Teaching Evaluations

Teaching Evaluations

I believe that a successful teacher should be able to make the students learn, as well as make them enjoy learning. The latter can be achieved through a variety of methods: (1) creating a fair, level, and collegial playing field for all students regardless of their individual backgrounds, (2) valuing the students’ time through responding to their questions and emails quickly and in a concise manner, and through clearly laying out and communicating everything course-related; (3) engaging the students with a fascination for the subject; (4) relating course subjects to students’ lives and current events, and (5) using dry (German) humor and sarcasm (occasionally) as tools of enriching the classroom experience. These principles I try to adhere to reflect in my teaching evaluations.


More detailed evaluations are available upon request.

Quantitative Evidence - Teaching Evaluations

Qualitative Evidence – Student Responses



POLI 2500 – International Relations – Fall 2022

  • "As someone who is very interested in this subject matter, this course was all I expected and more. Simon Rotzer was not only an extremely personal and un-intimidating professor, but also had a lot of knowledge and was passionate in the area which he was teaching. I am taking another course of his next semester because of how much I enjoyed his class this semester. Also gives plenty of extra credit opportunities and wants his students to do well, offering feedback session and answering any question you may have.”

  • “I really enjoyed this class and professor who always kept class interesting. I appreciate how two quizzes are dropped, giving students some room to improve quiz grades. Even if students presented opposing views, I appreciated how Professor Rotzer facilitated class by never invalidating a student's opinion. Instead, he would ask the class "How do we feel about that?" or ask a follow up question.”


POLI 3011 – International Regimes – Fall 2022

  • "The class sessions were great, the workload was not super heavy, and Professor Rotzer was always ready to help.”

  • “Class presentations and class discussion. This was the first class in my three years at Tulane where I would think of my classmates as my friends and not just my peers. The commentary from both students and instructor was lively and the class period always flew by. It never felt like a 50 minute class.”


POLI 4011 – International Regimes – Fall 2022

  • "I enjoyed this course very much. Professor Rotzer is a fantastic professor who asks the right questions and can facilitate conversations when necessary. He is very kind and a please to work with.”

  • “Dr. Rotzer is the strongest aspect of this course. He is one of the most engaging, helpful, sincere, and genuine professors I have had in my time at Tulane. I appreciate how passionate he was about the topic and he provided very useful feedback to me personally and always tried to help us stay on the right track.”


POLS 265 – Introduction to International Relations – Fall 2018

  • "You were a great professor. I will say that your talks about why you are a graduate student here made me think about and pursue being an international graduate student as well.”

  • “I really liked your teaching style and high energy. I appreciated that you kept going back and analyzing content through a variety of perspectives. While you did go a bit fast at times it wasn't too difficult to keep up.”


POLS 102 – Introduction to Political Science – Spring 2018

  • “Very personable and does a good job of getting to know his students.”

  • “Simon gives a European perspective on political science which made it more interesting to learn."


POLS 102 – Introduction to Political Science – Fall 2017

  • “Simon made political science fun and allowed me to look at the world in a different way. Very knowledgeable!”

  • “He is an awesome teacher due to his diverse background and neutrality in all of the subjects we discussed.”


POLS 102 – Introduction to Political Science – Spring 2016 (Teaching Assistant)

  • “Very well organized, replied fast to any email, always wanted to help.”

  • “Simon was a great TA! He was kind, helpful, and willing to explain any questions a student had. He was engaging and truly cared about what he was teaching!”


POLS 102 – Introduction to Political Science – Fall 2016 (Teaching Assistant)

  • “I really enjoyed having Simon as my TA. He was smart and brought a fresh perspective to the lecture topics. He was passionate and clearly wanted us to learn and participate.”

  • “Simon knows and loves everything he discusses during discussion class. He is very passionate about the content and help[s] students when needed.”