I had Mazzaferro for my first quarter at UCLA. I tend to be quiet and shy in classes, and was doubly so since I was still getting used to life at UCLA, but he created a really relaxed and casual environment where we all felt comfortable contributing to the discussion. He makes the class feel almost conversational and really skillfully integrates the points everyone would make into the lecture, never dismissing or ridiculing what anyone had to say. The readings were at times dense (some of them being from the sixteenth century, etc), but they were always manageable and never gratuitously long. He is probably the best professor I have had at UCLA so far, and his passion for writing and literature is incredibly apparent.

I had him during 2023 in the summer for an upper div course and because of his hard work and dedication to his students as well as the interesting readings that makes the class engaging made me want to take his class again. Luckily I was able to find a class that he was teaching in that interests me and I'm glad I did.