Historical instructor

MICHAEL CARDIFF

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.73/5 from 22 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

ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Hes very passionate about the subject which you want in a professor. Sometimes I wish he'd go more in depth on certain topics that do get covered in exams and quizzes, but overall his style of teaching is pretty solid. The exam structure is my biggest criticism as you have one midterm and one final which is too little imo, but not bad overall
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ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106
Quality 4/5Difficulty 1/5
Fun class, lots of cool rocks and natural disaster case studies. Prof. Cardiff gives good lectures with multimedia demonstrations. He uses in-class questions, and attendance counts towards your grade. Labs are the most difficult part of the class (they often run overtime). The textbook is easy to read, but it covers a lot each week- take notes!
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ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
This class was excruciatingly boring (one of those classes that everyone is playing the NYT games to ease the pain). He has very little grade transparency as well. Final grades were put in and they appeared much differently in grade letter than canvas had indicated all semester. This class is a definite no from me.
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ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106
Quality 2/5Difficulty 3/5
Some concepts and assignment expectations weren't made clear and the discussion section usually left students more confused. However, I think the course gives a good overview of many geological concepts and was an interesting class to take for General Education requirement.
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ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Cardiff is extremely passionate in his work. His course taught me a lot, despite some challenge with labs and the pandemic. I definitely recommend him.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with MICHAEL CARDIFF

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Spring 2026ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2026GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2025GEOSCI 727Advanced Hydrogeology
Fall 2025GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2025ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2025GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2025GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Fall 2024GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2024ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2024GEOSCI 793Geophysical Inverse Theory
Spring 2024GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2023GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2023GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Spring 2023ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2023GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2023GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Fall 2022GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2022GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Spring 2022ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2022GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2022GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Fall 2021GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2021GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Fall 2020GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2020GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Spring 2020ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2020GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2019GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2019GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Fall 2019GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Spring 2019GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2018GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2018ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2018GEOSCI 875Advanced Topics in Geology
Spring 2018GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2017GEOSCI 875Advanced Topics in Geology
Fall 2017GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2017GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Fall 2017GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Spring 2017ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2017GEOSCI 793Geophysical Inverse Theory
Spring 2017GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2016GEOSCI 875Advanced Topics in Geology
Fall 2016GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2016GEOSCI/GLE 627Hydrogeology
Fall 2016GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Spring 2016ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2016GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2015GEOSCI 929Seminar-hydrogeology
Fall 2015GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2015GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Spring 2015ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2015GEOSCI 793Geophysical Inverse Theory
Spring 2015GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2015GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Fall 2014GEOSCI 875Advanced Topics in Geology
Fall 2014GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2014GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Fall 2014GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Spring 2014ENVIRST/GEOSCI 106Environmental Geology
Spring 2014GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2014GEOSCI 999Advanced Independent Reading
Spring 2014GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Fall 2013GEOSCI 875Advanced Topics in Geology
Fall 2013GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2013GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling
Fall 2013GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Spring 2013GEOSCI 793Geophysical Inverse Theory
Spring 2013GEOSCI 929Seminar-hydrogeology
Spring 2013GEOSCI 990Research
Spring 2013GLE 790Master's Research or Thesis
Spring 2013GLE 900Seminar
Fall 2012GEOSCI 990Research
Fall 2012GEOSCI/GLE 724Groundwater Flow Modeling

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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