Current instructor

Debra Pierce

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.79/5 from 14 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

J464 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 2/5
requires AI and never shuts up.
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J464 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
I ended up dropping the class because she was a hard ass about attendance. i lived 25 minutes away (mind you in -20 degrees) and she expected you to be in class on time (like not even a minute late) or your grade would drop a whole letter grade. it was too risky. also a lot of unnecessary work and i didn't learn much in the time i was in class.
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J464 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Deb is respected, kind, and very helpful. You really do learn a ton about PR in this course, but it is A LOT of work. Genuinely feels like an unpaid internship since you are creating a plan for a real client and have to rely on group members to pull their weight. Stress of the workload really adds up if you're taking other high-level classes.
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J464 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Deb is my favorite J-School lecturer. She was super caring for me as a student and wanted the best learning experience for all of her students. I learned a lot and she is very passionate about her teaching. Deb is amazing and knows a lot about her topic. Would def take again.
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J464 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 2/5
We had real client this semester, and except the first few classes she introduced the brief of the client, she didn't teach anything except give the class time as work time. She 100% supported and gave feedback to media relations team but almost ignored the other two groups which are creative and social media team. I learned 0 PR knowledge!
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J464 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Deb thinks that her class should be her students #1 priority during a global pandemic, and dismisses any class concerns by saying were all busy, ignoring the lives and experiences of students. She also has 0 regard for the ethical implications of Public Relations she condoned marketing a psychoactive substance to addicts.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Debra Pierce

JOURN 697 is an advanced directed study course where students arrange projects based on internship experience with faculty supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

JOURN 699 is a directed study course allowing students to arrange advanced projects with faculty.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2007: 3.94 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2011: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2025 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026JOURN 697Internship
Fall 2026JOURN 699Directed Study

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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