New and continuing students--just a quick word about looking for classes. One of your best bets will be reviewing the syllabi and deciding what you want to take for almost four months. What do you need to take, want to take, and avoid. A good indicator after your degree requirements and talking to advising, is the syllabi. Do the readings look interesting? You should also talk to your friends. Nothing beats a "tried and tested" opinion. However, make sure you ask someone who is not only honest about the prof, but also honest about the effort s/he put into the class.

With that in mind, note that those various sites that give opinions or rates about instructors tend to field the students that hated the instructor or loved the class. There is usually no happy medium. To that end, I have avoided those sites for almost three years, but just took a quick look at a few pages. And, again, from the non-scientific results can attest to the haters/likers posting.

I'll quote from Abba, "Take a chance on me." My courses are not an easy ride--you will work for your mark. In my smaller courses (60 or less students), I will learn your name, I will encourage you to come to office hours, and you will enjoy the lecture/discussion style in the smaller courses. I've had a few students recently come to my office to introduce themselves--savvy move. Come by and say hi, and know that you are part of the UVIC community and part of a great department on campus--Political Science.

What do we have--10 or 11 days until the new term! Enjoy the last week or so of Summer!