I actually really liked this class a lot. The work material was relevant and engaging to real-life. I began to slack off post midterm thus the A- but the only tricky thing about his exams was the wording. Read the questions carefully

This class was average, I’m taking it for a Public Affairs requirement so it doesn’t matter either way, but I wouldn’t say this class was amazing but it wasn’t horrible. Prof was organized and I appreciated the CCLE layout and generous time to complete weekly quizzes! The midterm and final were unnecessarily complicated and the teaching staff didn’t really provide much info on the structure of exams so we really went into them blind (not knowing how many questions, what type of format, etc.) It was relatively easy to get an A as long as you kept up with lectures and did decently on the writing assignments (a policy memo and an op-ed which are the quintessential public affairs writing assignments).

<3 professor christensen <3

I took this class as a GE and seriously CANNOT recommend it enough: it's perfectly structured, incredibly engaging and relevant, will make you feel big-brained without running you into the ground with unnecessary reading and work. I feel like I learned so much in this class. dr. christensen was incredibly clear in all of his lectures, exams are very fair and ask you to apply course concepts in a reasonable manner. the class is well-paced and informative. it's a yes from me!

there are two main writing assignments that are pretty interesting to complete, a policy memo (15%) and an op-ed (15%). lecture and participation are worth 20% during covid-19. final is worth 20% and the midterm is worth 30%.

take this class!! you won't regret it

Disclaimer: I took this class during remote teaching
I would definitely take this class again. Prof. Christensen was super helpful and informative, so was my TA Jason. All lectures are pre-recorded and you have to read required the readings to fully comprehend the lectures. Assigned readings are sometimes challenging but they all stay on relevent topics (with some I read as explorations), which is nice. Hands down PubAff 30 with prof. Christensen was definitely a good GE to take.

Professor Christensen was truly understanding and awesome. He was very easy to understand and his examples really helped break down some of the more complicated concepts that he introduced. He was truly willing to listen to the students and accommodate to our needs. I really liked the way his class was structured. It was very organized and he always posted lectures in a timely manner. Because all the lectures were posted online, it made it easy to do everything at our own pace.

Professor Christensen is really helpful and also an amazing lecturer. This class is also full of really interesting material, but I think with professor Christensen's background he highlights certain areas and topics that really make the material much more interesting to learn. The readings are a lot but almost all of them are engaging. There's a midterm and a final which are both relatively easy if you learn the material well, and a few writing assignments that I found interesting to research.

Disclaimer: I took this class online due to COVID-19. In person experience may differ.

Professor Christensen is very helpful, knowledgeable, and passionate about public policy and making the world a better place. This class had very clear lectures that included review slides and key info from the readings (making the readings more or less optional). Discussions were well organized and built on the course concepts with group activities. He always kept us updated on course changes/important dates via email and was very flexible in adjusting the course material for online instruction.

There are two papers (memo and op-ed) and they aren't too bad. The instructions can be a bit vague but he gives you plenty of time to write it and get feedback from your TA. The midterm and final were both very fair and included multiple choice and short answer. He was very helpful by providing review guides and extra office hours.

TLDR: Take this class with him! He is very nice and passionate and cares for his students.

Prof. Christensen is an amazing lecturer. He is so clear when explaining complicated topics. He structures the class in a way that makes the material accessible and interesting. Although a lot of other people objected to his use of mathematical models to explain policy problems, if you actually think about the math for a second it makes perfect sense. He doesn't shy away from controversial topics either and welcomes discussion during lecture. Exams are pretty simple too if you know the slides well.

The class is pretty easy and interesting, just a lot of new concepts that can be challenging at first. He had a lot of math/economic models in the readings and lectures, but they weren't necessary for the exam or papers. He also let us replace our midterm grade with our final grade if it was higher, which was such a blessing. I was usually dead asleep in class because of the weirdly stuffy air of the class, but he was a funny and engaging guy otherwise.

This class was pretty interesting. The workload was super light and the exams were also quite straight forward. My only qualms with the class is that Dr. Christensen sometimes incorporated math and it didn't really make sense. This only happened like 3 times though and it is not necessary to do well on the exam. Overall, I'd say I really enjoyed this class and the topics it covered. Dr. Christensen is also very clear in lecture so as long as you take good notes, you'll do fine on the exams.