Professor profile for John Cogdell
Student reviews of John Cogdell
Review from a student who took EE 331K
Good Qualities: I guess Dr. Cogdell changed the way he grades things. In my experience, I have never done a group project in his class. Dr. Cogdell assigns homework every meeting, but the assignments are usually very simple. The 3 quizzes are based solely on homework, which make them incredibly elementary. By based on the homework, I mean homework problems with different numbers. If you spend some time looking over the homework, you?ll do fine. The final is the only one that he gets ?creative? on. One thing I benefited from but don?t necessarily agreed with is that he even curve between test forms, even though they are the same questions with different numbers. Dr. Cogdell is one of the nicest professors I?ve had at UT. You can even call him up at his house to ask questions. The class (EE 331K) is very easy. If you do any work, you?ll make an A. <br> Bad Qualities: He?s not a very good lecturer. I didn?t quite understand the latter part of the course. I think the fact it?s a survey course might have something to do with it. He tries to pack a lot of information into the course. Some of the topics just requires more time to digest. <br> Overall: I would take if it's a survery course like EE 331K.
Good Qualities: I guess Dr. Cogdell changed the way he grades things. In my experience, I have never done a group project in his class. Dr. Cogdell assigns homework every meeting, but the assignments are usually very simple. The 3 quizzes are based solely on homework, which make them incredibly elementary. By based on the homework, I mean homework problems with different numbers. If you spend some time looking over the homework, you?ll do fine. The final is the only one that he gets ?creative? on. One thing I benefited from but don?t necessarily agreed with is that he even curve between test forms, even though they are the same questions with different numbers. Dr. Cogdell is one of the nicest professors I?ve had at UT. You can even call him up at his house to ask questions. The class (EE 331K) is very easy. If you do any work, you?ll make an A. <br> Bad Qualities: He?s not a very good lecturer. I didn?t quite understand the latter part of the course. I think the fact it?s a survey course might have something to do with it. He tries to pack a lot of information into the course. Some of the topics just requires more time to digest. <br> Overall: I would take if it's a survery course like EE 331K.
Review from a student who took EE 351K
Don't take Cogdell. If you do, you're an idiot. If you think the group homework/quizzes are easy, you're an idiot. If you like his class time better than the other professors' class times and take his section for that reason, you're an idiot. He is a horrible, boring professor with a messed-up grading system based on "confidence points" (basically, you bet against yourself for grade points on your quizzes) and has his own boring, poorly written CD-book. He's a nice guy, but I honestly think a well-trained monkey with a some dice could teach probability better than him.
Don't take Cogdell. If you do, you're an idiot. If you think the group homework/quizzes are easy, you're an idiot. If you like his class time better than the other professors' class times and take his section for that reason, you're an idiot. He is a horrible, boring professor with a messed-up grading system based on "confidence points" (basically, you bet against yourself for grade points on your quizzes) and has his own boring, poorly written CD-book. He's a nice guy, but I honestly think a well-trained monkey with a some dice could teach probability better than him.
Review from a student who took Research
Year: 1968-69. I held a Ph.D. research assistantship jointly under Prof. Cogdell and Prof. Bruce.T. Ulrich of the Astronomy Department. Although I have my Ph.D. now, the "research" performed under these two professors was nothing short of a joke. Prof. Cogdell didn't even acknowledge my contribution to HIS research in two published papers! And it was only HIS research. I was merely a "go-fer" to do menial tasks, such as cleaning the lab and performing tedious computer calculations - there was never any consideration for my own research interests. I quit U of T because of him.
Year: 1968-69. I held a Ph.D. research assistantship jointly under Prof. Cogdell and Prof. Bruce.T. Ulrich of the Astronomy Department. Although I have my Ph.D. now, the "research" performed under these two professors was nothing short of a joke. Prof. Cogdell didn't even acknowledge my contribution to HIS research in two published papers! And it was only HIS research. I was merely a "go-fer" to do menial tasks, such as cleaning the lab and performing tedious computer calculations - there was never any consideration for my own research interests. I quit U of T because of him.
Review from a student who took EE 331
Worst experience I had at UT.
Worst experience I had at UT.
Review from a student who took EE 331K
I had John Cogdell for EE 331K and had the displeasure of interacting with him on numerous occasions both in and out of class. John Cogdell is an avowed racist and actively discouraged students of color from pursuing studies in his department. He expressed to me personally his disdain that the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Department encouraged students of African descent to pursue engineering studies at UT and believed we lowered the academic quality of the programs, and that everyone would be happier if we just attended Prairie View A & M or Huston-Tillotson, instead. I overheard him discussing the admission of one particular student of color into the graduate EE program as a "missed" opportunity. Lastly, He took time out to accuse me of trying to "sneak into" the EE department while I was pursuing a MS in Statistics after I graduated with my BSEE. Overall, Cogdell is/was a blight on the department, actively derailed the academic career of at least one Black professor in the EE program, and my hope is that he will never be in a position to plague the lives of young people of color ever again.
I had John Cogdell for EE 331K and had the displeasure of interacting with him on numerous occasions both in and out of class. John Cogdell is an avowed racist and actively discouraged students of color from pursuing studies in his department. He expressed to me personally his disdain that the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Department encouraged students of African descent to pursue engineering studies at UT and believed we lowered the academic quality of the programs, and that everyone would be happier if we just attended Prairie View A & M or Huston-Tillotson, instead. I overheard him discussing the admission of one particular student of color into the graduate EE program as a "missed" opportunity. Lastly, He took time out to accuse me of trying to "sneak into" the EE department while I was pursuing a MS in Statistics after I graduated with my BSEE. Overall, Cogdell is/was a blight on the department, actively derailed the academic career of at least one Black professor in the EE program, and my hope is that he will never be in a position to plague the lives of young people of color ever again.