Current instructor

John Hawks

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.00/5 from 107 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

ANTHROPOLOGY10 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He obviously enjoys his subject, his love for Anthropology is infectious. Profound and up to date knowledge, great lectures!
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTH100 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
Super engaging and made class a fun time.
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTH100 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Professor Hawks is so sweet and really cares about what he's lecturing.
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTHRO 105
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Prof is an excellent, engaging lecturer. If you pay attention in lecture, take notes, and read the readings, you should be able to earn a high grade with low workload each week. Assignments are weekly quizzes based on lecture and reading content. Reasonable, open-note. No exams. Excellent Bio credit.
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTHR105 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 2/5
I'm not an anthro major, but found the class interesting! You can definitely tell when a prof like him is actually passionate about the content. He doesn't read off of slideshows, but rather, gives a lot of verbal info to supplement the images/data given. He's also really big about accessibility and records all his lectures!
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTHR105 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 1/5
Attendance is taken for lab only while lectures can be viewed from videos that will be posted later in the week. Lectures are interesting! Dr. Hawks is an excellent professor that involves the audience with questions and does care about his students. The class is not hard, and you will pass easily as long as you do the readings assigned.
Rate My Professors ↗

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

Classes with John Hawks

Principles of Biological Anthropology covering the genetic basis of morphological, physiological, and behavioral variations in human populations and their evolution.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Past student reviews · John Hawks

John Hawks taught an engaging, low-workload course with weekly quizzes and no exams. Students found the material accessible and appreciated the fun lectures, though some inquiry assignments were challenging. This class counted toward bio credits.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Senior Honors Thesis offering mentored individual research and study for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Senior Honors Thesis: Mentored individual research and study for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

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

No recorded grade history

Senior Thesis provides mentored individual research and study for students completing a senior thesis.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

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

No recorded grade history

Directed Study in Anthropology consists of advanced directed study projects arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=2 letter grades).

No recorded grade history

Directed Studies in Zoology consists of selected research projects for juniors and seniors.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Spring 2026

Advanced research in biology as part of graduate program requirements, arranged with mentoring faculty.

Offering recorded · Spring 2027 · Sources

No recorded grade history

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2027ANTHRO 105Principles of Biological Anthropology
Spring 2027ANTHRO 681Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027ANTHRO 682Senior Honors Thesis
Spring 2027ANTHRO 691Senior Thesis
Spring 2027ANTHRO 692Senior Thesis
Spring 2027ANTHRO 698Directed Study
Spring 2027ANTHRO 699Directed Study
Spring 2027ANTHRO 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2027ANTHRO 999Reading and Research
Spring 2027ZOOLOGY 699Directed Studies in Zoology
Spring 2027ZOOLOGY 990Research
Fall 2026ANTHRO 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 692Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 698Directed Study
Fall 2026ANTHRO 699Directed Study
Fall 2026ANTHRO 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 999Reading and Research
Fall 2026ZOOLOGY 990Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_26d7cbdfdc0b42302521361e",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "jhawks",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "John Hawks",
  "email": "JHAWKS@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": 107,
    "quality": 4,
    "difficulty": 2.45,
    "quality_count": 107,
    "difficulty_count": 107,
    "profile_id": "rmp:306981",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/306981",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 19:05:28.255296+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_31e91bbc6e3be8c0f49483f2": {
        "review_count": 30,
        "quality": 4.07,
        "difficulty": 2.27,
        "quality_count": 30,
        "difficulty_count": 30
      },
      "course_2fc39f51c99cd64294f87ec4": {
        "review_count": 1,
        "quality": 5,
        "difficulty": 2,
        "quality_count": 1,
        "difficulty_count": 1
      },
      "course_8cd90373f5f732f5b455b453": {
        "review_count": 3,
        "quality": 4,
        "difficulty": 2.67,
        "quality_count": 3,
        "difficulty_count": 3
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.946329697715979,
    "prior_mean": 3.65919358049647,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_284c530212f23f1f2db6cc2d",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 692",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 2,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_31e91bbc6e3be8c0f49483f2",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 105",
      "title": "PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 3.397
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_3e5cc6ff7bf83333a2e4035b",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 698",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_96228e1a9656e9541b117754",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.864
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_99896f8bf4a820406be46d1c",
      "course_id": "ZOOLOGY 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_9dc066386a06f780ff6371aa",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 999",
      "title": "READING AND RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_b02c623c9db48b8d577e8876",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 682",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_b114b0b5a63d02e311b3ad90",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH AND THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_caf2d45e876f0055525e461d",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 681",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_dec271f294e619e652e01aed",
      "course_id": "ZOOLOGY 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDIES IN ZOOLOGY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.976
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_f9726532c14a07d7229ddc34",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 691",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 2,
      "gpa": null
    }
  ],
  "revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/JOHN_HAWKS"
}