Is overtly qualified and does not come off holier than thou, but the class is hard. He is wonderful at lecturing and explaining and was a very fair grader. Rule above all: communication is key. Great, knowledgeable professor.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
ALVIN THOMAS
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
This class could be interesting but Dr. Thomas changes his explanations of key terms when students ask clarifying questions in class. His rubrics are wordy and unclear. When I asked questions I did not get clear answers and then got points taken off on big projects. Dr. Thomas also thinks highly of himself and it is very clear in his lectures.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Dr. Thomas was a good lecturer and I could tell he truly cares about his students. However, he is an extremely tough grader and most of your final grade in the class is dependent on 2 big projects. The grading criteria for these projects is not clear, leading to a lot of confusion about what Dr. Thomas' expectations were.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Very well educated and passionate about what he teaches but very harsh grader and there is only a few assignments and 2 big projects instead of a final overall not an easy course despite description.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
He's clearly really knowledgeable about the topics he teaches about but oof, the assignments... the main thing I really disliked was the group presentations, which 1. took up about half of class time for people to present and 2. often ended up with one student doing the bulk of the heavy lifting.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with ALVIN THOMAS
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
View last recorded teaching term →No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.
Recorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | HDFS 763 | Aging and the Family: Adolescence Through Later Life |
| Fall 2025 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2025 | HDFS 999 | Independent Study |
| Spring 2024 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2023 | HDFS 763 | Aging and the Family: Adolescence Through Later Life |
| Fall 2023 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2023 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2022 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2022 | HDFS 766 | Current Topics in Human Development and Family Studies |
| Spring 2022 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2021 | HDFS 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2020 | HDFS 766 | Current Topics in Human Development and Family Studies |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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