Adan, Elizabeth  

Art and Design

3.55/4.00

38 evaluations


ART 112


Junior
A
General Ed
Jun 2008
This is an excellent professor! One of the best I've had at Cal Poly. She's very enthusiastic about the material, and it's obvious that she wants others to feel an appreciation for it, too. I didn't need the book very long, and I didn't find it difficult to pass her tests. However, some students may benefit from it still, so I'd suggest at least picking it up and judging for yourself if you need it. Her homework is just to read the book, roughly 30+ pages twice a week, I'd say. She gives a total of four tests: three midterms and a final, and she'll drop the lowest grade out of the three midterms (this means that if you do well on the first two tests, you don't need to bother coming to class that test day). The tests consit of "slide IDs" where you name an art piece, its medium, artist, etc (there are always only three parts to know). The rest of the test is a mixture of vocab and general info. She also gives you a study guide about a week before each test. If you study, you can pass this class very easily (as she says herself at the beginning of the quarter). I would recommend flash cards for the slide Ids. Again, great professor who actually makes the subject interesting!


Senior
A
General Ed
Jan 2010
Super easy class. You don\'t really need to know a damn thing about art but if you do it\'ll be a cake walk. Much of this felt like review from my high school humanities course. There are three multiple choice midterms and a final consisting of slide ID and questions from reading/lecture. Reading can be tedious but not too much work if you stay on top of it. She drops your lowest midterm and gives you a study guide and all the possible images online. In the end, it probably comes down to memorization. Don\'t sweat it, I\'m pretty sure 90% of the class gets a B or above.


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Feb 2010
Professor Adan is one of the best instructors I\'ve had at Cal Poly- I wish more GE classes were taught with this kind of passion and dedication. She\'s genuinely interested in and enthusiastic about the subject, her exams are very fair (and easy, if you\'re good at memorization), and she makes this course really enjoyable, especially if you have any interest in art history. Like other reviews have said, the exams consist of identifying pieces of artwork (artist, title, and usually era/style), and vocabulary and other details from lecture. Reading the textbook is obviously helpful but in my experience, not necessary if you study the lecture materials and images extensively. I used the textbook a few times during the first week of class, never touched it after that, and got an A in the course without much trouble. Great course and instructor for fulfilling a GE requirement.


Freshman
N/A
General Ed
Mar 2010
Take the class. Adan knows art so well it makes her lectures interesting to listen to.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Mar 2010
Awesome professor who knows her stuff. Seems draconian at first glance, but she is more than willing to answer questions and help you whenever possible. Just ask. Class itself is pretty easy as well. Just know your flashcards, the study guide terms, and factoids about key artists and characteristics of each era and you\'ve got an easy A.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Mar 2010
If you want to get an easy A, this class is for you! This class is so basic, I didn\'t end up reading one word of the book, I maybe went to 1/3 of the classes, and I ended up with an A-. We had 3 exams, all multiple choice.. Most of our test had questions surrounding images that you have to memorize, the rest was just basic multiple questions on art. No writing assignments, nothing else is required. I honestly did not have to do anything for this class, yet still got a great grade. Take this class, you won\'t regret it.


Sophomore
C
General Ed
May 2010
She\'s real annoying the way she paces in class and her stupid ass monotone language. She accused me of cheating when I actually didn\'t in any way. It\'s honestly not that bad of a class though. Don\'t really need to go to class, just memorize the pictures off the study guide and you\'ll be ite.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Dec 2010
This class was so easy! If you are good at memorization then this class won\'t be hard at all. Yes, she can get a little boring when she paces back and forth during lectures. Honestly, I pretty much slept through the class and just copied the notes off the powerpoint during lecture. Easy A


Junior
A
General Ed
Jan 2011
Three midterms usually covering about two weeks of material, and a cumulative final. Her lectures are interesting and she is very understanding to the stresses of being a student. Tests are pretty easy if you study for them, and even if you don't and you pay attention in class, you can probably do pretty well. Awesome teacher, I would recommend this class to anyone trying to do their C1


Freshman
A
General Ed
Jan 2011
Adan is truly amazing! She is passionate, intelligent, straightforward, and engaging. I looked forward to her 8am class, which says a lot. There were three midterms (60%) and a final (40%). She dropped the lowest of the midterm scores. TAKE ADAN!


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Feb 2011
This class is what a GE course should be. You learn a lot and she emphasizes (and tests) you on the main, general concepts that anyone taking art history should come away with. The class is extremely easy and Dr. Adan is efficient and great at communicating with students. Take this class if you can. It may be your easiest class at Poly.


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Feb 2011
Easiest A you will get at Poly so why not?


Sophomore
B
General Ed
Jun 2011
For a GE, this is basically what I would expect. Not really that interesting, but thankfully, she put the lectures up online. Thus, I rarely attended them and just copied the notes off of the online site she used. It's probably easy to get an A if you studied a bit more; I just did so the night before. Two midterms and a cumulative final, and it was all simple memorization (facts, time periods, and the image identification). Great C3 class with an almost guaranteed B and probably a pretty easy A if you spend a decent amount of time studying.


5th Year Senior
No Credit
General Ed
Dec 2011
Seriously. It is SO HARD to pay attention to the topics for me because the way she talks distracts me more than anything! it's as if she spent about 10 collective years of her life rehearsing in front of the mirror or recording her voice over and over until it sounded as superficial and "perfect". Okay the class isn't that bad. But... dang... the way she talks... I just can't. get. past. it.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Dec 2011
EASY A. She posts the lectures online and there is a study guide before each test. The study guide and image postings are all you need to study for the test. Its straight forward. She even drops your lowest midterm grade. I finished the midterms in 15 minutes and the final in 30. Yes her lectures are not the most entertaining, but this is a great GE class. Take Adan


Freshman
A
General Ed
Jan 2012
Adan is an excellent art teacher. Just show up to class, take notes, read the chapter, and study your flash cards. Put in enough effort and you can easily get an A. It's nice to learn about famous artworks, too.


Senior
B
General Ed
Jan 2012
Adan is a great teacher. She has it together, knows the material, and presents it in an organized way that is easy to learn. I took the class at a recommendation from a friend and I'm glad I did. The lectures are online if you don't want to go to class and the study guides clearly cover everything that will be on the test which makes it easy to study for.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Mar 2012
I was put in this class first quarter of my freshman year (so not by choice) and was not very excited to be in a history of art class. Professor Adan is so great and so well organized and truly made the information interesting. Not to mention that she tells you EXACTLY what you need to know for tests. easy class, great teacher, would definitely recommend it


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Mar 2012
A very straight forward class. Professor Adan wants her students to succeed. She gives a study guide before every exam showing exactly what terms and pictures to study for. As long as you put the time into it the result will follow.


Freshman
A
General Ed
May 2012
Elizabeth Adan is by far the best teacher I have had at Cal Poly thus far. I took this class Fall Quarter of my Freshmen year and it was the best. Albeit it was at 8am-10am, I didn't go to about 4-5 lectures and still managed a 98% in the class. Do the reading and her study guides and the midterms will be a piece of cake. Adan presents the exact difficulty that I would expect for a beginning GE class.


Senior
A
General Ed
Jun 2012
Professor Adan is the best teacher I have ever had at Cal Poly. She is extremely organized and thorough. There were rarely any questions because she covered everything so well! She records the lectures and posts them online. If you do well on the first two tests you do not have to take the third one. However, the final is cumulative and it is required, so I would suggest going to class anyways. She provides a study guide with all of the terms and material you need to know for the exams. Make flashcards with the images you need to know; it really helps. There are no surprises on the exam; she makes it very clear what is on the tests. I would suggest not buying the text unless you are an art major, or you really like art. I used the copy in the library and I never had trouble checking it out. She speaks kind of loudly, I would suggest sitting near the back if you can. Honestly, Adan is amazing and if you get a chance to take her DO IT! I wish every professor was as organized as she is. Every teacher should strive to be more like her.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Jun 2012
I was blocked into her art 112 class first quarter freshman year. i initially was not very excited at all to be in the class because i am not an art person at all. however i was pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed the class and how thorough and passionate she was with the material. she teaches (for the most part) straight from the textbook and every test has an image identification section and a multiple choice section. DO THE FLASHCARDS!!! they help a lot! one thing i will note is that she is very loud (keep in mind if you have this at 8 am like i did), however she is overall a good choice for a teacher. listen to what she wants you to do and it should be an easy A.


Sophomore
N/A
Elective
Aug 2012
Prof. Adan presents her material clearly and is very organized in all her lectures. She also posts most of the lecture audio recordings online which is really helpful since you can skip classes and not be behind. Her study guides for all the tests are really accurate. Art 112 was not very difficult if you keep up with all the work and lectures. Making flashcards for key terms and pictures is the best advice I can give. Definitely take this class!


Junior
C
General Ed
Sep 2012
I found Lizzy to be a well rounded lecturer, but the quizzes themselves are no laughing matter. If you think you can get away with skipping a class or even glancing at the book, you are going to be in trouble. The main points to take notes in, in the class, are; The material name, artist, art style, and time period. If you can remember all those in a heartbeat, you will pass the class. I recommend flashcards or even quizlet.com which creates tests for you. Lastly look at her midterm study guides. Good luck. -IF66


Freshman
A
General Ed
Nov 2012
Professor Adan is awesome. She's really passionate about what she teaches which makes the lectures more enjoyable than you think they'd be. ART 112 with Adan was very easy, and if you put even a little effort into studying for the tests, you'll come away with an A. Half of each midterm is image identification, the other half is multiple choice about terms, art eras, etc. Make flash cards out of the images that she puts on PolyLearn and the terms from the midterm study guide, and you're guaranteed to pass the test. I highly recommend taking this class to fulfill GE C3 if it's available to you.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Jan 2013
Professor Adan is extremely well versed in her subject. Your grade is based off 3 midterms, with the lowest grade being dropped, and a cumulative final. The lectures are slightly boring but if you sit through them and take notes, as well as study the images she puts online, you are guaranteed an A. I would say that besides the four hours in class, I would study the notes/images for one hour a week so the workload is very minimal. I've never had to go to her office hours but she clearly answers any questions in class. Also you don't need to buy the textbook so save yourself a hundred something dollars. I highly recommend this Professor.


Sophomore
A
General Ed
Mar 2013
Dr. Adan is an incredibly respectable, intelligent, and inspiring woman and professor. My major is heavily science based, so taking a course like this was incredibly fulfilling and refreshing. Dr. Adan takes command when she is lecturing (at 8am) and makes you want to be there. You are so intrigued by how she presents the material, it doesn't feel that early in the morning. She also will tell you that she takes our education at Cal Poly very seriously and I completely respect her for that. I feel that sometimes professors don't realize how even us as students do too take our education seriously. Overall, she will pretty much tell you what she expects of you to do well in the class. If you practice the images and do the study guide the class will be very rewarding for you.


Freshman
A
General Ed
Dec 2013
I honest to god hate art mostly because I find it ridiculously boring but this class was great, easy and super informative. 100% on the first midterm, 96% on the second and like a 96% on the final as well. Her study guides are spot on and, besides the credit you get for showing up, there is no other reason to attend. She also posts all the lecture powerpoints, as well as her voice lectures, on the page. If you need to fulfill this GE requirement, definitely take Art 112


Freshman
A
General Ed
Mar 2014
This class was ridiculously easy in terms of getting a good grade. All you have to do is memorize the names of a few pieces of art for the midterms. This was nice because it allowed me to just have fun with the class. Professor Adan is very excited about her subject and loves to answer any questions students have. Overall, easy class and pretty interesting subject matter.


Senior
A
General Ed
Apr 2019
Got a 93 on the first exam and didn't buy the book (it was $80 and came in a mandatory customized online format, so unnecessarily expensive and excessive.) Just attend lecture, actually listen to lecture, take down notes, and do flash cards for the images. Simple as that!

ART 118


Junior
A
General Ed
Mar 2010
So easy, i went to class for 4 times total and thats including 2 midterm days and the final day. Just study what she says in the study guides and you will be fine. I did read the chapters in the book because they actually were really interesting. Really recommend this class to anyone looking for an easy A

ART 311


Senior
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2017
Adan is one of my favorite professors at Cal Poly. At this point, I've had a bunch of good teachers at Cal Poly, but Adan far surpasses any of them (maybe besides one other). I've had her for ART 312 in the past, so I know her style of teaching well. Her upper-division art history classes are fairly low-stress classes. She has amazingly comprehensive lectures that are all based around the readings that she assigns for homework. With that said, you don't have to read the textbook to get a good grade in her class. The main benefit of reading the textbook is to gain more detailed understanding of the subject that will ensure an A. A good amount of students have gotten As on their tests without reading a single page of the textbook because her lectures are THAT good. I do suggest that you take notes in class because she doesn't upload lectures on PolyLearn, and usually a couple read-throughs of the notes will set you up nicely for the exams. She doesn't/very rarely assigns homework besides the readings, so your grade is based on the midterm(s) and final. You will generally write a compare essay for the exams and have a section of identifying the artists, titles, and dates of 10-15 art works you study. For this class (311), she had us group up every class session and write a short essay response to a prompt that she puts up on the board, and this ended up being excellent practice for the essays because it was a similar prompt to the essays. She didn't do the in-class writing assignments for my previous 312 class though. Besides the structure of her class, she is wonderfully passionate about the subject and inspires the same passion in her students. All I ever want is to walk through an art museum with Adan. I imagine a field trip like that would be one of the most interesting and productive experiences that would just be icing to the cake.

ART 312


Sophomore
A
Required (Support)
Apr 2010
Yes, it\'s true that Dr. Adan\'s lower division classes are simple. She provides study guides that she tests off of almost verbatim. But her upper division classes such as 310, 311, or 312 are much more challenging. Be prepared for constant note-taking and memorizing dates, artists, and titles of artworks. She is a naturally intense person and gives extremely strict first-day lectures about plagiarism, but don\'t let this put you off. Her lectures are never boring and she is actually an incredibly kind person. If you are interested in art, this class will be like visiting a museum and having an amazing tour guide. If you are just looking for an easy A or a filler course, Adan probably isn\'t the best choice.


Junior
A
Required (Major)
Dec 2010
First, I hate spending money on textbooks. I got an A in her class by listening to lectures alone. She covers everything that is in the Freud book and the contemporary painting & sculpture books in her lectures. So don\'t buy them, I\'m serious. She also records her lectures so you can listen and watch the power points on blackboard. Secondly, she tries to scare you away on the first day of class. She basically says: if you are lazy, don\'t take this class. She puts every expectation on the table and explains that she is strict. This is true, but hey it\'s upper division, that\'s what one would expect. Thirdly, don\'t let her monotone voice and constant floor pacing annoy you. The content of this class is actually very interesting for art majors. If you are not an art major, this class may be too intense for you. Grades are based on one midterm and one final (slide identifications and essay prompt) and also one online group project.

ART 315


Junior
N/A
Required (Support)
Mar 2010
First, I must say that I use this site every quarter to pick my teachers and have had nothing but excellent experiences until I was misled by the ratings for Elizabeth Adan. DO NOT listen to the positive things said about her lower division classes if you are looking to take an upper division course. she makes no effort to address individual needs of students. Sure, she claims to, but even with the utmost honesty about a legitimate situation I needed addressed, all she did was give me the cold shoulder and do nothing to even attempt to help with the situation. I was so incredibly put off by everything about her, from the incredibly harsh way she introduced the class (as if we were all morons with no potential who could only get by on cheating and plagiarism), to her phony accent and the way that it fades in and out, that I decided to drop the class before it got any worse. Cal Poly\'s art department has a variety of amazing teachers, take one of their classes instead. Avoid at all costs.


Senior
A
Required (Major)
May 2011
Hands down BEST professor I've had at Cal Poly, in the art department or otherwise. Don't be put off by her initial coldness... she likes to intimidate people who aren't really serious about taking the class by enumerating all the things you'll have to do for the class and how hard she grades yadda yadda, and she does stick up to her standards (she's not an easy grader) but all that aside, this class is FASCINATING. The subject material is hard... modern and postmodern art is confusing and complex, but Adan is a masterful lecturer, and she really knows her stuff. You can tell that she's not just rattling of some memorized speech, and she doesn't even go from notes, she's just that knowledgeable and passionate about art history. I can't recommend this professor and this class enough. It's NOT EASY... but if you enjoy this stuff, you're in for an amazing ride.


Junior
B
Required (Major)
Feb 2019
She is a great lecturer and rarely needs to look at her notes, she is very knowledgable in her field. At first she is slightly scary because of how knowledgable she is, it can be intimidating but she is the absolutely the sweetest in office hours and wants you to succeed as well as grow a love for art.

PSC 490


Freshman
A
Required (Major)
Nov 2016
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