Historical instructor

JOSEPH TOWLES

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.11/5 from 9 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

ENGR012 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Not interested in teaching. His time is more valuable than anyone else.
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E6Lab · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Highly disorganized. Did not grade or give any feedback on labs until the week before finals & no response to repeated emails. Changed day and time of lab on 5 times with notice as short as 3 days, which created conflicts w/ other classes. Good lecturer but a gamble with grades and not learning from your mistakes b/c no feedback & lacks empathy.
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E6Lab · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
The lab Towles conducts is thought-provoking and provides valuable learning experiences, although they necessitate a considerable amount of independent work. This level of autonomy can be advantageous as it encourages self-reliance and problem-solving skills, yet it may also be challenging for some students who require more guidance and support.
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ENGR012 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Towles' was disorganized. The pacing was slow and then rushed right before finals. His lecture slides were uniformative. During class, he focused on specific examples and work with classmates instead of actually lecturing. Sometime he would simply give us his written derivations and tell us to read through them ourselves.
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BME 315
Quality 4/5Difficulty 4/5
Towels office hours were the most helpful resource in this class. He will readily explain/demo/draw to present the information in different ways until you understand the concept. He's willing to help guide your thought process on tricky homework problems or lab questions, as long as you're willing to put in the time and ask.
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BME 315
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Towles is hands down my favorite professor. Not because of how I did in his class or because he makes the content tractable, but because he is simply a talented lecturer. He knows exactly how to structure such a wide range of knowledge into a digestable and interesting manner. He truly cares how well his students do, he's there to help you succeed.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with JOSEPH TOWLES

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

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

Instructor identity & provenance
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