Current instructor

Travis Pickering

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.14/5 from 77 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

ANTHR105 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 2/5
easy A, cool class, good lecturer
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTHR105 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 2/5
Only filling this out to let ppl know that for anthro 105 there are lab practicals that you have to study for on top of the take home exams. Still not that hard but would have taken that into account if I knew bc everyone told me that this class required zero studying and was just the take home exams so thought I would mention!
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTH100 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 4/5
Nothing (no notes, no slides, no discussion work) is posted in Canvas. Professor isn't social and can be hard to reach. Lectures can be boring. The exam wasn't a good representation of the lectures.
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTH100 · course not matched
Quality 1/5Difficulty 4/5
Tests are way too hard for a low level course. Even with getting the grade averages for all 3 exams you will end with a B, and if you even do bad on 1 exam, it'll drop you to a C. There are very few assignments so it will be hard to get your grade up if you do bad on exams
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTH100 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
Class was good. Could be kind of boring though. He was really good at simplifying eveything and told us exactly what would be on the test. He's not the easiest grader but also not the worst.
Rate My Professors ↗
ANTHRO 105
Quality 3/5Difficulty 1/5
The class was interesting and Pickering's a good lecturer, he just doesn't have much care for the course, and neither do the TA's. Probably better in upper-level courses. I expected to enjoy this course much more than I did based on my general interest in the material, but the lack of enthusiasm from the professor and the TA's left me disengaged.
Rate My Professors ↗

Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with Travis Pickering

ANTHRO 100 introduces general anthropology by exploring human evolution, cultural diversity, societal capacities, and major world cultures.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Travis Pickering is described as an interesting lecturer who clarifies important information, with reviews noting that reading the textbook is helpful. Some students found his attempts to engage requirement-fillers effective, though others found the material dense.

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025

Examines skeletal anatomy at gross and histologic levels using laboratory methods for forensic and archaeological identification.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 2.90 GPA, 30.0% A/AB (n=10 letter grades); Fall 2024: 2.92 GPA, 33.3% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.91 GPA, 27.3% A/AB (n=11 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Fall 2022–Fall 2025 · limited sample

ANTHRO 682 is a mentored individual research course for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ANTHRO 691 is a mentored individual research and study course for students completing a senior thesis.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ANTHRO 692 is a senior thesis course involving mentored individual research and study.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ANTHRO 698 is an advanced directed study course where students arrange projects with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

No recorded grade history

ANTHRO 699 is a directed study course where students conduct advanced projects arranged with a faculty member.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

ANTHRO 999 is an advanced mentored reading and research course for dissertator-status students.

Offering recorded · Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2022: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=2 letter grades).

historical GPA · grades

Spring 2022–Spring 2022 · limited sample

Recorded teaching history

Explore courses taught by this instructor →
Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2026ANTHRO 100General Anthropology
Fall 2026ANTHRO 303Human Skeletal Anatomy
Fall 2026ANTHRO 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 691Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 692Senior Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 698Directed Study
Fall 2026ANTHRO 699Directed Study
Fall 2026ANTHRO 990Research and Thesis
Fall 2026ANTHRO 999Reading and Research

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

Instructor identity & provenance
{
  "instructor_uid": "instructor_1d40cb8146ff4021084e96e7",
  "source": "enrollment",
  "source_instructor_id": "tpickering",
  "identity_basis": "netid",
  "identity_status": "source_identified",
  "name": "Travis Pickering",
  "email": "TPICKERING@WISC.EDU",
  "first_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "last_observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
  "ratings": {
    "review_count": 77,
    "quality": 3.14,
    "difficulty": 3.03,
    "quality_count": 77,
    "difficulty_count": 77,
    "profile_id": "rmp:2774240",
    "source_url": "https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2774240",
    "match_basis": "exact_name",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 16:01:12.031466+00:00",
    "courses": {
      "course_31e91bbc6e3be8c0f49483f2": {
        "review_count": 12,
        "quality": 3,
        "difficulty": 2.42,
        "quality_count": 12,
        "difficulty_count": 12
      },
      "course_8cd90373f5f732f5b455b453": {
        "review_count": 11,
        "quality": 2.64,
        "difficulty": 3.36,
        "quality_count": 11,
        "difficulty_count": 11
      }
    },
    "bayesian_quality": 3.247151707947752,
    "prior_mean": 3.6596857835465957,
    "prior_weight": 20
  },
  "current": true,
  "courses": [
    {
      "course_uid": "course_284c530212f23f1f2db6cc2d",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 692",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 2,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_3e5cc6ff7bf83333a2e4035b",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 698",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_70d22fc5775e8b4f3e50e81b",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 303",
      "title": "HUMAN SKELETAL ANATOMY",
      "credits_min": 4,
      "credits_max": 4,
      "gpa": 2.972
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_8cd90373f5f732f5b455b453",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 100",
      "title": "GENERAL ANTHROPOLOGY",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 2.833
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_96228e1a9656e9541b117754",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 699",
      "title": "DIRECTED STUDY",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 6,
      "gpa": 3.864
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_9dc066386a06f780ff6371aa",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 999",
      "title": "READING AND RESEARCH",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 9,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_b02c623c9db48b8d577e8876",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 682",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": 4
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_b114b0b5a63d02e311b3ad90",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 990",
      "title": "RESEARCH AND THESIS",
      "credits_min": 1,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_caf2d45e876f0055525e461d",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 681",
      "title": "SENIOR HONORS THESIS",
      "credits_min": 3,
      "credits_max": 3,
      "gpa": null
    },
    {
      "course_uid": "course_f9726532c14a07d7229ddc34",
      "course_id": "ANTHRO 691",
      "title": "SENIOR THESIS",
      "credits_min": 2,
      "credits_max": 2,
      "gpa": null
    }
  ],
  "revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "instructor_url": "/instructors/TRAVIS_PICKERING"
}