Historical instructor

THOMAS RUTHERFORD

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 2.09/5 from 23 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

AAE/INTLST 373
Quality 1/5Difficulty 5/5
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.
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AAE/INTLST 373
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 Rutherford has made multiple sexist comments and has many outdated beliefs.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.
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AAE/INTLST 373
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.
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AAE/INTLST 373
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).
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AAE/INTLST 373
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 least
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AAE/INTLST 373
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.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with THOMAS RUTHERFORD

AAE/INTLST 373

Globalization, Poverty and Development

3 credits

Examines globalization processes like trade, capital flows, and aid from the perspective of developing economies.

No offering record · Fall 2024

with this instructor · course overall, matching historical terms

Thomas Rutherford

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2020–Fall 2024

Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2024AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2023AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2023AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Spring 2023AAE 706Applied Risk Analysis
Spring 2023PHILOS 304Topics in Philosophy: Humanities
Fall 2022AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2021AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2021AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2020AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Spring 2020AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2019AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2019AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2019AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Spring 2019AAE 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2019AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2018AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2018AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Spring 2018AAE 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2018AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2017AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2017AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2017COMPSCI/ECE/ISYE 524Introduction to Optimization
Spring 2017AAE 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2017AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2016AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2016AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Spring 2016AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2015AAE 246Climate Change Economics and Policy
Fall 2015AAE 699Special Problems
Fall 2015AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2015AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2015COMPSCI/ISYE 526Advanced Linear Programming
Spring 2015AAE 990Research and Thesis
Spring 2015AAE/INTLST 373Globalization, Poverty and Development
Fall 2014AAE 246Climate Change Economics and Policy
Fall 2014AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2014AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Fall 2014COMPSCI/ISYE 526Advanced Linear Programming
Spring 2014AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2013AAE 246Climate Change Economics and Policy
Fall 2013AAE 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2013AAE/ECON 526Quantitative Methods in Agricultural and Applied Economics
Spring 2013AAE 699Special Problems
Spring 2013AAE 999Special Work - Agricultural and Applied Economics
Spring 2012AAE 875Special Topics

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

Instructor identity & provenance 
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