Gaisi De Torres, Nora  

Nora is a very nice lady and I'm sure she means well...she's just not the best teacher. Her lectures are slide-based and extremely repetitive. I've seen her literally spend 25 on a single slide with four points..it's like she just rephrases the same sentence over and over and over. Quite boring. She also tends to needlessly digress multiple times throughout the class, and you might find it very hard to stay awake. Outside research project and the article critique aren't hard, but I ended up getting B's on both and not really knowing what I did wrong. Tests are fairly easy. Oh, and she loves it when students participate. So speak up!

I'm not familiar with the other teachers in the soc department, but I had a less than pleasant experience with Ms. Gaisi De Torro. There's a lot of talk on here about her being "nice", but a more fitting word would be oblivious- she'll smile and stare into the distance while repeating bs about a powerpoint slide for 15-20 minutes. Her lectures are neither here nor there; I was better off reading the book than actually listening. She hardly made herself available on campus, and when I would ask questions (in the classroom or during office hours) she would either go off on an irrelevant tangent or fail to offer constructive criticism. It's hard to take her seriously; she teaches the most general of subjects (i.e. 50+ pages in the textbook about respecting other cultures/not being a racist) and she still only has a master's degree. If you want an A, read the chapter before she goes over it, and then raise your hand in class (no one contributes) and pretend to offer original ideas, but never suggest anything is better than sociology. She has a film critique worth a quarter of your grade, but honestly it's better to be fake than original. That being said, write something about how horrible sweatshop labor is or something. good luck

I had Nora for both Soc 110 and 111 and could not have been happier with my experience. As a social science major i found these intro classes to be extremely helpful in orienting me to sociology. She presents the material in a clear and effective way and always answered any questions i had during or after class. The work load was very manageable and the outside papers were even interesting. She takes attendance occasionally and loves class participation. Overall the classroom atmosphere was very open and light. I would highly recommend her.

This class was a total waste of my time. Professor Gaisi is a very nice and accomodating woman, but I came away from the class with nothing. She stays on the same slide with three points for a half an hour while the class disrupts her lecture and talks amongst themselves. She was too nice of a woman to take complete control over the classroom. While she is very intelligent she does not make the best teacher.

This is the first C I have recieved in my entire life. I hope that says something to all of you out there watching their GPA. Do not take him--this class was a nightmare!