Probably my favorite class I have ever taken! I actually felt motivated to go to class and listen to the lectures. And for once, I never fell asleep during class. It is important to go to lecture because they are not recorded and I felt that the Professor's explanations of the case studies were necessary to understand the slides, but the content was so interesting that I did not mind and actually retained a lot just from listening. So much so that I didn't really need to study... There was a midterm and a final exam consisting of T/F, fill in the blank, short answer, and short essay questions. They were very straightforward! There are weekly readings (which I honestly never read because she would go over the cases in class) and 5 short, 50 word reflections.

Overall, I definitely recommend taking this class with Professor Scelza! She is very knowledgeable and interested in this subject, which clearly shines through in this class. Super easy, super interesting!

Prof. Scelza is super nice and seems to be passionate about her research and the topics she discusses during lectures! Although lectures weren't recorded, her slides are clear and helpful to study for exams. Lectures are pretty engaging as well! If you study the slides well (sometimes niche details might appear on exams), you should do just fine. She doesn't do multiple choice for exams (rather only for bi weekly quizzes), but structures the 2 exams in formats like fill in the blank, short answer, etc. Workload is very manageable (I took it with 3 other classes) and the 5 weekly reflections were not a chore at all. Overall recommend taking this class with Scelza if looking for good upper div!

Dr. Scleza was an incredible professor who did very well even without a TA (though she absolutely deserved a couple). Her lectures were packed with information and she was very clear and accessible in the way that she presented. She left out superfluous topics, jargon, and information in order to clarify and emphasize the course topics, but she was not unwilling to delve further when prompted. She is very clearly knowledgable and passionate about her research, her work, and this class. This was one of my favorite classes I have ever taken.

She gave us 4 quizzes and dropped the lowest grade. The quizzes were very 10 multiple choice questions and were very easy if you just pay attention in lecture. Her slides are quite hefty and definitely need her translation, especially for the case studies, so try to make it to class. If you can't it would be helpful to attend office hours just to gain clarity on some slides. She is super helpful and approachable.

There was a final paper, but it was easy and fun!

Midterm is OK, but final is short but pretty hard. I ended with a C+ but definitely learned a lot because all I did is just memorized all the lecture slides. Bottom line, go ahead to take this class if you don't mind memorize shit load of material just like scerri's chem class!!!!

Wow, I'm surprised that no one had evaluated Dr. Scelza despite how many people take her class. Pointlessness aside, Scelza is an AWESOME Professor, she is incredibly organized. Class is done powerpoint style, but she places emphasis on printing out slides and writing what she says - Slides can be memorized. She's really cool, looks and sounds like Daisy from the hit TV Show Bones, and she definitely knows what she is talking about. She makes tests sound ALOT harder than they are, so if you're like me, you'll study like crazy, just to finish the midterm in 25 mins. with a Huge smile on your face - I don't mind, I learned ALOT. Bottom Line: Scelza is a great teacher who teaches a fun GE - Take the Class and Learn Something from a GE for a change =)

I have to disagree with most of the reviews here. I found Professor Scelza's lectures entirely uninspiring. While she does put a lot of information into her slides there are a number of problems with her lectures.

First, the module I took (Human Behavioral Ecology) involved quite a number of fairly abstract quantitative models for explaining human behaviour. However, as these were presented on an extremely broad scale: they were made assumptions about hunter gatherer societies in general - it became quite difficult to conceive of how they actually manifested in the real world (HG societies being hugely varied and not complying with extremely basic statistical models).

Had she introduced a concept - e.g. methods of hunting in a particular society, and then demonstrated how a particular model could be applied to that situation, I would have stayed engaged with the class. As it was, she would simply talk in an extremely abstract fashion rarely displaying any applicability to the models in question.

The fact that a good 90% of lectures involved Professor Scelza simply reading out slides, the dull nature of the content kind of inspires you to stay at home. I think the fact that only around a quarter of enrolled students were ever in a lecture at any one time is testament to the level of engagement felt overall.

So, if like me, you do well writing papers - i.e. understanding concepts and demonstrating that knowledge by expanding on the basic points from lectures, you will hate this module - there is no continuous assessment. If however, you enjoy learning content and then repeating it parrot fashion in multiple choice exams then go right ahead, just prepare yourself for some dull hours in the lecture theatre.

I loved this woman from the first day I sat in her class. She really does remind you of a character from the show Bones. I would definitely recommended taking her. She does incorporate her research into her lectures, but it does pertain to the material!

Course Breakdown:
Midterm 40%
Final 50%
Discussion 10%

Getting a good grade:
First off most of her exams are lecture based. Study her slides and memorize the examples as well. The TA's are really anal about definitions so memorize the definitions that pop up in her lecture from the book. The book is a good supplement and not really dense at all if you actually do the assigned reading ever week. The final is cumulative, but draws heavily from the second half of the course. Memorize the homework questions and answers from your discussion! Some of those pop up on the midterm and final

Personal Experience:
I got B+ on her exam and a A+ on her final, I ended up with an A+ in the class. I would have gotten at least a solid A on the midterm had the TA's not been anal about the definitions. When they say write only one or two sentences. Write a paragraph with two periods lol. Use examples from the lecture and discussions to get the full credit. Oh, and try to get Kate Brunson as your TA she is really funny and willing to help all the time
Take the class with Scelza if you are interested at all in Anthro! And it is an easy GE for life science.

Professor Scleza is a great professor. She gives you all the materials you need to succeed. Her powerpoints are very thorough which really help to understand the information. She also puts them online so you can download before class. Her tests are not as hard as she makes you think. You'll still have to study quite a bit, but she is one of those professors that wants you to succeed. She is a great lecturer and I highly recommend her.

Anthro 7 (aka Anthro 1) is an amazing, interesting GE that is made even better when taught by this professor!
Pros:
1. The class is graded on roughly an 85 and tests are relatively whatever was covered on slides (I just looked over my class notes and I was fine)
2. The information is really, truly interesting and you get an introductory, practical explanation of evolution and its effects
3. Scelza is an amazing lecturer and makes sure that the material is clear and concise; there's no beating around the bush for this one
Cons:
1. Weekly inquisitives (homework quizzes)
2. You'll have to memorize a lot of weird ape names and characterizations for the second unit.
Nevertheless, this is an excellent GE made even better by this awesome professor.

Anthro 1 was an amazing class. I was so interested in the human relation to primates and the history surrounding our evolution. It was fun to learn the subject and I can honestly say it's one of the best classes I've ever taken at UCLA. The lectures are easy to understand and the tests are based more on the lectures than the book. The tests are multiple choice and short answer but a couple of days studying the slides should allow you to answer every question confidently. I must say I did enjoy reading the book, though. The best part is that an 84% and up is an A! Good luck and have fun, my friends. Also, go to office hours, Professor Scelza is cool and engaging.