Historical instructor
Original student reviews · all captured dates
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 ↗
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 Rutherford has made multiple sexist comments and has many outdated beliefs.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 ↗
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 ↗
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 ↗
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 ↗
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.
No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.
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| Term | Course | Title |
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Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.
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