowledge-bestower that I have ever had in all my higher education. Three words to best describe his teaching style would be POMPOUS, UNORGANIZED, & UNREASONABLE, meaning the material you will be tested on will not come from his lectures at all. Most exams were short answer and graded with favoritism towards specific students as proven by differing scores for identical exam responses. Fails to show any sympathy for struggling students, and leaves them to figure it out on their own (getting help from actual professors of the college), or fail. I wouldn't recommend any student taking a course with him if it can be avoided.

his kid is fat and got expelled for waving his weiner out the school bus window...go back to arkansas you fuckin red neck cunt

This guy sucks my ass. He continually tries to make light/fun of catastrophic events that have happen in the past such as firefighter fatalities or communities that were destroyed by a wildland fire. He always puts pointless "catch phrases" in his slides along with a picture him standing in his pristine nomex gear. He also says "whats out there" on a regular basis either when he doesnt know what to say during lecture, or when someone confronts him on the load of bullshit that he is feeding the class.