Faruque, Omar  

I am a transfer student and I took Omar's course last year. To date, I have not found a better professor. He is an excellent teacher. He knows his subject and can motivate students. I had fun. I also learned a great deal. He IS Yoda. I bet, he could teach you to be Jedi Master too! I love his singing and how he connects music with design.

I learned alot about drawing in 110 as well as how brilliant Omar's daughters, and all the sandscript and Bengali folk songs I need to know. Sometimes Omar's views and ideas on education are too much for the average fun loving student. Omar believes every student should be hardcore into academics and nothing else but you could still get a good grade in his class by putting forth many hours on homework assignments. Don't mistake him for yoda.

Hello, I am a male student currently attending the beautiful campus of the California Polytechnical State University at San Luis Obispo. My entire life consists of attending class and deliniating the Tonal Value of objects such as grapes and buildings like Dexter using the ancient technique of pencil shading and a new revolutionary technique known as pointilism. I like to spend endless hours of my time putting over two billion dots into a landscape picture. If you would like to experience the awsome syndrome known as Carpel Tunel, then you will greatly enjoy LA 110 taught by the very quirky and semi-eccentric man known as Omar. He likes to scream randomly during class, make comical statements and actions, and assign endless amounts of tonal value assignments. If you're a landscape architecture major, this class is a requirement and I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Have fun, good luck, and watch out for the trout!

Faruque Is the best of the professors I had at Cal Poly. I learned a lot from his class. He is thorough and demanding. You can expect a lot of work in his course, but at end I was glad that I took the class. I now know the stuff that is so important for other courses in this major. He really knows how to teach and be creative. He is very funny and yet very informative. I never had a dull moment during his lecture or review sessions.

These guys below are major ass kissers. You will have at least 3 of these guys in your year no matter what. You can very easily spot them by just asking someone you suspect of being an ass kisser, what their opinion of Omar is. If they love him and think he is the greatest thing in the world, well they are probably an ass kisser. Omar can draw, but he can't teach. If he is so smart and has a degree in both Arch and LA, why is he teaching at Cal Poly in LA rather than making $200,000 a year at a firm, or own his own? Think about it ass kissers.

Despite what I first thought Omar does know what he is talking about, to a point. I don't understand why so many students are in love with the guy as he really isn't a very good teacher. He doesn't remember anyone except possibly one or two people in the class and those are only because they have their head all the way up his ass. Consiquently, those are the only two A grades he will give. He simply does not give out A grades to freshmen taking his drawing classes. As someone else mentioned, you work for hours on the final drawings and you end up with a B. Or you work for a couple hours and you get a B. His grading system is completely wrong, just like most of the department. (Though they really showed the 5th year people this year who was boss when they failed some people.) I wouldn't worry about this class too much freshmen. Just turn your stuff in on time and at least half ass it and you will get the same degree as the guy who busts his ass. Though your portfolio will suffer and you won't get a job, so do what suits you.

Well, this was a rude introduction into Landscape Architecture. Basically, I got shafted. Hard Core. I had a B. I did the work. I tried SO HARD on the final project. It was 7 drawings, and they took a total of 20 or so hours. I dont know what happened, but I geuss he didnt like my work to much. If you want a good grade in this class, act like you are interested in Sanskrit poetry (i didnt), and get lots of brown all over your nose.

If you feel like doing endless hours of work and getting nearly the same grade as the chup across the room, WHO TURNS IN SLOP I would HIGHLY recomend this class. You DO get a little sticky note point breakdown of your scores for each assignment, yet it is very hard to dissern exactly what you might have done wrong OR right. Even when asked directly as to what makes something good or bad, Omar avoids the question. I suppose he wants us to be self-sufficient or something noble like that. If you do get him make sure you can get ahold of your friends outside the class, so you can make sense of his directions, which arn't directions at all. It's almost like he only explains some parts of the assignment and lets us be "CREATIVE" and figure out the rest on our own, and then in thye end WE ALL DID SOMETHING WRONG. On the plus side, if you want more time on a project and ask for it, usually you get it. He lets the class decide. And his class IS fun, despite my gripes, I enjoy it, he's a funny guy, and goes of on alot of really nice LONG tangents. Plus even though the class is slotted for 5 hours we usually get out after 2. If you can handle thinking for yourself and have got a high tolerance for confusion, this is the class for you. Cheers!

Omar is a great teacher. If you have any interest in landscape architecture, and want to learn to design and draw, Omar is the man to take. He is a demanding teacher, which is why so many people rag on him here, but if you want to improve your skills do not hesitate to sign up for this class. Everyday he assigns some design/drawing task for you to bring to the next class, which you spend most of the class critiquing the drawings. Its extremely helpful and worth your while to see yours and everyone elses drawings' strong points and weaknesses. Design cannot be taught, it is one of those things you have to develop on your own. Omar is there to guide you and tell you sweet stories about India and his life.

I swear the only reason the LA department keeps this guy around is to try and scare off Freshman LA students so they can take more transfer students. This is just a beginning drawing class, nothing to do with Landscape Architecture. Omar is an excellent artist, but a horrible teacher. If you are a freshman you get him for winter quarter too, which should be titled LA 113: Beginning Prisma Colors. You have to buy a ton of markers that just dry up in a year. Learn AutoCAD instead since no one uses markers anymore to do anything.

DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU CAN!!! Yes, he is an interesting guy and you get out of class 2 hours early every day, but he doesn't teach!!!! This class is suppose to be a beginning drawing class and he grades like you have been drawing since you were born. There isn't too much drawing homework, but when it comes to the 2 tests during the quarter, it's impossible. He gives no time to finish it! Then there are the finals drawings which take forver, but at least you can do them over Thanksgiving break... that's all you will be doing over break so don't plan to have any fun. My advice; don't take him and if you have to,don't let it discourage you... he's just a psycho Indain dude that doesn't teach you how to draw.

Omar's awesome. yes he gives you a heavy workload, but if your planning on being a landscape architect, get used to it, you have to do it for another four years. People complain he doesn't teach, but you become better at drawing by, well, drawing a lot. And that's what you do in this class and he will tell you what you need to change.

Omar DOES not TEACH! If you\'re looking for someone to hold your hand and pat you on the back--continue looking. He\'s a blustery, fussy, demanding twit, but if you can handle the withering on the spot critiques, you will learn a lot from him. Don\'t expect him to be nice EVER! If you make it through senior year without a complete fail, you might earn a minute degree of respect from him.

The legends of Omar are sometimes overwelming, so I was hesitant this last quarter when I took his design studio. Basically the class is all about how to draw; however, there is really no instruction. He assigns the project after talking about it and off topic things for a couple hours and then asks you to take a \"shrimp walk\" to read his mind on how he wants the assignment done. His grading is subjective, so if he likes your drawings you will be fine, otherwise the quarter is pretty frustrating. I had no drawing background so this class literally took over my life.

LA 170 with Omar was a fantastic class. You will learn more from him in 170 than you will with Cesar. Omar won't hold your hand or even help you that much necessarily, but you will learn how to draw and design.

Great Professor! If you are a week or lazy student do not sign up for his class. He is a demanding professor and will make you work hard. But you will learn a lot!

OMAR IS THE COOLEST PERSON EVER. I haven't had this much fun in a class in such a long time. He's the most knowledgeable person I've met so far in the profession. He's loads of fun, understanding and incredibly intelligent. He may try to act like he's a harsh grader, but all he really wants is the best for his students. This class totally made my quarter.

Make sure you ask abou the "shrimp walk" on the first day of class and the time Omar had dinner with Peter Walker. He will love your knowledge of his life and will give you an A-. #YOLO

This dude, named Omar the great Faruque, is the most chill and coolest LA professor you will ever meet.. I had this legendary professor during my freshman year and oh man this was like the most chill class ever man. Its like every time you go to the class, it feels like you are just smoking bag full of dope man. This dude knows whats going on and knows what he is talking about. Its not like he is making stuff up or any shady shit like that. Chill dude, awesome lectures, great class. Enough said. Peace.

Before taking Omar's class, I was unsure about majoring in Landscape Architecture. But now I am more sure than ever. I have learned a ton from his class and I actually looked forward to the projects he assigned us even if there were times when I wish we were given more time to finish. He gives great advice on how to improve your project because he knows what good design is. He is also charismatic and philosophical and overall made the course very interesting for me. My only critique is that it is very difficult to get an A in the class, and he has high expectations for students with little to no experience in drawing. Despite increasing the amount of effort I put in each project at the beginning of the quarter, I almost always got the same grade. Eventually the amount of effort I put in stayed stagnant. Overall though, he is a great professor and you will learn a lot if you take his class.

The LA 203 class of Winter '12 was all about making models. It was very surprising and kind of disappointing because Omar is so great with graphics, that to take a class from him and not learn new techniques and such is disappointing. That being said, the models definitely helped. He presented the deadlines and assignments poorly (they seemed like more casual "You should try doing this" statements made in passing). All in all, I learned a lot and he's worth the crap you have to put up with.

Omar is an excellent professor. I learned a lot from him.

Omar is so fascinated by his almighty brain and academic accomplishments, that he frequently loses sight of what students are really here to learn about. At least half of each lecture is spent reflecting on his personal, (and oh so very relevant) life accomplishments, and the other half- up to this point (week 4)- has been spent learning about ancient philosophy... There is little connection between landscape architecture/design, and what he has rambled on and on and on about so far... He uses class as a forum to flex his intellectual muscle and to share/force his vast but often irrelevant wealth of knowledge with the students-and does not really to teach much design theory. If he weren\'t such a stickler, and egomaniac, I might have gone easier on this review, (he is a smart guy, he does know alot.) but if he wants to have such unrelentingly high standards for all else, why not give him the same treatment?

THIS MAN IS PREJUDICE AND HE IS THE WORST TEACHER IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!!!

I have given this man the benefit of the doubt for the last time. No matter what you earn or how hard you work he will NEVER give you the grade you deserve. That is, unless you look at him wide-eyed and hang on every word, especially when he's talking about himself. Despite the university's recommendations, he has made up his own ridiculous little "rules" that will guarantee you will not receive the grade that you earn in his class. He works diligently to set students up to fail. He acts as if he is the only important teacher ever and his class is more important than anything else in your life, especially all your other classes and teachers. He is so fascinated with himself that he loses sight of why we are here in the first place, to learn about something other than the 'great legends of omar'. If you have any choice at all I would recommend NOT taking this teacher. Thanks for nothing, Omar!

I have given this man the benefit of the doubt for the last time. No matter what you earn or how hard you work he will NEVER give you the grade you deserve. That is, unless you look at him wide-eyed and hang on every word, especially when he's talking about himself. Despite the university's recommendations, he has made up his own ridiculous little "rules" that will guarantee you will not receive the grade that you earn in his class. He works diligently to set students up to fail. He acts as if he is the only important teacher ever and his class is more important than anything else in your life, especially all your other classes and teachers. He is so fascinated with himself that he loses sight of why we are here in the first place, to learn about something other than the 'great legends of omar'. If you have any choice at all I would recommend NOT taking this teacher. Thanks for nothing, Omar!

OMAR STUDIO- hey you can learn but be ready to fail in any other classess-he will eat up your time. Ask a question-get an answer WITH another level of difficulty to achieve. Yes he extends your abilities but in a very panul and potwentially damaging to your academic standing. STUDIOS ARE ONLY 4 UNITS DO NOT GET SUCKED IN TO GIVING IT MORE THAN IT DESERVES

In Omar's defense-Although the stories consume a great deal of class time, when he does decide to focus on teaching us about landscape architecture itself- he can sometimes do an excellent job. The high standards to which he holds the students really encourages the students to work hard, which usually results in a more successful learning experience. So if you can take the pain of hard work, and the fact that about half of the time he has you there to listen to his stories, rather than his instruction, you do stand to learn alot by putting up with it.

Wow. This man is insane- and not in a good way. He likes to punish his students by giving them insurmountable workloads, and infinite amounts of disapproval. Additionally, he uses vagueness, and mind games to steadily heighten the stress levels in his students, and he gives very little instruction throughout the duration of the class. Besides striving to work his students into a frantic mess, he is at school solely to further his own career achievements, brag his ass off, and sometimes discredit the achievements of fellow professors. <----( very unprofessional by the way, Omar) This class is 60 percent "Omar story telling time", 40 percent "student-brutalizing time", and 100 percent bullshit. Don't make the mistake of taking this guys class. he dominates your life, and jeopardizes your academic standing in other classes because he makes it extremely difficult to do much else besides his unreasonably large project.

ATTENTION LA students! Avoid Omar at all costs! If you've taken his 170 class and suffered through the 320 lecture then you've probably heard all of the lessons and stories that he has to offer. I have allot of patience with people and despite my own feelings I could argue the validity of his teaching style, however the class is all about Omar and his EGO. He spends all the first 2 hours of class repeating the same stories he's already told about himself. He refers to the class as OMAR Studio, intentionally the only capitalized words in a document. Your presentations are all about making Omar look good (he doesn't attend other classes presentations and even degrades them to his class). He expects students to do his work for him and usually finds 1 or 2 in a class to bully/guilt into creating documents for him. Lets be clear, I got a good grade in his class, but definitely not worth the stress and mind games that Omar unnecessarily adds. By the end of the quarter Omar didn't know about three-quarters of his students' names (the class wasn't big) and probably never even critiqued most projects. I could go on all day about him, but the only person who would want to hear that is Omar.

Omar is an interesting man. He, especially thinks so- so be prepared to hear about him alot-- But, at the same time, he can be a really excellent teacher. He utilizes vagueness as a way to get students to think harder and learn things better. So dont expect a "hand-holder" thats going to tell you that your project is pretty, or one that will go and draw out "what you should do" on your trace paper. Expect a guy who will challenge your intellect with questions that lead the student to a solution OF THEIR OWN. Hes totally willing to help if youre willing to look for it- and if you approach the experience with an open mind- it has potential to teach you alot.

He's not a good teacher.

Great professor! Best design professor I ever had. I learn a lot from this studio. He expects you to be attentive and follow up with assignments. And if you do these, you will earn a good grade. He will not design for you. He will tell how to go about in coming up will great design and when you come up with the design he will give comments on how to improve it. His design criticism are direct and to the point. I love them. He is experienced and highly knowledgeable about design.

If you are faint-hearted, don’t signup for Omar. You can take other studios, but you will not learn much. If you really want to learn, he is your professor. He is a no-nonsense, highly articulate and demanding teacher. You will get a good grade if you work hard.

Omar is a manipulative person who's only concern is that you are of lesser status that he is. He acts as if he cares for the students, but he only does this to promote a false image. Don't fall for his deceitful ways and do not take Omar.

Prof cried today.... What a weirdo hahahah get a grip of your life.