Class record · THEO · MCAS

THEO 1090

Perspectives on Western Culture I/Perspectives I · 33 instructors on record · 107 sections

How the curve score is built

74Teaching85 raw · 39th percentile of BC classes

−2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 68 · 64 raw workload · lighter than 20% of BC classes

72Curve scorethe teaching curve −2 for the workload · at most ±6 either way

Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than 20% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of

85BC evaluations107 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2022 – Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.

How is this worked out?

That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.

What the challenge rank is made of

74thMore challenging than 74% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

94BC — “Intellectually Challenging”107 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload.

How is this worked out?

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.

What the workload rank is made of

80thMore work than 80% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

64BC — “Workload”107 records · raw score out of 100

One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.

How is this worked out?

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.

Freshmen only The course introduces students to the Judeo-Christian Biblical texts and to the writings of such foundational thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Hegel, and Kierkegaard. The first semester considers the birth of the self-critical Greek philosophic spirit, the story of the people of Israel, the emergence of Christianity and Islam, and concludes with a consideration of medieval explorations of the relationship between faith and reason. Attention will also be paid to non-Western philosophical and theological sources.

The board

33 instructors · ranked on this class onlyCompare the top 3

Find an instructor among the 33Filters the rows below. Positions are always against the whole class, so a rank does not change when the list is narrowed.

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. 10 of the 33 rows carry a mark saying so.

Rank	Instructor	Curve	Easiness	Challenge	RMP overall
1	Louis PetilloTheology	8997 raw · 10 records	68−2 to the score	71st	9830 ratings · all classes
2	Timothy MuldoonAssociate Professor of the Practice · Philosophy	8595 raw · 6 records	63−3 to the score	51st	9814 ratings · all classes
3	Henry SheaTheology fewer records	8794 raw · 4 records	76±0 to the score	82nd	1001 rating · all classes
4	John SteichenTheology Provisional fewer records	9599 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	92nd	9833 ratings · all classes
5	Andrew CulbrethAssistant Professor · Philosophy Provisional	9398 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	88th	—no page
6	David StoreyAssociate Professor of the Practice · Philosophy	8394 raw · 6 records	66−3 to the score	82nd	906 ratings · all classes
7	Ronald TacelliPhilosophy Provisional fewer records	9097 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	74th	9610 ratings · all classes
8	Michael FrostPhilosophy	8494 raw · 3 records	68−2 to the score	89th	988 ratings · all classes
9	Jeremy WilkinsTheology	8394 raw · 3 records	63−3 to the score	90th	802 ratings · all classes
10	Andrew BarretteAssociate Professor of the Practice · Philosophy	8193 raw · 6 records	63−3 to the score	79th	9819 ratings · all classes
11	Kerry CroninPhilosophy	8193 raw · 3 records	63−3 to the score	88th	10011 ratings · all classes
12	Jamie MyroseTheology Provisional	7991 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	31st	—no page
13	Richard AtkinsPhilosophy Provisional	7790 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	92nd	927 ratings · all classes
14	Brian BramanPart-Time Faculty · Philosophy Provisional	7587 raw · 1 record	—	—	8416 ratings · all classes
15	Daniel CoxTheology Provisional fewer records	7588 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	74th	—no page
16	Christopher McLaughlinTheology	7689 raw · 5 records	68−2 to the score	76th	9013 ratings · all classes
17	Michael MagreeTheology Provisional	7488 raw · 2 records	63−3 to the score	84th	1002 ratings · all classes
18	Paul UlishneyVisiting Assistant Professor · Theology Provisional	7387 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	88th	664 ratings · all classes
19	Berit GuidottiTheology Provisional	6980 raw · 1 record	—	—	—no page
20	Noah EnzorTheology Provisional fewer records	6986 raw · 1 record	58−5 to the score	87th	—no page
21	Deborah Dechiara-QuenzerPhilosophy	7488 raw · 4 records	68−2 to the score	75th	—no page
22	Jacob KilgoreTheology Provisional fewer records	6780 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	65th	—no page
23	Jason DonnellyTheology	7489 raw · 10 records	61−4 to the score	79th	8219 ratings · all classes
24	Joshua Zhi En WongTheology Provisional	6071 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	79th	—no page
25	Trevor RickenbrodeTheology Provisional fewer records	5568 raw · 1 record	58−5 to the score	79th	—no page
26	Christopher BergerPhilosophy Provisional	6879 raw · 2 records	—	81st	5020 ratings · all classes
27	Sadrack NelsonTheology Provisional	6881 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	90th	—no page
28	Elisa MagriAssociate Professor · Philosophy Provisional	6679 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	62nd	—no page
29	Karen HowardPhilosophy Provisional fewer records	5868 raw · 2 records	68−2 to the score	14th	5411 ratings · all classes
30	Christopher ConstasPhilosophy fewer records	6376 raw · 3 records	68−2 to the score	64th	806 ratings · all classes
31	Paul McNellisPhilosophy	6681 raw · 4 records	63−3 to the score	56th	—no page
32	Pheme PerkinsJoseph Professor of Catholic Spirituality Emerita · Theology fewer records	5562 raw · 4 records	68−2 to the score	41st	5813 ratings · all classes
33	Antonia AtanassovaAdjunct Faculty · Theology	6579 raw · 8 records	66−3 to the score	71st	—no page

All 33 instructors listed.

18 of 33 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 RateMyProfessors column is an instructor's overall figure across everything they teach, not a figure about this class.

How this board is built and ordered

Positions 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”. Curve is the instructor's score for THIS class only, ranked against every instructor we hold and printed back out of 100, with the raw BC average underneath it; nothing on this board is an average across the other things they teach. Easiness is an adjustment on top of it, worth up to about ±6 — BC's workload item, ranked and turned over, so a lighter section gains and a heavier one loses, while an ordinary one changes nothing — and each row prints the adjustment, signed. The board is ordered on the same figure it prints, adjusted for how many records back it. Challenge is BC's “intellectually challenging” item shown as a rank against every class we hold; students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it is not a measure of difficulty or grading, and it is never marked better or worse.

That site has no course dimension, so its figure is shown for information and kept out of the ranking.

The line

All 13 items · means across 107 records

Instructor4

Course3

Feedback3

Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad.

What each item asks

Explains Clearly: The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
Available: The instructor was available for help outside of class.
Motivating: The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
Sparks Interest: The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
Organized: The course was well organized.
Clear Goals: The learning objectives for the course were clear.
Useful Later: What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
Assignments: Assignments and exams contributed to my learning.
Fast Feedback: I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
Useful Feedback: The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
Workload: How much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
Challenge: The course was intellectually challenging.
Attendance: Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.

Why these numbers are curved

Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. 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

107 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Louis Petillo	Fall 2025	07	98	95	60
Jason Donnelly	Fall 2025	11	76	74	80
Antonia Atanassova	Fall 2025	13	60	59	60
Joshua Zhi En Wong	Fall 2025	19	71	84	60
Michael Magree	Fall 2025	19	88	84	60
Antonia Atanassova	Fall 2025	21	67	65	60
Louis Petillo	Fall 2025	25	90	89	60
Trevor Rickenbrode	Fall 2025	29	68	95	80
Jason Donnelly	Fall 2025	45	83	79	60
John Steichen	Fall 2025	47	100	100	60
Kerry Cronin	Fall 2024	01	90	85	80
Kerry Cronin	Fall 2024	02	90	87	60
Paul McNellis	Fall 2024	03	83	81	—
Paul McNellis	Fall 2024	04	84	82	60
Daniel Cox	Fall 2024	07	88	88	60
Louis Petillo	Fall 2024	07	95	88	60
Louis Petillo	Fall 2024	08	96	87	60
Andrew Culbreth	Fall 2024	09	98	96	60
Andrew Culbreth	Fall 2024	10	98	99	60
Jason Donnelly	Fall 2024	11	88	87	60
Jason Donnelly	Fall 2024	12	89	88	80
Antonia Atanassova	Fall 2024	13	81	79	80
Antonia Atanassova	Fall 2024	14	82	78	—
Paul Ulishney	Fall 2024	15	87	81	60
Paul Ulishney	Fall 2024	16	86	82	60

Showing the first 25.

How to read this board

Instructors 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.