Coming into my senior year, I have started to reflect on the best experiences I’ve had in the classroom. We all have those professors we will always remember, whether for being really great or completely awful (you know who you are). I have decided that, with a new fall semester starting and a new freshman class beginning the most amazing, wonderful time ever here in Tallahassee, that I would reflect on my best professors. This way, you can have my non-anonymous opinion on the best decisions the FSU hiring committee has ever made. If you ever get the chance to take a class taught by one of these people, do it!
Dr. Nathan Line
Dr. Line is exceptionally knowledgeable about the hospitality industry. He is willing to teach anyone who is interested in learning and cares for the success of his students. I thoroughly enjoyed his class not only because he is a great professor, but he focuses on teaching his students real information that you actually need in the world, not just by the book. He works hard to help his students find careers after graduation, and is inspiring with his own success. I would honestly add another major just so I could take more classes with him, but I’m already at 90 hours and they wont let me *cries*. I could not recommend Dr. Line enough, if you don’t believe me, just check his rate my professor. He seriously doesn’t even have one bad review. Highly suggested for any hospitality class you need to take. ESPECIALLY HFT1000 if you can. Not many “good” professors teach that.
Dr. Jenny Moffitt
Dr. Moffitt is absolutely wonderful. She is the happiest, most engaging and interested professor I’ve had in a literature class. She knows the novels inside and out, and not only makes it interesting to learn about the fictional characters, but she does well in tying these books to real life situations. She teaches English the way I know and love; no exams. You have papers and written quizzes, which give you the chance to show your true skills (hello, writing), rather than multiple choice midterm and final on different novels. She recognizes when her students are trying and doing well and she gives you multiple chances to make sure your grade is good. However, with the heavy flow of reading, I would not take her if you don’t actually like reading.
Erin Workman
I had Ms. Workman my freshman year as my first class at Florida State. She taught ENC1102, and it has probably been my favorite class thus far. We had it at 8 A.M., in the Spring (freshman, this means it was FREEZING COLD and DARK AS NIGHT when I had to get up and go to class. Never. Take an 8 A.M. In the spring.). We were allotted however many absences, and I didn’t miss one class. She made it interesting and fun to be there, brought doughnuts, let us do our entire group projects in class, and became friendly with every single one of us. If I’m being honest, I owe it to her for turning me onto English as a major, because I liked that class and the way it was set up so much.
Rachel Duke
Mrs. Duke is one of the most personable teachers I have ever had. She offered personal study times where we could come to her with questions about the exam and helped us to find the correct answers. She also offered time after the exam to go over what we did wrong to earn extra points. She cares greatly about the success of her students and is also such an exciting teacher. She is constantly looking for new ways to engage her students. She incorporates hands-on class experiments and twitter trivia/responses for extra credit. She makes class interesting and you end up going, even though she has no attendance policy.
Kristin Gibson
Spanish is notoriously known as the worst classes you can take at FSU. Mandatory attendance, online homework made for kindergarteners that also takes hours to complete because they give you so much hard (but not impossible) tests and learning material, and to tack onto all of that, books which are $200 and required. I went into Spanish 2 this summer pretty much expecting to slide by with a 70 and hate my life, but I ended up not even using up the 2 allotted absences and enjoying learning Spanish with her. She comes up with interesting ways to teach which helps us actually become fluent. Spanish is also her second language, so she knows how hard it is to learn and understands what’s hard to grasp and what isn’t. I highly recommend her.
Dr. Ben Miller
Dr. Miller teaches the “Zombie Class” at FSU. Easy, interesting, and funny course. It counts for philosophy, (or it used to), and it’s so funny. You watch movies, read weird zombie stories, and write short papers once a week (500 words), and you leave with an A. Dr. Miller is hysterical and realistic, truly entertaining to listen to, and is so, so smart. I took it as a freshman, but I would say take it as a senior because it would be way better if I were taking that next semester instead of a 4000 level English class.
