I'll start off by saying that the reviews talking about his ego were not exaggerated. If you ignore that, overall he's a pretty great professor. Super knowledgeable, expectations for assignments and exams are typically quite clear, also he's pretty funny. I'd recommend you take the class, the topic is super interesting and he teaches it well.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
MICHAEL LIGHT
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
Quality 5/5Difficulty 4/5
He is super intense but actually so fun in lecture I really like him. His papers are pretty easy but the tests are so detailed so make sure you know your stuff. So many graphs to remember which is hard but the content is interesting.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
I could never tell if I liked light or not, dude has an ego on him and it comes out during lecture. I did appreciate how much he made us think and reflect on issues, and the assignments and exams were pretty straightforward.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
This class is incredibly fascinating and presents information unlike any college class I've taken before. Light presents on his own research and is clearly passionate about his work. The class is only graded on 2 exams and 2 papers, which are all decently challenging, but what you would expect from a class on such complex and dense topic matter.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
This class with Light is one of the best classes I have ever taken at this university. The content truly changed my ability to critically think about material and what is going on in the world. There's a fair amount of reading, but the exams are fair. Only two essays throughout the semester. Highly recommend this class!Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He was such a great professor and I learned so much! I definitely look forward to taking more of his classes in the future!Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with MICHAEL LIGHT
LEGALST 682
Senior Honors Thesis
3–4 creditsLEGALST 682 is an individual study course for majors writing theses for an honors degree.
No offering record · Spring 2026
historical GPA · grades
Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sampleRecorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | LEGALST 682 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Fall 2025 | LEGALST 681 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Spring 2025 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Spring 2025 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Fall 2024 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2024 | SOC 700 | Introductory Proseminar for Graduate Students |
| Spring 2024 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Fall 2023 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Fall 2023 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2023 | SOC 700 | Introductory Proseminar for Graduate Students |
| Spring 2023 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Fall 2022 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Fall 2022 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2022 | SOC 700 | Introductory Proseminar for Graduate Students |
| Spring 2022 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Spring 2022 | SOC 441 | Criminology |
| Fall 2021 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Fall 2021 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2020 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2020 | LEGALST 681 | Senior Honors Thesis |
| Spring 2020 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Spring 2020 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Spring 2020 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Fall 2019 | C&ESOC/SOC 875 | Special Topics |
| Fall 2019 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 440 | Ethnicity, Race, and Justice |
| Fall 2019 | SOC 441 | Criminology |
| Fall 2019 | SOC 699 | Directed Study |
| Spring 2019 | CHICLA/LEGALST/SOC 443 | Immigration, Crime, and Enforcement |
| Fall 2018 | CHICLA 530 | Advanced Topics in Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies |
| Fall 2018 | LEGALST 699 | Directed Study |
| Fall 2018 | SOC 441 | Criminology |
| Fall 2018 | SOC 496 | Topics in Sociology |
| Spring 2018 | CHICLA 530 | Advanced Topics in Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies |
| Spring 2018 | CHICLA 699 | Directed Study |
| Spring 2018 | LEGALST 400 | Topics in Legal Studies and the Social Sciences |
| Spring 2018 | SOC 496 | Topics in Sociology |
| Spring 2018 | SOC 699 | Directed Study |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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