ENGL 2278
American Culture: Engaging Difference and Justice · 2 instructors on record · 8 sections
That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.
Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.
Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.
This course offers an introduction to the interdisciplinary study of American culture with an emphasis on questions of difference, justice, and power. We will concentrate on approaches, methods, and themes of interest as we assemble critical skills for making interpretive arguments about aspects of culture in their historical moment. While assembling a toolkit of interpretive moves we can make on American culture and working to build stronger analyses, we will also consider how American society and culture have been defined by differences of race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, religion, and other socio-cultural categories. We will consider how American Studies scholars have combined theory and praxis in order to expose injustice in the nations past and present; form communities based on principles of inclusion and solidarity; and create just conditions for citizenship and humanity. The materials we analyze will include examples from film, television, music, literature, theater, comics, photography, advertising, among others. Each unit will be organized around a question that generates further questions, analysis, and discussion. The questions include, for instance, Why is Indigenous Studies central to American Studies?, What does visual culture tell us about race in modern America?, and How do we see race and religion after 9/11? During the semester, we will also attend a number of events sponsored by American Studies, AADS, and other interdisciplinary departments, centers, and programs that represent a variety of interests, subjects, and approaches. This course satisfies the university Cultural Diversity requirement. For English majors this course also satisfies the Literature Across Worlds requirement.Note for American Studies Minors: Students can take either ENGL2278 or or ENGL 2277: Introduction to American Studies to satisfy the introductory course requirement. (Students cannot receive credit for both courses.)
Scores are real averages. The order also accounts for how many records back each one — the count is under every score — so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them.
| Rank | Instructor | Overall | Workload | Challenge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christy PottroffAssistant Professor · English Provisional | 962 records | 78th | 53rd |
| 2 | Lori Harrison-KahanProfessor of the Practice · English | 936 records | 30th | 40th |
How this board is orderedPositions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted. The comparison here is the class itself: a thin record is read against how this class was rated overall, not against the university.
Every instructor with an evaluation record for this class is on this board — it is not a top ten, and nothing is hidden behind a “show more”. Overall is the instructor's blended score for THIS class only, and its one contributing source is Boston College's evaluations for the sections in the row's record count — nothing on this board is an average across the other things they teach. Workload and Challenge are RANKS against every class we hold, not scores: BC's questions all sit near the top of the 1-5 scale, so a raw number would put almost every row in the high eighties and tell you nothing. Challenge is BC's “intellectually challenging” item, which students answer positively about courses that stretched them — it is not a measure of difficulty or grading. Neither column is ever marked better or worse. 1 of 2 rows are marked provisional: fewer than 3 records stand behind the number. That is thin evidence, not a bad instructor — the record count is in every row.
The line
All 13 items · means across 8 recordsBar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.
Game log
8 sections · newest first| Instructor | Term | Sec | Instr | Course | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christy Pottroff | Spring 2026 | 01 | 99 | 95 | 60 |
| Christy Pottroff | Spring 2025 | 01 | 93 | 91 | 60 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Fall 2024 | 01 | 95 | 88 | 60 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Spring 2024 | 01 | 91 | 84 | 40 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Fall 2023 | 01 | 88 | 78 | 40 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Spring 2023 | 01 | 90 | 85 | 60 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Fall 2022 | 01 | 97 | 93 | 40 |
| Lori Harrison-Kahan | Spring 2022 | 01 | 98 | 88 | 40 |
How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.