CLAS teaching receives high marks on Instagram

Students praised CLAS faculty and instructors for passion, humor, kindness
Wednesday, December 14, 2022

In November, University of Iowa Instagram asked students to name their favorite professor and why. More than 100 responses came in, including over 70 compliments about faculty or lecturers from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. While the Instagram Stories disappeared after 24 hours, Iowa’s social media team saved the comments to share with faculty and instructors, so we’re posting them here in their entirety for your enjoyment.

An image of IG posts praising CLAS instructors


Adam Brummett, Chemistry

  • “He’s just amazing.”
  • “Super fun and easy to understand.”
  • “He is real fun if you know him!”

Aaron Schneider, Health and Human Physiology

  • “Was the realest yet, made learning engaging and exciting!”
  • “Really explains the info and how it benefits knowing the info in life.”

Claudia Sartini, French and Italian

  • “Genuinely cares about her students & is a phenomenal teacher.”

Ned Bowden, Chemistry

  • “SOOO understanding of his students!”

Katherine Mellen, Health and Human Physiology

  • “She is SO sweet and loves what she does just as much as her students”
  • “So knowledgeable and caring! Has made a huge impact on my life!”

Ashley Howard, History

  • “She can make tough concepts simple and always supports her students.”
  • “So knowledgeable; tells the narrative of history while explaining the concepts at play.”
  • “She is incredibly kind, supportive, and makes history interesting!”

Laura Carpenter, American Studies

  • “Best English teacher I’ve ever had!”

Lori Branch, English

  • “She’s kind, engaging and truly the best professor that I’ve had here.”

Robert Peck, Rhetoric

  • “Great rhetoric professor and even greater human being because he’s approachable and made rhetoric fun.”

Jay Holstein, Religious Studies

  • “Because he’s the man!”
  • “Never learned more than in his lectures.”

Irina Kostina, Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures

  • “Amazing professor and even nicer person!”

Maxwell Geng, Chemistry

  • “Because he is the best!”
  • “My goal in life is to be as happy as he is about chemistry.”
  • “He loves what he does!”
  • “He is so good at explaining chem concepts.”
  • “He is always in a good mood and loves to teach chemistry.”
  • “Sweetest man alive.”
  • “He danced in our class to show how molecules vibrate and always smiled!”

Michaela Ruppert, Sociology and Criminology

  • “She always keeps class informative and fun and is a great teacher.”
  • “She not only makes me interested in the material, but she’s funny!”

Adrienne K. Ho Rose, Translation

  • “She loves her students so much and has a good attitude!”

Alex Liebrecht, Statistics and Actuarial Science

  • “He is so fun!”
  • “The nicest professor I’ve ever had. Wants everyone to be successful!!”
  • “He is an AMAZING person and stats professor :) he is so goofy.”
  • “He shows he cares about his students and makes lectures enjoyable!”
  • “He is the best stats professor and is very understanding.”
  • “Funniest man on campus and tells the best stories!”

Megan Gogerty, Theatre Arts

  • “She is the MOST fun and incredibly engaging and I’ve learned a lot!”

Sylvia Mikucki-Enyart, Communication Studies

  • “She really cares for her students and understands us :).”

Elias Shiu, Statistics and Actuarial Science

  • “He is very dedicated and has a great sense of humor.”

Bri Swope, Health and Human Physiology

  • “She’s one of the kindest people I know and she always made class fun!”

Ece Demir-Lira, Psychological and Brain Sciences

  • “She is so sweet and attentive to her students! Such a bubbly personality :).”

Michael Sinnwell, Chemistry

  • “He is so good at explaining chem concepts.”
  • “He is always willing to give out extra help!”
  • “Takes care to make sure we know what he’s talking about.”

Mike Winker, Health and Human Physiology

  • “He always encourages us to be confident and do our best!”

Austin Beattie, Communication Studies

  • “Funniest professor I’ve ever had and easy to understand!”

Douglas Dion, Political Science

  • “His energy makes me look forward to my morning classes.”
  • “He’s the most fun professor I’ve had and is super smart.”

Ana Rodriguez, Spanish and Portuguese

  • “Kindest, coolest professor and learned a ton from her!”

Victor Ray, Sociology and Criminology

  • “Great professor and makes the class interactive with adding events happening now.”

Scott Bradley, Theatre Arts

  • “Makes the class really fun, I always look forward to coming to his class.”

Packy Moran, Health and Human Physiology

  • “Makes every class enjoyable and is always encouraging and helpful.”

Bob Cargill, Classics

  • “He’s funny, engaging and really knows his stuff.”

Brian Ekdale, Journalism and Mass Communication

  • “He always brings positivity to community media and makes it fun.”

Jan Wessel, Psychological and Brain Sciences

  • “He’s a groovy guy and made neuroscience actually interesting.”
  • “He made class super fun, and had a fantastic personality. He genuinely cares.”

Tim Sheets, American Sign Language

  • “He’s so kind and funny and made me look forward to ASL every day!”

Dan Matheson, Health and Human Physiology

  • “Provides fantastic experiential learning in Sport & Rec Management Program!”
  • “He built up the entire Sports Management program and he is a great man!”

Rachel McLaren, Communication Studies

  • “Such a sweet and kind professor. She really cares about her students.”

Rebecca Laird, Chemistry

  • “She made organic chemistry SO fun. She was enthusiastic and caring!”
  • “That woman cares about her students so much and makes 8:30 a.m. classes way more tolerable.”

Kelli Taeger, Health and Human Physiology

  • “She is by far one of the BEST professors for HHP!”
  • “Hands down the most caring and considerate professor.”
  • “She makes a difficult class (anatomy) much easier to understand!!”

Dana Thoman, Rhetoric

  • “SHE IS THE SWEETEST SOUL EVER AND FUNNY AND PASSIONATE”

Cynthia Farthing, Mathematics

  • “She is so sweet and does everything to help you get the best grade!”

Mona Maalouf, Chemistry

  • “She makes getting up early for chem worth it. She’s such a carding person :).”
  • “She’s hilarious and amazing at teaching chemistry in an interesting way.”
  • “She genuinely cares and tries to make learning fun!”
  • “She’s funny and knows how to teach and keep the lecture interesting.”

Inyong Choi, Communication Sciences and Disorders

  • “You can tell he really cares about the subject and his students :).”

Trevor Harvey, Music

  • “He’s super smart and always makes class fun and interactive!”

Adam Hooks, English

  • “He makes Shakespeare so dang fun.”
  • “So charismatic and kind!”

Joseph Lang, Statistics and Actuarial Science

  • “Always brings so much energy to lecture. He’s a stats god too!”

Julie Gros-Louis, Psychological and Brain Sciences

  • “Incredible teacher, helpful in and out of hours, and very kind!”
  • “She’s very passionate about what she teaches.”

Abbey Dvorak, Music

  • “Great professor, really encourages classmates to work collaboratively.”

Scott Daly, Chemistry

  • “His advanced organic chemistry was my favorite class I’ve taken at Iowa.”

Alfred Martin, Communication Studies

  • “Going to his lectures always makes my day!”

Ma Tianyu, English

  • “Never been more engaged in a literature class ever.”

David Gould, Interdepartmental Studies

  • “The most encouraging, supportive, and kind professor at Iowa!”

Luis Martin-Estudillo, Spanish and Portuguese

  • “He’s very patient with all his students learning Spanish and is so funny!”

Jen Haylett, Sociology and Criminology

  • “She’s so kind, understanding, easygoing, and she really cares about students.”

Kate Tierney, Earth and Environmental Science

  • “She’s so caring and passionate about her field and her student’s success.”
  • “She’s an actual genius!”
  • “Noticeably loves what she teaches and cares deeply for people's well-being.”

Amy Strathman, Chemistry

  • “She’s the best chem professor!!!”

Claire Fox, English

  • “You don’t even feel like you’re in class!”

Donika Kelly, English

  • “She is so smart and thoughtful. I learned to love poetry because of her.”

Matt Bognar, Statistics and Actuarial Science

  • “He’s like the cool uncle you’ve always wished you had!”
  • “He is so goofy and makes biostatistics interesting.”

Drew Kitchen, Anthropology

  • “Such a knowledgeable and sweet man! Wants everyone to succeed.”

Andrew Forbes, Biology

  • “Amazing sense of humor and engaging lectures.”

Courtney Miller, Music

  • “She cares so much for her students!”

Mary Cohen, Music

  • “She has so much passion and is so kind!!”

Benjamin Coelho, Music

  • “Is compassionate, engaging, and supportive of every student, no matter their ability.”

Christina Shea, Spanish and Portuguese

  • “Best Spanish professor out there! She really wants her students to succeed!”

Ana Fernandez, Spanish and Portuguese

  • “Brings so much cultural experience to medical Spanish!”

David Gooblar, English

  • “He makes discussions fun and explains writing assignments well!”

Bjorn Anderson, Art and Art History

  • “Passionate about Art History and always makes funny dad jokes.”
  • “He is so sweet! :).”

Mary Mayo, Theatre Arts

  • “She is literally the best acting and voice teacher there is!!!”
  • “My favorite acting teacher!”

Amy Fletcher, Health and Human Physiology

  • “She is an amazing professor and an amazing person - cares SO MUCH!!!”

Peter Gerlach, International Studies

  • “He’s amazing.”
  • “Coordinator of International Writing Program.”

Colin Kostelecky, Rhetoric

  • “One of the kindest people I’ve ever met.”

Valerie Payre, Earth and Environmental Science

  • “Mineralogy is awesome.”

Melissa Turner, Theatre Arts

  • “She is the best!”

Brett Johnson, Journalism and Mass Communication

  • “He’s so invigorating to listen to & really cares about the material!”

Liz Pearce, Communication Studies

  • “She cares about her students and is so sweet!”

Tim Hagle, Political Science

  • “I learn the most from him and something new every class!”

Anne Sand, Rhetoric

  • “Such a great professor.”

Tina Mihm, Chemistry

  • “She makes sure all voices are heard in lecture – “I heard it, say it louder!” <3.”

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.