Spring 2027

Sociology of Race & Ethnicity in the United States

Sociology of Race & Ethnicity in the US covering inter-group relations, racism, white privilege, and historical backgrounds of major racial and ethnic minorities including their societal challenges.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Jason Nolen4.5/5Nicholas Pedriana

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Jason Nolen

The course included three exams and several papers, with no cumulative final. Exams were straightforward if students attended class and did the readings, though some found them harder than they seemed because they pulled questions from the texts.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of America’s racial history on the present.

  • Recognize race and ethnicity in both institutional and interpersonal contexts.

  • Recognize and question hidden racial assumptions in social discourses.

  • Develop an improved ability to successfully participate in a multicultural society.

  • Collect data, analyze results, and draw conclusions.

  • Read and critically evaluate published research in academic journals.

  • Improve academic and professional communication skills.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
SOC 134

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027

Jason Nolen

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.70/5 from 86 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 4.7/5 raw quality · 2.1/5 difficulty · 69 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Jason Nolen

Jason Nolen taught the course with assessments ranging from three to four non-cumulative exams and papers, with no final. Students found his grading fair and lectures engaging, though some noted tests could be harder than expected due to reading-based questions. Mandatory discussions and optional lectures were part of the structure, with shared slides containing exam material.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.39 GPA, 65.5% A/AB (n=255 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.43 GPA, 66.4% A/AB (n=366 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.34 GPA, 59.7% A/AB (n=196 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.20 GPA, 56.9% A/AB (n=325 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.21 GPA, 61.7% A/AB (n=175 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.23 GPA, 54.7% A/AB (n=234 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Melanie Murchison, Sarah Stefanos

Past students found Melanie Murchison’s tests fair and noted she indicated test content during review sessions, while Sarah Stefanos’s course required five of seven homework assignments plus essays, which one student described as fairly easy overall.

ANGELA BARIAN is recorded teaching in Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

CHRISTOPHER HOLMES is recorded teaching in Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JASON NOLEN is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KAELYN STILES is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MELANIE MURCHISON is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MOSI IFATUNJI is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MUSTAFA EMIRBAYER is recorded teaching in Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

NICHOLAS PEDRIANA is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RICHARD AVILES is recorded teaching in Fall 2012. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SARAH STEFANOS is recorded teaching in Fall 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ZACHARY BAUMGART is recorded teaching in Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2016. 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 002Classroom Instruction0 / 2000
DIS 321Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 322Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 323Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 324Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 325Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 326Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 327Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 328Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LEC 003Classroom Instruction0 / 2000
DIS 341Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 342Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 343Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 344Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 345Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 346Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 347Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 348Classroom Instruction0 / 250
LEC 004Classroom Instruction0 / 2000
DIS 361Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 362Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 363Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 364Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 365Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 366Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 367Classroom Instruction0 / 250
DIS 368Classroom 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 · Jason Nolen

Jason Nolen teaches an engaging course on race in America that balances tough issues with humor. Students found the material relevant and the professor approachable and helpful.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.28 GPA, 60.7% A/AB (n=580 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.42 GPA, 69.7% A/AB (n=726 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.28 GPA, 57.0% A/AB (n=430 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Jason Nolen

The course included three exams and several papers, with no cumulative final. Exams were straightforward if students attended class and did the readings, though some found them harder than they seemed because they pulled questions from the texts.

Past student reviews · Jason Nolen

Discussions were mandatory and often helpful, though lecture quality varied. Some students found the assigned readings lengthy and occasionally boring, but manageable.

Topics

  • Inter-group relations, racism, discrimination, and white privilege
  • Historical background and characteristics of racial and ethnic minorities
  • Economic, housing, political, legal, educational, familial, and health challenges of minority groups

Skills

  • Understanding the impact of America's racial history on the present
  • Recognizing race and ethnicity in institutional and interpersonal contexts
  • Questioning hidden racial assumptions in social discourses
  • Participating successfully in a multicultural society
  • Collecting data, analyzing results, and drawing conclusions
  • Reading and critically evaluating published research
  • Improving academic and professional communication skills

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 · 0.16 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
SOC 134 · Spring 2027

Sociology of Race & Ethnicity in the United States

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:900:017531",
    "course_id": "SOC 134",
    "course_uid": "course_636497c01ee603e3a78b0225",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "017531",
    "source_subject_id": "900",
    "title": "Sociology of Race & Ethnicity in the United States",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
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 1Download part 2Download part 3Download part 4
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "788d41cf2d44cba72d2fadd24ed402ef995646eb74306cb8f74b5c02a9e03283",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}