Professor
Richard Lesure
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - This is by far the hardest GE I’ve taken. The professor does not curve the final grade at all, which honestly feels unreasonable. I put an enormous amount of effort into this class and still only ended up with a B. For context, I took two other GEs at the same time, put much less total effort into them, and still performed better than in this class. The professor clearly loves archaeology, but the lectures are very disorganized and did not help me review the material in a structured or systematic way. The final exam being cumulative made this even more frustrating. The content is extremely boring if you are not an anthropology major, and no matter how much I studied, I feel like I forgot most of it immediately after the exam. Some students did well, but from what I observed, they were genuinely interested in archaeology and were strong humanities students. As a STEM student taking this course as a GE, both I and other STEM students I know felt very confused and disconnected throughout the quarter. The reading workload is excessive, and many of the readings are especially dull. Exams test very specific details that the professor briefly mentioned in lecture or minor points from the readings. Each lecture is accompanied by one or two readings, many of which are around seventeen pages long. Overall, I would strongly recommend avoiding this class unless you are genuinely interested in archaeology and enjoy lecture-based courses in this subject. Additionally, the course introduction mentioned field trips, but there were none. We even had class in a room under a museum, yet the museum’s resources were never actually used.
Fall 2025 - This is by far the hardest GE I’ve taken. The professor does not curve the final grade at all, which honestly feels unreasonable. I put an enormous amount of effort into this class and still only ended up with a B. For context, I took two other GEs at the same time, put much less total effort into them, and still performed better than in this class. The professor clearly loves archaeology, but the lectures are very disorganized and did not help me review the material in a structured or systematic way. The final exam being cumulative made this even more frustrating. The content is extremely boring if you are not an anthropology major, and no matter how much I studied, I feel like I forgot most of it immediately after the exam. Some students did well, but from what I observed, they were genuinely interested in archaeology and were strong humanities students. As a STEM student taking this course as a GE, both I and other STEM students I know felt very confused and disconnected throughout the quarter. The reading workload is excessive, and many of the readings are especially dull. Exams test very specific details that the professor briefly mentioned in lecture or minor points from the readings. Each lecture is accompanied by one or two readings, many of which are around seventeen pages long. Overall, I would strongly recommend avoiding this class unless you are genuinely interested in archaeology and enjoy lecture-based courses in this subject. Additionally, the course introduction mentioned field trips, but there were none. We even had class in a room under a museum, yet the museum’s resources were never actually used.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Professor Lesure is an amazing professor and I would 100% take him again. Our grading is based on attendance (he takes attendance often but always takes attendance on discussion days), two papers which are our midterm and final paper which are each worth 35% and total 70% of our grade and they are five pages long and he allows you to choose one question out of two or three to answer in your paper, a quiz online which is literally based off of how he wants your citations to look, and 5 reading responses to the readings we have assigned and you just do a short answer and choose two questions to respond to out of about 12 questions which are each worth 3% but the top four contribute 12% towards your grade. If you do the work and take notes during lecture especially discussion days, no doubt you will get an A. I would take him every quarter if I could!
Winter 2025 - Professor Lesure is an amazing professor and I would 100% take him again. Our grading is based on attendance (he takes attendance often but always takes attendance on discussion days), two papers which are our midterm and final paper which are each worth 35% and total 70% of our grade and they are five pages long and he allows you to choose one question out of two or three to answer in your paper, a quiz online which is literally based off of how he wants your citations to look, and 5 reading responses to the readings we have assigned and you just do a short answer and choose two questions to respond to out of about 12 questions which are each worth 3% but the top four contribute 12% towards your grade. If you do the work and take notes during lecture especially discussion days, no doubt you will get an A. I would take him every quarter if I could!
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Most Helpful Review
if you are not an antro major it can get somewhat boring (Some Archaeology). grading is based on participation and three out of four (5 pg) papers. papers are all based on articles from your reader. the class only requires one reader and the readings are not too long. Athough his lectures help you to understand the readings, you cannot depend on the lectures for your papers. overall the class is interesting and not too dificult. if you are looking for a class with out too much stress, this is the class for you. oh yea, i almost forgot, he also stresses on plagiarism, he sometimes dedicates an entire session to it.
if you are not an antro major it can get somewhat boring (Some Archaeology). grading is based on participation and three out of four (5 pg) papers. papers are all based on articles from your reader. the class only requires one reader and the readings are not too long. Athough his lectures help you to understand the readings, you cannot depend on the lectures for your papers. overall the class is interesting and not too dificult. if you are looking for a class with out too much stress, this is the class for you. oh yea, i almost forgot, he also stresses on plagiarism, he sometimes dedicates an entire session to it.
Most Helpful Review
I have to disagree with the reviewers here. I had a great seminar style (15 people max) class with him and was constantly impressed by his knowledge. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things interesting. Although, not an all-time fav, dont be scared away from a great professor.
I have to disagree with the reviewers here. I had a great seminar style (15 people max) class with him and was constantly impressed by his knowledge. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things interesting. Although, not an all-time fav, dont be scared away from a great professor.
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