Current instructor

Jeff Smith

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

Raw average: 3.25/5 from 4 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

CA613 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Took his Film Noir course Spring 2023. Passionate, knowledgeable, caring, and approachable, if sometimes a bit of a dry lecturer depending on the day. Paper assignments were relatively open-ended and no rubric, so his grading could feel a bit arbitrary, but I wouldn't say it's unfair. Would totally recommend him as a prof.
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CA552 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Jeff is one of my favorite professors!! He really knows what he's teaching and he has great thoughts about Hollywood and the whole film industry. Maybe it's a bit hard to get A but as long as you really like this topic, you'll be fine! And at the end you'll learn a lot from this class. Oh and go to Jeff's office hour and talk to him he's amazing!!!
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CA552 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Do not take this class.
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CA552 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
Look, Jeff seems like a swell guy. He's clearly very passionate about what he teaches, which helps make the lectures go by a little faster. However, he sometimes gets a little sucked into his own fine details that eventually make it into the extremely specific exam questions. Other than that, he's an extremely middle-of-the-road professor.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Jeff Smith

COMARTS 313

Topics in Film and Media Studies

3 credits

COMARTS 313 explores various topics in film and media studies, history, and theory.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2025: 3.06 GPA, 48.1% A/AB (n=27 letter grades).

Jonathan GrayJeff Smith+3 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2026
COMARTS 613

Special Topics in Film

3 credits

COMARTS 613 covers specialized topics in film history, theory, and criticism.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.48 GPA, 65.0% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Spring 2024: 3.82 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=14 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.43 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

Jeff Smith

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2025
COMARTS 799

Independent Study

1–3 credits

COMARTS 799 is an independent study course focused on independent research and writing under instructor supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=1 letter grades).

Eric HoytLyn Van Swol+16 more

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample
COMARTS 902

Film Colloquium

1 credits

COMARTS 902 is a film colloquium focusing on advanced research in film history, theory, and criticism.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Jeff Smith

No recorded grade history

COMARTS 990

Research and Thesis

1–9 credits

COMARTS 990 is a research and thesis course focusing on independent research and writing under instructor supervision.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Eric HoytAllison Prasch+21 more

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026COMARTS 313Topics in Film and Media Studies
Fall 2026COMARTS 613Special Topics in Film
Fall 2026COMARTS 799Independent Study
Fall 2026COMARTS 902Film Colloquium
Fall 2026COMARTS 990Research and Thesis

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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