Ratemyprofessors.com is not always known for its glowing accolades, yet this popular online site has named a Cal State Long Beach professor as one of the best in the nation.
Thomas Douglas, an anthropology lecturer at CSULB, was ranked No. 15 in the nation on the website’s Highest Rated University Professor’s List, which was released last Wednesday.
“It’s nice to know students appreciate your classes,” Douglas said.
Douglas has been a CSULB faculty member since 1999, in addition to teaching classes at University of California, Irvine.
Douglas said he was preparing his syllabi for fall semester when ratemyprofessors.com emailed him about the big news.
“At first, I thought the email was spam,” he said. “I did not realize it was actually legitimate. I thought they were trying to get my personal information.”
Douglas said he didn’t realize the email was legitimate until the website notified CSULB of his nomination.
Douglas said that he does not usually frequent the website to see what students say regarding his classes and teaching methods, but after receiving this recognition, he visited the website to read a few student comments.
“The comments are very humbling and flattering,” Douglas said. “Despite all the nice comments, the negative ones are the ones that stick with you the most.”
Douglas said he does not let the negative comments affect the way he teaches in class.
Despite the ranking, Douglas said he does not think he teaches better than any other professor in the department and attributed his success to his colleagues and the university.
“We have a lot of great professors at the university, and I would like for them to be recognized for some of the hard work that they do throughout the course of the semester,” Douglas said. “I think the students just identify a lot with the material that I teach in my classes.”
CSULB anthropology department chair Barbara LeMaster said it is no secret that Douglas is one of the most popular professors in the department.
“I continually hear from all levels of students how much they appreciate [Douglas] as their professor,” LeMaster said.
After making the list, Douglas said he doesn’t see himself taking the top spot in professor ranking.
“I’m not interested in being the No.1 guy,” he said while laughing.