Rutherford grades using magical, invisible rubrics and offers more criticism than instruction. The end of the class is way too heavy with work. Exams are impossible to prepare for and have nothing to do with the "study guide." I put so much effort into the essays and all he offers is vague criticism that does nothing but tear students to shreds.Rate My Professors ↗
Historical instructor
THOMAS RUTHERFORD
What students say
Original student reviews · all captured dates
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
Quality 1/5Difficulty 2/5
Rutherford is the worst professor I have had in my four years at Madison. His lectures are not organized, and he loves to stop and talk about irrelevant projects, which he deems more important than his students or grading. Rutherford has made multiple sexist comments and has many outdated beliefs. Do NOT take any of Rutherford's classes.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Does not answer emails. Still has me at an NR grade, 4 days after the grading deadline. Gave no notes on projects and other grades. Needs to retire, the man is falling asleep every class.Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
I have never had a worse professor than this man. He is completely vague on expectations for every single assignment and paper, as well his grading is even more vague. The midterm was a collection of random (false too) questions and the final exam was written by students. He never even posted the material to study from (also made by students).Rate My Professors ↗
Quality 2/5Difficulty 4/5
Professor Rutherford will give little to no direction in lecture, then slap you in the face with a midterm that is so specific that you would have to memorize every minute of what he said. He uses little to no guidelines on papers or tests, but then nit-picks everything you do, frustrating class to say the leastRate My Professors ↗
Quality 1/5Difficulty 3/5
Professor Rutherford is very intelligent and knows what he is talking about. He did not adjust to the online platform well and communication was very poor. The class is very interesting content but it was never clear what was expected of us. Exams used honor lock and the papers were extremely challenging without any guidelines.Rate My Professors ↗
Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.
Classes with THOMAS RUTHERFORD
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
View last recorded teaching term →No courses match this selection. Try the full catalog or another term.
Recorded teaching history
Distinct courses recorded per term
Explore courses taught by this instructor →Browse recorded courses
| Term | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2023 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2023 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Spring 2023 | AAE 706 | Applied Risk Analysis |
| Spring 2023 | PHILOS 304 | Topics in Philosophy: Humanities |
| Fall 2022 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2021 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2021 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2020 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Spring 2020 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2019 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2019 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2019 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Spring 2019 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2019 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2018 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2018 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Spring 2018 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2018 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2017 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2017 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2017 | COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524 | Introduction to Optimization |
| Spring 2017 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2017 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2016 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2016 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Spring 2016 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2015 | AAE 246 | Climate Change Economics and Policy |
| Fall 2015 | AAE 699 | Special Problems |
| Fall 2015 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2015 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2015 | COMPSCI/ISYE 526 | Advanced Linear Programming |
| Spring 2015 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Spring 2015 | AAE/INTLST 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development |
| Fall 2014 | AAE 246 | Climate Change Economics and Policy |
| Fall 2014 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2014 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Fall 2014 | COMPSCI/ISYE 526 | Advanced Linear Programming |
| Spring 2014 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2013 | AAE 246 | Climate Change Economics and Policy |
| Fall 2013 | AAE 990 | Research and Thesis |
| Fall 2013 | AAE/ECON 526 | Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Spring 2013 | AAE 699 | Special Problems |
| Spring 2013 | AAE 999 | Special Work - Agricultural and Applied Economics |
| Spring 2012 | AAE 875 | Special Topics |
Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
Instructor identity & provenance
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