Carrigan, Coleen M.  

Dr Carrigan is AMAZING. Honestly, she makes the subject (which, honestly, is usually quite interesting) even more interesting and is super engaging. I rarely found myself bored in her lectures and she gives a lot of time for discussion. She does grade you on participation so you have to contribute to the lectures and it really helps to do the reading. The tests are very concept based and are not very hard and she curves. Overall, I really recommend taking her!

Carrigan is new here at Cal Poly at the time of this review. She made the class tolerable, considering it is a 120 person lecture. The work she gave was very manageable and fair for a GE. She came off as a little strict but overall nice to all of the students. Not a bad professor and I would take her again no problem in the future.

Dr. Carrigan did a pretty good job of making a general ed course with a large class size both interesting and interactive. The class was in no way too difficult, and she always seemed genuinely very passionate about what she was teaching. I think the few issues that some students had with her teaching stemmed from this being her first college class, so I'm sure her classes will only improve in upcoming quarters.

I liked her, but the class was generally very long and boring to sit through. Maybe that's every ANT 201 professor though. I don't think you can really go too wrong with Carrigan.

Dr. Carrigan is a very sweet woman and her class isn't too bad. The lectures could sometimes be a bit hard to sit through and seemed long but overall it wasn't terrible. The workload as far as homework you have to turn in isn't bad but be prepared for a LOT of reading. Honestly though any ANT class requires a lot of reading. I don't suggest taking this class along with English classes or any other class that requires a lot of reading or writing. I loved the ethnographic project she requires for this course. She is a new teacher and I believe that she hasn't quite found her teaching style yet and bounces between an lot of large discussions, small discussions, lectures, movies, and practically anything else. This isn't terrible but personally I didn't like this, although there were some people who loved it. Dr. Carrigan hasn't quite found her style but once she does I can tell her lectures are going to be fantastic because she has a lot of passion for her subject and is always willing to help. I wish she had more office hours though because the one time she had them during the week conflicted with my class schedule.

Coleen presents material in a way that really makes you want to learn! She is incredibly aware of student's feelings and takes that into account when creating deadlines/presenting material/conducting class discussions. She only weights the final 10% and makes the project 40% because she knows how stressed we all get during finals week. I really, really loved this class. It is a bit reading heavy, but manageable, and group discussions help to solidify the information so not much studying required for the tests if you've attended class.

To be completely honest, I hated every second I spent with this teacher. This was not because the material was too difficult, or she was an unfair grader, but rather because of how bias she was in her everyday lectures. If helping marginalized people and people of color, as well as achieving equal representation of women in our society is not your NUMBER ONE GOAL in life, you will hate this class. She treats it as though we are all ANT majors and this is a required class. Very stuck up and extremely biased.

The class is interesting and info heavy but easy as long as you study the material and pay attention in class. I'm not going to lie, I did not really like going to class because it got boring most of the time. Coleen is really nice though and she makes an effort to learn your name even when there is 100+ people in the class. She also lets you do the major project as a group which is really awesome. I would recommend her!

She honestly spends the whole class providing you with irrelevant, biased information. She tries to force her opinion on her students, on topics that are entirely irrelevant to cultural anthropology. She tells you to study key scholars, case studies, and vocabulary terms, but she just puts random stuff on the midterm that you never discuss in class or come across in the reading. She also isn't very knowledgeable on topics, and presents her opinions as facts. Basically just spends the whole class trying to make all of her students socialists. Terrible class, terrible teaching. You literally learn nothing about anthropology other than that you never want to take another anthropology class.

Honestly, this class changed my view for the worst. Colleen pushed her personal opinion so intently on current issues which I think are important. Coming into this class I never saw a difference in race or in boys and girls and she made it very clear that it was a bad thing. I now see the world differently but I think for the worse. I now see a difference between black and white people and the way she taught the class I think pushes people into a bigger divide than there already is. I really disagree with how she ran the class and the information she pushed on us.

For a GE, Professor Carrigan expected way too much. First of all she takes attendance for a 200-person lecture. Readings were assigned for every class, and they were long, boring, and difficult to follow. Even if you do the readings, her lectures and especially the slides she presents are not helpful at all. The class is too long. It should be an hour long, and the actual material never takes up the whole class time so she tries to take up time spouting her opinions (in a class that's SUPPOSEDLY non biased). She only favors students who share her opinions and if you try to vocalize another perspective she'll change the topic immediately. She has this whole theory about "fire starters" and "fire keepers" when it comes to participation. Basically, the fire starters are the people who like to talk and the keepers are the ones she pretty much forces to speak. She'll stare at you until you raise your hand and if no one does, she'll say "This is when I really need my fire keepers to step up." I think she said that in EVERY class. Her grading system is 30% for the midterm, 30% for the project, 20% final, and 20% participation. It SEEMS like you can do well with the participation being so heavily weighted, however her midterm is so unfair. Every question is a trick question and she doesn't curve (or will curve by only one point). Even doing all the readings and attending every lecture the midterm was horrible, despite her claims that she gave us all the "tools for success" we needed. She grades the project somewhat harshly, as she uses it as part of her own research. Actually, she basically makes us do her research for her. Participation is graded based on minute papers, which we do in every class. That is how she takes attendance. And if you are on your phone or violate any of her class policies, she'll lower your participation grade. Despite all this, she seems to really enjoy teaching and loves her students (I think).

I absolutely LOVED Dr. Carrigan! She really cares about getting to know all of the students and as long as you make an effort to participate in class and engage with her, you'll do fine. She can definitely be a little intimidating sometimes, but is overall a really nice person whose passion for anthropology is infectious!!

Carrigan wants more than anything for students to take something meaningful away from the class and tries to present information in as many ways as possible to appeal to the various ways that people absorb information. If you can do well with lectures, group discussion, or reading you can expect to thrive the way the class is set up. If you're more of a hands-on person, the ethnography project does a fantastic job making the information relevant. If you're still not feeling it, she is amazing in office hours and will do whatever it takes to fit you in. People who don't like the class are people made very uncomfortable by the subject matter-- if you don't like learning about systematic oppression in the world, and how to eliminate it, you're not going to like ANT 201 regardless of who you take it with. The class is also a pretty easy A, or you can sleep through it/not go and snag a B with almost no effort. Oh also if you don't like professors having opinions about things, that's a side effect of Learn By Doing. Sorry. tl;dr Carrigan is a strong professor who does an excellent job presenting a highly effective class that's very formative for a lot of people (but often polarizing). Also just an amazing human being.

This class was insanely boring and I dreaded it every day. Her class felt like a high school and she didn't let you use your phones at all or even laptops to take notes. If she sees you talking or using your phone she lowers your grade. Participation is 20% of your grade which you'll get an A in if you show up every class to do her "minute papers" which are just a question or 2 about the reading or lecture. Her tests aren't too bad but there's SO MUCH READING to do in this class. Wasn't a huge fan of her and this class was my most boring at cal poly thus far but i did get an A in it. The project in this class cushions your grade a lot since it's pretty easy even though she makes it seem super hard.

I absolutely LOVED Dr. Carrigan. She clearly knows all of the material, asks great questions to keep discussions alive (an impressive feat given it's lecture style), and remembers almost everyone's name. Most of the homework was just reading the textbook (a super interesting and easy-to-read book about cultures around the world) and talking about it in class. The class was stimulating and it was definitely one of my favorites!

Don't take Carrigan unless you have a photographic memory. She'll say that most of the midterms/finals is material covered in her lectures but IT'S NOT. In order to succeed you have to read the whole book and memorize every statistic and fact there is. Attendance is mandatory, which made the 2 hour lectures without electronics DREADFUL if you don't have much of an interest in it.

Fairly boring class, but she is a great professor. She likes the specifics so the tests can be difficult but there is only one midterm and one final. The midterm is weighted more than the final because she does not want to add any more stress to students during finals week. You read a chapter for every class, which can be a lot but not uncommon. There was one major assignment broken up into 3 parts for my class, which was new. It was easy and enjoyable. If you enjoy or are interested in anthro I would recommend taking this class!

One of the most boring classes ever. She lectures the whole time and it is not interactive. Attendance matters, and she gives no study guides or explanations of what will be on her exams. She just wants you to find stuff for her own research.

I liked this class! It's pretty simple material, it just introduces the basic concepts of sociology and anthropology. Her teaching style can be repetitive, she uses the book to guide the class so if you read, class is usually just going through the material. Overall, it's not that hard to do well in the class and you will learn a lot about important social concepts.

She is very nice and passionate about anthropology. Keep up with the readings and know the case studies mentioned in the slides, as well as the people who conducted those case studies. It is not difficult to do well in this class, but don't expect to do well without studying, as the midterm will be difficult if you go into it expecting it to be easy. Attendance is taken sporadically but that is 20% of your grade so go to every class if you can.

I learned that if I were to take up hunting, I should shoot deer, not bears, because a bear will hunt me back if I successfully wound it. Fascinating! I didnt know that the key to production and operations management was so brutally simple!

This class is pretty straightforward: you lead two discussions, and write two summaries on the weekly readings. No book, but you should print the readings as she asks you to. Do the readings! Not necessarily because you will fail or anything, but because they are so informative! The course is so transformative, you won't really mind the grade you receive. Dr. Carrigan is such a nice, understanding person. She fashions her class in very feminist ways and is always thanking us for participating. You will truly learn so much. Towards the end of the class I felt emotional because it was over! She is seriously one of the best, if not the best, professor on campus!!

Not gonna lie the class itself is a good amount of work if you actually do all the readings, otherwise its not that bad. I would highly recommend doing the readings tho because it makes your midterm and final papers alot easier to write. This professor is honestly amazing. She is so passionate about the subject and you learn about so many things you wouldn't have even thought about. Highly recommend this course. Its one of those classes that you'll never forget, and overall makes you a better more informed citizen of society.