Current instructor

Ethelene Whitmire

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

Raw average: 3.40/5 from 15 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

AA271 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Prof. Whitmire is great! The readings she assigns are interesting, and our in-class discussions were always engaging. She knows a lot about her subject, and hearing about her research adds a lot to the class. I would definitely recommend AfroAmer 271!
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AA265 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Prof. Whitmire is a caring,engaging teacher who genuinely engages in discussion with students on tough topics. She listens without judgement and creates an environment where respectful, constructive communication happens organically. The course was African American Autobiography and the books Prof. Whitmire chose were hard hitting and engaging.
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AAS271 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
She is very smart and cares about the topic. The class was relatively easy, a few papers here and there and a final project. The work she selects makes it easy and interesting so you actually want to learn more. I highly recommend this professor!
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AAS271 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
This professor is very intelligent and passionate about her work. She talks a bit about the books she's wrote and the research she's done which I really loved to hear about. I learned a lot in this class! It isn't very hard either, just show up, write discussion posts, and participate and you're golden.
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AAS271 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
Professor Whitmire isn't the greatest professor by any metric, but she is far from a bad one. The class itself isn't stressful, mostly reading, and the exams aren't bad at all. I wish there was less time spent reading and more time learning deeper concepts though, most of this class is pretty surface-level. I would still recommend this class though
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AA265 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Prof Whitmire is very intelligent and extremely kind. She opens up lots of readings and opportunity for her students to engage and speak in class, which are mainly discussions rather than lectures. Super clear grading criteria and doesn't expect perfection, but there is quite a bit of reading although the books are interesting easy reads.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Ethelene Whitmire

AFROAMER 271 is an introductory course exploring specific topics within African American culture.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.59 GPA, 81.2% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.75 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=6 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.83 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=6 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026AFROAMER 271Selected Topics in African American Culture
Fall 2026AFROAMER 790Research and Thesis

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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