Teaching Evaluations

Student Testimonials

Here is a small selection of what my students, at Berkeley and DKU, have to say about my teaching.

Professor Brown is an amazing teacher and an amazing person. He really listens to student feedback and respects his student’s diverse ideas and backgrounds. He is great at clearly explaining concepts.

(Political Economy of Institutions, Spring 2026)

He is one gem of a professor; I think he is the only reason I was willing to invest in the course, because Prof. Junius was present and well-engaged within the classes, offering varying viewpoints and professional analysis.

(China in the World, Spring 2026)

The professor is an extremely passionate teacher. Makes sure everyone is getting what they need from the class. Very open to criticism. It is an honor to be a part of his class.

(International Development, Fall 2025)

This is one of the best courses I have taken at DKU! It was very well-structured and engaging. I have never been able to keep my focus during a 2.5 hours class session, but during this course the time was flying by and I was leaving class with a lot of knowledge each time.

(Political Economy of Institutions, Spring 2025)

Prof. Brown is a responsible and considerate educator who has been teaching this course excellently throughout the whole session. He combined the discussion with lecture perfectly so that the class is neither boring, nor unordered. At the same time, he is also a very warm-hearted man who relates to students.

(International Political Economy, Spring 2025)

Before taking this course, my expectation of POLECON 301 was just another obligatory but dull class, but Prof. Junius Brown completely transformed my perspective for polecon with his teaching style and passion and I am really grateful for this. He is really supportive and always helpful.

(International Development, Fall 2024)

Junius is clearly passionate and cares about the students in the class, it helps engage us students much more within his discussion.

(Russian Politics, Fall 2022)

Simply the best GSI I have had at Berkeley. Very knowledgeable and will answer any question you have to the best of his ability.

(Dictatorship and Its Discontents, Spring 2022)

Everything was explained brilliantly in a very simplified manner that could be understood by everyone.

(Urban and Subnational Politics in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, Fall 2021)

Junius was very clear when explaining concepts and he was able to connect everything very well back to the course material. He also put an obvious amount of time into our course worksheets and made sure everybody was understanding the course work.

(Introduction to Comparative Politics, Spring 2021)

Probably the best discussion section I’ve had at Berkeley so far–extremely well organized, good command of the material. Nobody was ever put on the spot, It truly felt like an environment conducive to learning.

(Varieties of Capitalism, Fall 2020)

Junius is the most challenging GSI I have ever had at Berkeley. He pushed me to be a better student but also to expect more of myself. While I may have been frustrated in the beginning about the grading, I realized that it pushed me to be a better student. For that I am forever thankful for Junius.

(Varieties of Capitalism, Fall 2020)

Junius is an angel. Extremely friendly and compassionate. During this time of pandemic, he has been understanding and accommodating. I have on two occasions faced pandemic related issues and Junius was so kind and went out of his way to accommodate me, I am very grateful to him… Of my classes, only Junius smoothly transitioned to virtual learning while maintaining an engaging section.

(Japanese Politics, Spring 2020)

Junius is exceptionally good at two things.
1) Pulling out the stuff from lecture that actually matters… Junius is excellent at zeroing in on the stuff we actually have to know to pass the class.
2) Explaining complex concepts. He knows which stuff from lecture is confusing and needs more attention, and he explains it quite succinctly, often times better than the professor did.

(Japanese Politics, Spring 2020)

Statistical Summary: Duke Kunshan University

The bar charts and table below compare my end-of-session student evaluations at Duke Kunshan University with the averages in the Division of Social Sciences. My evaluation data span Fall 2024 through Spring 2026; the divisional average released to faculty combines Spring and Fall 2025 only. The first pair of bar charts contain questions about the instructor specifically. Because both my distributions and the divisional distributions skew heavily to the upper end of the scale, I also report the share of students who rated the instructor as 5/5. Upon request, I can share my full set of DKU evaluations in their original institutional formatting, including all qualitative comments; this PDF totals 68 pages.

The next two bar charts, and their corresponding table, compare my end-of-session student evaluations at DKU with the divisional averages for questions about the course. Note that for one of these courses, China in the World, I was one of twelve instructors.

Statistical Summary: Berkeley

The bar chart and table below compare my end-of-semester student evaluations at Berkeley with the averages in the Political Science department. Course names and evaluated qualities are shortened for brevity. Note that the departmental average includes both teaching assistants and faculty. Upon request, I can share the full set of Berkeley evaluations (including 2023-2024) in their original institutional formatting, including all qualitative comments, but be warned that this PDF totals over 250 pages. Note also that I compiled these statistics when going onto the job market in Fall 2024, so Introduction to International Relations and Reconciliation after Mass Atrocities are not included.

The original wording of these questions is as follows:

The instructor explained concepts in an organized manner.
The instructor explained concepts clearly.
The instructor was helpful when I had difficulties or questions.
The instructor provided clear constructive feedback.
The instructor encouraged student questions and participation.

Considering both the limitations and possibilities of the subject matter and this course, how would you rate the overall effectiveness of the graduate student instructor?