Current instructor

Elizabeth Lapina

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.24/5 from 17 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

HISTORY/MEDIEVAL/RELIGST 309
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Lapina is great. Her lectures are super engaging, and she's obviously very passionate and knowledgeable on her topic. As long as you actually pay attention in lecture then you'll do well.
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HISTORY/MEDIEVAL/RELIGST 309
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Engaging, loves participation, understanding about conflicts and extensions. The TA is also wonderful and very sweet. Slides sometimes bare bones but lectures are enough for understanding material, tells you what readings will be on exams, others I skimmed.
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HISTORY 600
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
If you take her Medieval History in Film course, be ready for it to be more a film class than history class. The entire semester is working on a big final paper, so be on top of that. Most homework is to watch movies for the first half of the semester. Interesting if you like the topic.
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HISTORY/MEDIEVAL/RELIGST 309
Quality 2/5Difficulty 2/5
Overall, I did not find the professor engaging. After the midterm, it felt easy to skip or be on my phone in lecture because the slides had little content on them. I only had to go over select readings in order to complete the assignments, and I learned a lot more from the TA. The professor is knowledgeable, but I felt the class was not for me.
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HISTORY 115
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Had her first semester of freshman year for History 115. No exams, only papers, but there were a lot of mini writing assignments in class that help you get a feel for what her grading criteria is. She will cold call you if she sees you distracted in lecture, so at least pretend to pay attention.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Elizabeth Lapina

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027HISTORY 699Directed Study
Spring 2027HISTORY 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2027HISTORY 999Independent Work
Fall 2026HISTORY 115Medieval Europe 410-1500
Fall 2026HISTORY 600Advanced Seminar in History
Fall 2026HISTORY 681Senior Honors 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 
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