Current instructor

Brenda Plummer

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.55/5 from 11 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.

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

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

HIST628 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
AVOID! Tough (unfair) grader, unclear grading criteria, little outside of the syllabus. Very reading heavy, more work than necessary for a 3-credit course. Boring lectures. Do NOT take to fulfill ethnic studies credit requirements. Also very hard to reach outside of class, not on campus outside of lectures, and not respondent to emails.
Rate My Professors ↗
AFROAMER/HISTORY 628
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Plummer gades arbitrarily. All tests and assignments are in the form of essays. She does not give a rubric with point breakdowns or explain why you lost points. Although she has a syllabus with a rough summary of expectations, even if you make sure to follow every general guideline you will still lose points no matter what. The average on
Rate My Professors ↗
HIST221 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
LOVED this class,lectures were mind blowing. Graded on midterm & final which each had 2 essays we got 8 prompts ahead of time with 6 of the prompts on each exam so you could write the essays before the exam). Led the class in a 10 minute discussion, and write two, 5 page papers on topic of choice, no other work. Would def take from her again!!
Rate My Professors ↗
HIST628 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Plummer's class was interesting and not too hard to follow, but she does not have many words on slides so it is important to pay attention and take notes. Her grading criteria wasn't super clear and wasn't the easiest. She definitely knows her stuff and cares about the subject, I liked the class and the broad range of paper topics.
Rate My Professors ↗
HIST227 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Don't take this class. Pick another Ethnic Studies.
Rate My Professors ↗
HIST227 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
This class was NOT that bad. Two books the entire semester, I didnt read either. Just pay attention to what is said about them and youll be able to answe the questions. The class is not a lot of work, one article a week usually. Two midterms, one is essays on class stuff the other is lecture. YOU HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO LECTURES. Final is an essay
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Brenda Plummer

HISTORY 691

Senior Thesis

1–3 credits

The Senior Thesis course involves mentored independent research and writing on an original topic, requiring concurrent enrollment in HISTORY 690.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Stephen KantrowitzCindy Cheng+22 more

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027HISTORY 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 691Senior Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 699Directed Study
Spring 2027HISTORY 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 999Independent Work
Fall 2026HISTORY 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026HISTORY 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026HISTORY 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026HISTORY 692Senior Thesis
Fall 2026HISTORY 698Directed Study
Fall 2026HISTORY 699Directed Study
Fall 2026HISTORY 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026HISTORY 999Independent Work

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_125e6e7894a38429984fcb9d",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "bplummer",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Brenda Plummer",
  "email": "BPLUMMER@WISC.EDU",
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 11,
    "quality": 2.55,
    "difficulty": 3.73,
    "quality_count": 11,
    "difficulty_count": 11,
    "profile_id": "rmp:1206174",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/1206174",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 19:24:04.832379+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_c0c2c9e3d57096b9c8e80f69": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 1,
        "difficulty": 4,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.2656087616106255,
    "prior_mean": 3.65919358049647,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_3b97b068160d601be814baa5",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 4,
      "gpa": 3.797
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_6432520b02cd7934abbfcd3f",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 682",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.763
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_8778fa7b5b565bca47ade417",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 681",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_97935a61b1c6b838f99ceb60",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 691",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_9ece8db211897864d843d882",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH AND THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_a5cb188042700b0c351bcea5",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 692",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_f3c5da1f78bad390731fed93",
      "course_id": "HISTORY 999",
      "title": "INDEPENDENT WORK",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.953
    }
  ],
  "revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/BRENDA_PLUMMER"
}