# Laird Boswell — Courses & Reviews | UW–Madison

[View on UW Courses](https://uwcourses.com/instructors/LAIRD_BOSWELL--instructor_7e56343ac8d31477ae34a9ed)

## Dataset

### revision

e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349

### repository

twangodev/uwcourses

### schema version

6

### importer version

7

### projection id

85abe9ff8837c2c5a134368dcc4cfc85eb723524b21ddeb3d2e953887d2f0c8f

### observed at

2026-09-07T15:55:43.033547+00:00

### built at

2026-09-11T07:45:51.576183+00:00

### courses

8951

### current instructors

5754

### limited

false

### terms

* 1272
* 1264
* 1262
* 1254
* 1252
* 1244
* 1242
* 1234
* 1232
* 1224
* 1222
* 1212
* 1204
* 1202
* 1194
* 1192
* 1184
* 1182
* 1174
* 1172
* 1164
* 1162
* 1154
* 1152
* 1144
* 1142
* 1134
* 1132
* 1124
* 1122
* 1114
* 1112
* 1104
* 1102
* 1094
* 1092
* 1084
* 1082
* 1074
* 1072

### term

1272

### departments

| subject   | count |
| --------- | ----- |
| AAE       | 90    |
| ABT       | 20    |
| ACCTIS    | 36    |
| ACTSCI    | 14    |
| AFAERO    | 10    |
| AFRICAN   | 87    |
| AFROAMER  | 71    |
| AGROECOL  | 21    |
| AMERIND   | 53    |
| ANAT\&PHY | 7     |
| ANATOMY   | 2     |
| ANESTHES  | 8     |
| ANSCI     | 57    |
| ANTHRO    | 95    |
| ART       | 125   |
| ARTED     | 10    |
| ARTHIST   | 121   |
| ASIALANG  | 129   |
| ASIAN     | 109   |
| ASIANAM   | 28    |
| ASTRON    | 38    |
| ATMOCN    | 69    |
| BIOCHEM   | 51    |
| BIOCORE   | 10    |
| BIOLOGY   | 14    |
| BIOMDSCI  | 18    |
| BME       | 66    |
| BMI       | 41    |
| BMOLCHEM  | 10    |
| BOTANY    | 69    |
| BSE       | 44    |
| C\&ESOC   | 73    |
| CBE       | 48    |
| CHEM      | 101   |
| CHICLA    | 52    |
| CIVENGR   | 133   |
| CLASSICS  | 47    |
| CNP       | 10    |
| CNSRSCI   | 50    |
| COMARTS   | 137   |
| COMPBIO   | 15    |
| COMPLIT   | 11    |
| COMPSCI   | 138   |
| COUNPSY   | 78    |
| CRB       | 19    |
| CS\&D     | 71    |
| CSCS      | 40    |
| CURRIC    | 193   |
| DANCE     | 93    |
| DERM      | 8     |
| DS        | 88    |
| DYSCI     | 35    |
| ECE       | 155   |
| ECON      | 145   |
| EDPOL     | 114   |
| EDPSYCH   | 97    |
| ELPA      | 70    |
| EMA       | 53    |
| EMERMED   | 17    |
| ENGL      | 206   |
| ENTOM     | 40    |
| ENVIRST   | 148   |
| EP        | 15    |
| EPD       | 67    |
| ESL       | 16    |
| F\&WECOL  | 60    |
| FAMMED    | 22    |
| FINANCE   | 50    |
| FOLKLORE  | 40    |
| FOODSCI   | 43    |
| FRENCH    | 63    |
| GEN\&WS   | 145   |
| GENBUS    | 72    |
| GENECSLR  | 17    |
| GENETICS  | 60    |
| GEOG      | 113   |
| GEOSCI    | 83    |
| GERMAN    | 82    |
| GLE       | 48    |
| GNS       | 38    |
| GREEK     | 27    |
| HDFS      | 41    |
| HEBR-BIB  | 13    |
| HEBR-MOD  | 10    |
| HISTORY   | 233   |
| HISTSCI   | 56    |
| HONCOL    | 13    |
| ILS       | 43    |
| INFOSYS   | 9     |
| INTEGART  | 7     |
| INTEGSCI  | 22    |
| INTER-AG  | 18    |
| INTER-HE  | 11    |
| INTER-LS  | 22    |
| INTEREGR  | 16    |
| INTLBUS   | 21    |
| INTLST    | 50    |
| ISYE      | 83    |
| ITALIAN   | 53    |
| JEWISH    | 56    |
| JOURN     | 88    |
| KINES     | 128   |
| LACIS     | 26    |
| LANDARC   | 61    |
| LATIN     | 24    |
| LAW       | 120   |
| LEGALST   | 48    |
| LINGUIS   | 35    |
| LIS       | 89    |
| LITTRANS  | 78    |
| LSC       | 52    |
| M\&ENVTOX | 7     |
| MARKETNG  | 62    |
| MATH      | 153   |
| MDGENET   | 8     |
| ME        | 130   |
| MEDHIST   | 43    |
| MEDICINE  | 60    |
| MEDIEVAL  | 32    |
| MEDPHYS   | 39    |
| MEDSC-M   | 29    |
| MEDSC-V   | 41    |
| MHR       | 68    |
| MICROBIO  | 45    |
| MILSCI    | 16    |
| MM\&I     | 22    |
| MOLBIOL   | 6     |
| MS\&E     | 59    |
| MUSIC     | 165   |
| MUSPERF   | 126   |
| NAVSCI    | 20    |
| NE        | 44    |
| NEURODPT  | 11    |
| NEUROL    | 7     |
| NEURSURG  | 4     |
| NTP       | 11    |
| NURSING   | 111   |
| NUTRSCI   | 65    |
| OBS\&GYN  | 18    |
| OCCTHER   | 39    |
| ONCOLOGY  | 14    |
| OPHTHALM  | 5     |
| OTM       | 43    |
| PATH      | 34    |
| PATH-BIO  | 29    |
| PEDIAT    | 26    |
| PHARMACY  | 31    |
| PHILOS    | 77    |
| PHMCOL-M  | 11    |
| PHMPRAC   | 45    |
| PHMSCI    | 60    |
| PHYASST   | 37    |
| PHYSICS   | 88    |
| PHYSIOL   | 3     |
| PHYTHER   | 37    |
| PLANTSCI  | 52    |
| PLPATH    | 35    |
| POLISCI   | 192   |
| POPHLTH   | 58    |
| PORTUG    | 33    |
| PSYCH     | 101   |
| PSYCHIAT  | 22    |
| PUBAFFR   | 54    |
| PUBLHLTH  | 23    |
| RADIOL    | 11    |
| REALEST   | 41    |
| RELIGST   | 90    |
| RHABMED   | 9     |
| RMI       | 24    |
| RP\&SE    | 102   |
| S\&APHM   | 17    |
| SCANDST   | 73    |
| SLAVIC    | 89    |
| SOC       | 149   |
| SOCWORK   | 87    |
| SOILSCI   | 46    |
| SPANISH   | 83    |
| SRMED     | 21    |
| STAT      | 94    |
| STDYABRD  | 52    |
| STS       | 8     |
| SURGERY   | 25    |
| SURGSCI   | 33    |
| THEATRE   | 91    |
| URBRPL    | 60    |
| UROLOGY   | 5     |
| ZOOLOGY   | 89    |

## instructor

### instructor uid

instructor\_7e56343ac8d31477ae34a9ed

### source

legacy

### identity basis

name\_only

### identity status

unresolved

### name

Laird Boswell

### email

LBOSWELL\@WISC.EDU

### first observed at

2025-12-03 12:33:41.418072+00:00

### last observed at

2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00

### ratings

#### review count

48

#### quality

4.31

#### difficulty

2.94

#### quality count

48

#### difficulty count

48

#### profile id

rmp:819267

#### source url

<https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267>

#### match basis

exact\_name

#### observed at

2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00

#### courses

##### course 74d27dbe14c68ae655b14b27

###### review count

3

###### quality

4.67

###### difficulty

2.67

###### quality count

3

###### difficulty count

3

#### bayesian quality

4.118731112807822

#### prior mean

3.6596857835465957

#### prior weight

20

### current

false

### courses

None recorded.

### revision

e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349

### instructor url

/instructors/LAIRD\_BOSWELL--instructor\_7e56343ac8d31477ae34a9ed

## history

None recorded.

## timeline

None recorded.

## term

1272

## courses

None recorded.

## reviews

### items

```json
[
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTQwMDgzMTg2",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIST359",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2024-12-03 19:18:46 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "An amazing lecturer. Definitely history heavy, so if you don't really enjoying learning about history, I would skip out on this course. But as a history major, Professor Boswell was a really fantastic instructor. Readings can get dense throughout the semester, but other than that, the workload is quite light for this course. Highly recommend! ",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 3
  },
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTM5Mjk4MDE0",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIS120",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2024-05-03 16:03:43 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "Prof. Bowsell is amazing lecturer and he makes history extremely engaging. He also is very funny and often would tell us personal accounts of the historical topics we are going over in class which is super cool. This class has 2 major papers but other than that it isnt a burden and I often just had to read interesting books.",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 3
  },
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTM5MTg5NzM1",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIS120",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2024-04-17 04:30:07 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "Great lecturer. Manages to keep things engaging and can be kind of funny, but you definitely have to somewhat like history to enjoy the class. LOTS of reading (like a book a week, but you can sparknotes a bunch of them) and frequent papers. TA is much more responsible for your grade than Boswell is ",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 3
  },
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTM4NTAwODc3",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIS359",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2023-12-04 02:28:29 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "I can't speak to his assignments or grading since I was just auditing the course, but he is a terrific lecturer!  I thoroughly enjoyed this course.",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 3
  },
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTM4MTkyNzI4",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIS120",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2023-08-28 21:04:55 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "One of the best lecturers I've ever seen - he makes the content very interesting to listen to. However, would not recommend taking this class as a graduation requirement for STEM majors since the workload can be pretty significant - very reading and essay intensive",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 3
  },
  {
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:24:24.890843+00:00",
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "source_review_id": "UmF0aW5nLTM3NTQ5Mjk4",
    "source_instructor_id": "rmp:819267",
    "instructor_name": "Laird Boswell",
    "course_label": "HIS120",
    "course_id": null,
    "course_uid": null,
    "review_date": "2023-03-28 15:21:45 +0000 UTC",
    "comment": "Professor Boswell is one of the best professors I have had here at Madison. He is very passionate about the material he teaches and makes lectures engaging for students. However, the course is extremely heavy with reading material, as you are expected to read a full book every week. Would recommend for those into history/reading",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/819267",
    "quality_rating": 5,
    "difficulty_rating": 4
  }
]
```

### total

48

### page

1

### courses

| course\_uid                      | course\_id  |
| -------------------------------- | ----------- |
| course\_74d27dbe14c68ae655b14b27 | HISTORY 120 |

### matched

true

## social Image

false