Spring 2027

Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology

Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology examines linkages between social and biophysical environmental dimensions, covering community organizing, food systems, and sustainability.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Michaela Hoffelmeyer

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Sarah Rios, Jane Collins

Sarah Rios assigned 2-3 difficult readings weekly and relied on big tests and book reports. Jane Collins used exams based on slides and required several short essays, which one student found strictly graded.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Understand how social science arguments are constructed and evaluated.

  • Learn and practice core elements of sociological reasoning, including making connections between a social phenomenon and its larger context; evaluating the “situated” nature of knowledge; and recognizing the paradigms, or knowledge frameworks, that structure our thinking about social issues.

  • Gain experience critically evaluating various sources of knowledge and data about social issues.

  • Become familiar with key concepts such as: “community,” “development,” “growth,” “economic security,” “environmental justice,” “sustainability,” “globalization,” and “neoliberalism;” learn how these concepts are involved in contemporary debates about what is fair, just, and desirable for the places where we live and the world as a whole.

  • Become familiar with important actors in the social processes that affect our communities and environment, including government, corporations, transnational institutions and social movements; also learn about historical shifts in the relationships among these actors.

  • Develop skills and frameworks for analyzing how social processes disparately affect different groups of people.

  • Make connections between sociological theories and concepts and your own experiences.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
C&ESOC/SOC 140 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.40 GPA, 67.0% A/AB (n=97 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.49 GPA, 68.1% A/AB (n=91 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JANE COLLINS is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAELA HOFFELMEYER is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH ELIZABETH LLOYD is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Fall 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH RIOS is recorded teaching in Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1000
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1000
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Jane Collins, Sarah Rios

Past students found the course interesting and straightforward. Lectures were generally engaging, though some reviewers noted that teaching quality varied significantly by instructor.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.80 GPA, 88.7% A/AB (n=71 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.49 GPA, 68.1% A/AB (n=91 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.77 GPA, 88.3% A/AB (n=60 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Sarah Rios, Jane Collins

Sarah Rios assigned 2-3 difficult readings weekly and relied on big tests and book reports. Jane Collins used exams based on slides and required several short essays, which one student found strictly graded.

Past student reviews · Jill Richardson

Students appreciated supportive TAs who provided clear explanations and encouraging feedback. One international student specifically noted how the TA's personal encouragement helped them feel included in the section.

Topics

  • Community organizing, local food systems, energy transitions, environmental justice, resource dependence, and sustainable development
  • Concepts including community, development, growth, economic security, environmental justice, sustainability, globalization, and neoliberalism

Skills

  • Constructing and evaluating social science arguments
  • Analyzing how social processes disparately affect different groups

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.19 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
C&ESOC/SOC 140 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology

Recorded 2026-10-14
C&ESOC/SOC 140 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "offering_id": "1274:864:016784",
    "course_id": "C&ESOC/SOC 140",
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    "source_subject_id": "864",
    "title": "Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  },
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    "offering_id": "1274:900:016784",
    "course_id": "C&ESOC/SOC 140",
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    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "016784",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology",
    "credits_min": 4,
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    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
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]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "d1d7990bdc52f3feb9e23274a3ab56f4d7959aad828f8bc585a1b9c87243c661",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}