Professor Hitchner is a great professor! He is super nice and chill, his class (at least when I took it) revolved around food which was pretty interesting! Some classes we watched documentaries and proofread other's essays. He requires 2 books. hit me up if you would like to buy American Food Writing by Molly O'Neill!! (323-702-1462)

I have mixed feelings about this course - it is a lot of busy work, and none of it helps to develop writing skills at all. The lectures in class were basically repeating everything I learned in AP courses in high school. The bigger assignments were interesting, but we started them late in the quarter so we had a lot of work all at one time. Dr. Hitchner is obviously passionate about the subject, but his grading is extremely subjective. I think choosing the topic for the essays is important, and you have to agree with his opinion to get a good grade. Overall, from what I have heard, Dr. Hitchner is the best option for this class, but it is a lot of random busy work and class can be extremely boring or repetitive.

If you have to take ENG COMP 131B, Hitchner is the one to take it with. The first few weeks are spent practicing how to compose certain e-mails, memos, etc. in the workplace, which was incredibly helpful as I found myself using these skills at my internship. He gives ample time between the big assignments (executive summary, op-ed, and group project). There are 2 presentations (1 solo and 1 group). He's also been really flexible and understanding during the COVID-19 pandemic. I really appreciated this as not all instructors have been as accommodating. The readings assigned were actually interesting and contributed to thoughtful discussion. Even via Zoom, Hitchner managed to keep his lectures engaging (he's funny!). He's also very approachable and quick to respond. Take him!

Took this class fall 2019 and the theme was food writing. Professor Hitchner is super nice, take his class if you can! We wrote 4 essays, but one of them was a restaurant review and it was really short compared to the other 3, which we also peer reviewed. Occasionally we'd do some writing exercises out of a book that were graded for completion, but they were pretty simple, you could pretty much just do them right before class. The class overall is super easy and fun, especially if you're into food. I'm selling one of the required books, American Food Writing by Molly O'Neill, for $10 (shipping not included, but I'll be moving back to campus for fall 2020). Text me at (510) 913-0704

Dr. Tom is an amazing instructor. His lectures were engaging, helpful, and really well-organized. Also, he really cares about making class fun, so he tries including interactive things like group discussions, Question Of The Day etc. I'd say he's not the best when it comes to workload, but I think I really learned a lot about writing in his class, which matters more I believe. He grades fairly and is generally tolerant of tardiness(at least during COVID). I believe and it's easy to do well as long as you pay attention and keep asking for feedback on the essays, which are 90% of your grade. Try participating in discussions since it counts for some credit and I think it could help if he likes you. Would take his class 10/10 recommend.

PS. He dresses fairly snazzily and looks like Arthur Christmas is going through a personal crisis