Thermo Feedback from Summer 2017 – Star Wars Themed Class

Complete Student Feedback from EGN 3343 for my Themed Thermdynamics class.

  • Probably one of the best instructors in USF.
  • Dr. Celestin is hands down the best professor I have had at USF. He cares about the students, he is always available, he made the outline of the course very clear and he understands how students function unlike some older, out of touch professors. 10/10 would take any of his classes again.
  • He has literally been the best professor I’ve had my entire three years here. He really cares about his students and how they perform. If he taught any other chemical eng classes, I would for sure take them with him
  • A very passionate professor to the engineering discipline as well as his students. Goes far beyond traditional expectations of a professor in order go generate excitement and to motivate the students; usf is lucky to have a professor of this quality.
  • Amazing professor, after this course I feel like he genuinely cares about his students without just handing everyone high grades, I really wish more professors at this university…especially in the college of engineering…were like him! Keep up the amazing work Dr. Celestin!??
  • I really appreciated the recordings for the homework solutions, it really helped me understand the material better. I also liked how Dr. Celestin put a theme to the class, it made the quizzes more interesting, fun, and less intimidating.
  • I dreaded thermo but you made me realize I picked the wrong major. You’re too busy to meet with everyone, either get an extra TA or a second TA that wants to meet with us or answer emails.
  • Literally the best engineering professor I’ve had so far.
  • Quizzes are generally difficult but gives a lot of partial credit. Takes away points for “not boxing in the answer”, which is unfair. Tests are easier than quizzes but should give more partial credit on some problems.
  • I love your class and that you care about our education. I hate that people disrespect you and your class. Maybe consider wearing a mic so everyone can hear u clearly. I moved in the back to get away from the people who talk. But I couldn’t get away! šŸ™ Great summer class learned a lot.
  • Good profesor!
  • I could not rate this professor high enough One of the very best professors I have had the pleasure of taking a course with. He made the class interactive, enjoyable and relatable to real world situations. The class was held in a long session and he broke up the time well so that students didn’t lose focus and got the most out of the time. Also, Dr. Celestin obviously structured the course in such a way that it was very deliberate and easy to follow. I have no doubt that he put a great deal of time and energy into teaching this course and it made a difference to myself and the other students I spoke to in class.
  • Very good teacher, well spoken and made the class very interesting.
  • Loved the course. I didn’t do as well as I wanted, but that is not your fault. I loved the storied quizzes. I also loved how you made otherwise dull material interesting and fun. I would recommend maybe being a little more lienient with the multiple choice questions.
  • Dr. Celestin is kind of a Thermodynamics teaching god, and I say that as seriously as I possibly can muster it. I haven’t given straight excellence to any other professor thus far and it’s likely I’ll be hard pressed to do it again. I believe that due to the degree Dr. Celestin teaches at, anybody could pass this course. This, in my opinion, is the highest compliment that I could give a teacher. I want to start by saying I firmly believe that if he taught me in every class to the degree that he taught this one, I could learn to be anything that I wanted to. It genuinely made me want to change my major to chemical engineering. (Scary, because orgo, but I did consider it!) He basically has every quality that youā€™d like in a professor. He never assumed anything was obvious as he took us through every thought process, every step of both the theory and the mathematics behind the course. He appears to care deeply about his studentsā€™ success and is wonderfully encouraging and respectful during lecture. He was down to Earth and we always knew exactly what he expected of us during the class. He also made it clear that he was here to help and kept an approachable persona in the class. During this course, he also offered the Panopto homework helper videos, which went over a few of homework problems each week. I remember specifically there was a homework that I was stuck on and becoming frustrated with so I checked the site and he had uploaded the video to help literally two minutes prior. It was such a relief. He was very in tune with the pace at which we were studying and I believe a half an hour or so for the brightest student would have had them passing at a solid B. (It also might be important to note that I am not the brightest student and put in about a minimum of 5 hours every week.) He didnā€™t have to struggle with the videos every week for us, but he did, and I really think it reflects in the studentsā€™ success. I know many likely regard him as the cool teacher for his themes (he very well might be), but I think that itā€™s also important to note that creating the stories for the quizzes and planning out the smaller things that fell in line with the theme takes a lot of time. Itā€™s a step above any other class because weā€™re not being handed a copy/pasted test from those prior, he didnā€™t whip this up the night before (maybe once but thatā€™s okay) and thatā€™s something that I think is truly appreciated. It takes him past the ranking of great. Speaking of the theme, one of the most critical aspects of the course were the quizzes. They were ruthless in the way they challenged you to fully know your thermo, but undeniably fair. Dr. Celestin seems to pride himself on the way he grades and for good reason. His grading methods, as well as his lectures and the entire course he runs, is methodical and well thought through. Dr. Celestin presented them in a way that made me want to be challenged. He wasnā€™t the challenger, he was the coach. Heā€™d hand us our boxing gloves, tell us we can do it, and send us on our way. Then, of course, the quizzes would throw hooks and upper cuts and all sort of challenges on the quizzes. Sometimes I was miserable, sometimes I was victorious but no matter what, I was engaged. Iā€™m going to part by giving the second highest compliment that I can give a professor. Iā€™d love to be a TA for the class because thatā€™s how comfortable I am with the material that he taught. I entered the class looking for an A. Iā€™m currently coming to terms with a B+. But most importantly, I know my thermo. So thanks for the summer, Dr. Celestin! It was swell. #math #L33t
  • Dr. Celestin is by far one of the most amazing instructors i have ever had the pleasure of coming across. He truly cares about his students and does everything possible to make sure every student has the right resources in order to grasp the contents of this course. Whether its stopping to explain something over again, or being available for help at almost all times of the day, or making videos showing examples and explaining problems for a better understanding ON HIS OWN TIME. As a student, it was a great feeling knowing that you were not just another name or number to this instructor, you were a person that wanted to learn and if you were struggling with a topic, help was always ready to be provided.
  • He is the best. I’m looking forward to take him again.
  • Great professor and I wish he would teach more courses bcs i do feel like he makes the material understandable
  • Great professor. Really enjoyed the course.
  • Perfect
  • One of the best teachers I’ve had at USF.
  • Thought he did a great job and has the ability to be a great professor. I think he could do a lot better if he made a Procopy book like Dr. XXXXX. This has pages with notes completed for each section, blank pages for extra notes, and then examples with the questions already written out. This would give him more time to do more examples, which I think is very important to a heavy class like Thermodynamics. Students could spend more time doing examples and less time copying down notes/ drawing diagrams. I think that his TAs grade the quizzes unfairly. The TAs gave students (their friends) the answers to quizzes which gave a lot of people higher averages on quizzes. I think that test days should dedicate the entire class period to the test – no mini lecture before. Last thing, online homework would have been helpful.
  • The multiple choice on the exam were quite challenging and made a significant difference on my exam grades. A whole letter grade to be exact. I want to suggest adding MCQs to the HW to help students better prepare for the exams. This was a fun and engaging class. Learned a lot regardless of grade outcome.
  • In my opinion, this is the most excellent professor at USF. Dr. Celestin facilitates his class perfectly, from his grading policies to his teaching strategies and webinars. I want to make sure that he gets recognized for the things that he does perfectly and he does everything perfectly. More professors really need to be like him. Please have him teach more industrial engineering classes. He knows how to run a process.
  • Definitely the best science professor I’ve had here at USF! I’ve never done well in any of them until this class, and I know it has everything to do with Celestin. His engaging and clear lectures created an environment that made we want to learn the material. He made me interested in a topic I’ve previously been turned off by.
  • Fantastic professor! I was really dreading the class to be honest (and also concerned because of the supposed 50% failure rate for summer classes), but he managed to teach the material in a very thorough, but not overcomplicated manner. I also enjoyed the addition of a theme to the class, it made it more interesting! On the whole an excellent professor, I have no complaints.
  • Dr Celestin is very dedicated to making his class as enjoyable as possible. Furthermore, he is very approachable, and his teaching style is overall very effective.
  • Dr. Celestin has been an incredible professor. I was initially scared to take thermodynamics based on the horrible stories my peers had told me of prof. XXXXX and prof. XXXXX, but I must say Dr. Celestin has easily been one of the most commited, resourceful, interesting and caring professors I have ever had. He provides countless resources (panopto recordings, extra help problems, detailed in class problem solving) and is very fair and detailed in his lectures. The material was hard of course but very manageable because of his great teaching style. I would be dissapointed to hear that he is not selected to teach the class all year round!
  • His goal is that every student understands the material and know when to use it. He also gives us extra session to make sure that we understand everything
  • Fantastic professor. He deserves a raise! I’m not kidding. He puts in so much extra time and effort.
  • Dr. Celestin is the best Professor I’ve ever had and I wish all the other instructors were half as awesome as he is. He is also one of the only professors I actually enjoy going to class and make learning such a challenging subject fun.
  • Dr. C is a professor who truly cares about his students. While being challenging he still mad sure that everyone was able to understand the material as best as possible. Not only did he go the extra mile by making comprehensive videos but was readily available outside of class regardless of what else he had going to help you. He was the best professor I could ever ask for such a difficult course.
  • Dr Celestin was by far one of the best instructors I have had in my college career. His understanding of the material was exceptional. Dr. Celestin gave multiple opportunities to help us students get the most out of our class. Always going out of his way to encourage a student to learn. In addition to the class lecture Dr. Celestin encouraged us to ask questions about the material, and opened up time from the regular lecture period to answer questions. Furthermore if questions were not answered in the class Dr. Celestin provide us with engaging videos to help fortify the homework curriculum. I would like to thank the University for providing Dr. Celestin to teach EGN3343, and I would like to thak Dr. Celestin for being a great professor.
  • One of the greatest professors I have ever had! Professor Celestin made the class very interesting, and gave many tips on how to succeed. He conducted many demos throughout the semester that made certain subjects easier to understand. I would definitely take more classes with professor Celestin in the future!! Overall, A+++ professor.