Brookes Brown

I have served as a professor or teaching assistant at four different schools, each of which have used a different set of evaluation metrics. Where this information has been made available to me, I have included both quantitative and qualitative assessments. When the information includes a comparison between evaluations of my performance and other courses in the university, I have included that information as well. 

Given these differences in evaluation metrics between schools, the below evaluations are listed relative to the amount of quantitative and comparative information available (rather than, e.g., chronologically). 

University of Virginia

(2014-2015)

Representative qualitative teaching evaluations:

• Prof. Brown is fantastic-obviously brilliant, assigns insanely hard readings but then is very welcoming to help you work through them individually or as a class. Available a lot to help students able to take it slower when things got above our heads.
• Professor Brown was really good at encouraging us to voice our own viewpoints without imposing her own and forced us to grapple with very difficult issues each week in a way that was engaging and fun. I don't think there were any weaknesses to this course.
• I thought that Professor Brown's greatest strengths were her clarity and her ability to extract the main argument out of difficult readings in order to help the class better understand the material.
• Very intelligent, brings up good points but then makes the students think them through for themselves.
• Professor Brookes is very intelligent and articulate. She extremely approachable and makes the material easy to engage. I have learned so much form her and this course and I would not change one thing about it!
• Professor Brown welcomes an open discussion of various viewpoints on class topics.
• Professor Brown was very welcoming and accepting of different viewpoints. She actually encouraged us to push the limits and ask ourselves the difficult questions. Everyone was treated with respect and in a fair manner.
• The reading load was a little heavy but appropriate for this course level. Some readings were more dense than others, but Professor Brookes was sure to spend time on the material to make sure we understood. I've never been exposed to the readings before, so I found it all very interesting.
• I would definitely recommend this course to others. I actually have already. If any student wants a challenge and to feel a sense of accomplishment for breaking down arguments or finding a flaw or valid counterargument, this is the course for them.
• I was able to apply the concepts in this course to what I was learning in other courses, which made me realize the content was applicable across contents.
• I would definitely recommend this course to everyone. It has been one of the most interesting courses I've ever taken. I've learned to grapple with really difficult philosophical and theoretical issues, argue about them effectively in a paper, while still tying it back to concrete public policy challenges and solutions.
• I know this sounds cheesy and dumb but this has been one of my favorite courses at UVA and by far my favorite in the politics department. The issues we discussed were not easy to deal with but Prof Brown made them easy to understand and encouraged us to really mentally grapple with these philosophical challenges and think about them. A also liked that she tied them back into public policy.
• Thank you Professor Brookes, you and this course are amazing!
• Brookes was an amazing instructor. Many instructors here are intelligent like she, but not able to effectively communicate and help students who may not as as knowledgeable. Brookes was so well rounded in this respect. While it was clear she was much more philosophical arguments and writing long works, she was also able to greatly aide us in shaping our papers and arguments. I am so glad I was in her section! She is also very personable and made Thursday evenings in a classroom much more tolerable. Thank you for all you've done for us, Brookes!
• Brookes is a highly articulate, effective, and helpful advisor.
• Brookes was fantastic. She was extremely knowledgeable and helpful whenever help was needed. I was very nervous about writing a senior thesis, but Brookes helped calm my nerves and put out a finished product that I'm proud of.
• Brookes was a wonderful mentor throughout the thesis writing process. Admittedly, were a group of highly functional college students who shouldn't probably need much hand-holding writing a 35 page paper over the course of three months. But it's a new exercise for us and Brookes exercised great patience and compassion as we navigated the complicated waters of peer review and personal revision. Brookes knows everything. Or at least it seems that way. She is a well of information and I never hesitated reaching out to her with questions. She communicated ideas clearly for the most part- perhaps at times speaking a little more intelligently and rapidly than I was able to readily follow- but she was in tune with students, aware when things were unclear, and never shied away from or begrudged waking me or anyone else through a complicated topic. 

Princeton

(2009, 2010, 2012)

Representative Qualitative Teaching Evaluations

• Absolutely brilliant. Best preceptor ever had, could argue any point, always kept students thinking.
• Brookes is a PHENOMENAL preceptor; Brookes is a brilliant scholar, extremely eloquent, and very friendly. She is enthusiastic and passionate about her work, as such, her excitement seems to be contagious. Brookes is always available for help and very responsive. She is also very objective in her presentation of topics and readings which is very much appreciated. Brookes is brilliant and I feel lucky to have had her as a preceptor.
• Brookes was an amazing preceptor. She was very helpful in laying out difficult concepts, while still managing to play devil's advocate in all her discussions. It was clear Brookes had a lot of knowledge to offer and through this extensive experience she was able to simulate us in our thinking of each the topics. More importantly, she was also very approachable and able to relate to the students, which made the discussion of questions much more effective and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed going to precept each week.
• Brookes challenged us to follow our positions on the weekly ethical arguments through to their logical conclusions. These exercises helped sharpen my understanding of where the complexities of the issues lay, and come closer to accepting our rejecting my intuitive responses. She also went out of her way to make herself available to us for assistance.
• Best preceptor I have ever had in my Princeton career; truly excellent!
• She's brilliant and also a wonderful teacher.
• Awesome! Best preceptor ever!!!!!
• Brookes is so smart, it's extremely intimidating. But she did a very good job of facilitating precept, and was immensely helpful in explaining materials outside of class.
• Brookes was FANTASTIC! She's so nice and really enthusiastic, and it made precept really enjoyable. She's funny, smart, and really cares about hearing our opinions. She is one of the most dedicated preceptors I've ever had. For example, she would develop thought-provoking precept handouts that were great for reviewing the material- how many preceptors would bother to do something like that? Also, she brought us delicious baked goods, which didn't hurt at all.
• Fantastic. Did a great job of organizing the material and stimulating meaningful and interesting discussion. Able to analyze both sides of any issue and always asked questions to stimulate deeper understanding and thinking.
• Brookes is an AMAZING preceptor- funny and intelligent. Brookes definitely made the most of an early morning precept, with students who were often too tired to talk/think.
• Brookes was a fantastic preceptor who was always engaging and informative.
• The precepts were very important to my understanding of the subject matter. Brookes typically sent out a list of questions to think about before precept that helped us to focus in on what's most important in each text, and the discussion of these topics helped to clarify the more difficult concepts. Broad student participation was definitely encouraged and we tried out a different precept format after somebody suggested we do so, so responsiveness was also good. Brookes was great in that she was exceptionally thorough, but also definitely succeeded in making sure precepts weren't intimidating.
• Best preceptor I've had at Princeton, by far.
• Brookes rocks! She made the 50 minutes of precept go by very quickly every week, and was very adept at facilitating discussion and providing counterarguments and explanations.
• I thought Brookes was an amazing preceptor! Very engaging and she really knows her stuff. I looked forward to going to precept.
• Brookes is a terrific preceptor- perhaps one of the best. She comes prepared, knows her stuff, and provides very helpful tools and points of discussion for the precept (including much appreciated handouts.)
• The discussion in the precepts added to the course and encouraged debate and thinking regarding tough issues. I especially found it helpful when the precept was devoted to both clarifying the philosophical readings and discussion.
• Precept was lively. She does not leave any claim unchallenged. It may have been intimidating in the first few weeks, but it definitely made precept more interesting and worthwhile. She was very approachable and friendly. Thank you so much.
• Precept was very good. Brookes raised interesting questions and encouraged everyone to participate. She presented the material clearly and contributed to my understanding of the course.
• The precepts were great. If you didn't understand the topics in lecture, the precept made it clear. The preceptor was excellent at mediating constructive and exciting debate.
• Great preceptor, nice person. Very enthusiastic and open.
• Good preceptor. Pays attention to what students say and adds interesting tidbits to drive discussions further.
• The precepts were very helpful. Brookes gave us tools to prepare and engaged with us in class. I enjoyed the discussion.
• Brookes stimulated great conversation and was great.
• My preceptor was helpful and always led us in stimulating conversations. The students were also very involved in discussion and Brookes facilitated this and raised good questions. She was also open to criticism and always available to help us.
• Brookes was very welcoming and encouraging. She helped us dig deep and understand the material.
• Brookes is a great preceptor, she really enjoys playing devil's advocate and it makes for really interesting discussions/debates. She is always available should you need to talk to her outside of class.
• Brookes guided the conversations very well, answered questions, and asked thought provoking questions. She was an excellent resource and preceptor.
• Precept was engaging, fun, and very useful in terms of understanding the readings. Brookes always challenged us to think deeply and philosophically about the readings. She is very nice, understands the material and is easily approachable. 

University of North Carolina (2015-2016)

Representative Qualitative Teaching Evaluations

• Prof Brown is definitely one of the best teachers I've had anywhere. She made the contend interesting, relevant and understandable and it is clear she sincerely cares about how we all do. She is a very admirable teacher and the class was very enjoyable and I learned so much.
• Professor Brown is an extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher who is able to break down complicated ideas into easy to understand terms. She makes even the most boring topics exiting and fun.
• This course challenged me to think about sociopolitical issues that I would not have learned about in any other class, and I appreciated that aspect. The professor taught the course with clear enthusiasm for the topics.
• Being that it was her first year teaching at Carolina, she did an excellent job engaging with the class and effectively presenting the material. Though the reading was length at times, she better prepared our class for future class and academic endeavors.
• Although the subject matter of this class was not as interesting to me personally, Brookes made me appreciate it more than I thought I would. She was a clear, effective, and wonderful professor. I could tell she really cared about her students and wanted us to succeed which is actually not all that common in professors. I was very impressed with her, especially since she is fairly new to teaching.
• Brookes Brown is an obvious enthusiast for philosophical law and her excitement carries into the class. This course had the potential to be a total drag, but her teaching style and brownies made it a personal favorite.
• SO MUCH FUN
• This class was very well organized and also the readings were very helpful in understanding the content which I needed because it was hard to keep up with the author's arguments.
• This class made me think deeply about a lot of issues which affect our world today and understand that most questions in philosophy are easier to answer with more questions and rarely have black and white answers. The way she presented material also led me to strongly consider adding a philosophy minor.
• This course was generally awesome! I learned a lot and Professor Brown's constant excitement and attitude towards the material make class much more enjoyable and interesting.
• Fantastic
• Prof. Brown made the class much more enjoyable.
• Dr. Brown is brilliant, an articulate and powerful speaker, and is great at respectfully challenging or investigating things students say in class, though often students just say I don't know and leave it at that. I'm really glad I had Dr. Brown and the way she reasons and analyzes and assesses different argument, and even figure out what the arguments actually ARE beneath all that rhetoric is incredible and left a great impression on me. My only critique would be that the syllabus wasn't specific about our non-textbook readings and these readings were posted on Sakai a couple of weeks before class.
• I missed Brookes when she was not teaching. I appreciated her structure and thoroughness.
• This course was the most fascinating one I've taken at UNC Chapel Hill yet. I've never felt so intrigued by subject material as I was by the material in this class. The professor was exceptionally kind and I feel that they truly card about whether I learned the material or not. This has been one of my favorite classes and professors since coming to college and I would take this class again if I could
• It helped me to grow as a student and a person. 

Yale University
(2009)