Professor De La Vega ROCKS. She is an empathetic human, a critical scholar, and sometimes a stand up comedian in a good way. You can totally get by without doing all of the readings, but you should show up to class (she takes random attendance). There were reading quizzes every two weeks and a final paper that was about 10 pages. Overall really interesting course material which made the readings and lectures very exciting.

Professor De La Vega is a great lecturer and a very empathetic human in general. She is so passionate about her research and racial and ethnic politics, and it comes through very clearly when she is lecturing. The class was fun and interesting, as as long as you come to class you won't have to do the participation discussion boards, since she gives us a QR code (no she doesn't put it in the slides and its time stamped). A majority of our assignments were quizzes (best 3 of the 5), and preparation for our final research paper (10-15 pages). She lets us pick the topic within the context of American suburbia, so there's plenty to choose from. Overall, I really enjoyed this course and if I had the chance to take her again I would!

Professor De la Vega is the best I've had at UCLA. I didn't think I had to leave a review to reiterate this because I know everyone who takes her courses is always in awe of her, but I felt strongly compelled to advocate for her due to the awful reviews other students have left her due to circumstances out of De la Vega's reach.

Those crappy reviews you see of her are far from the truth about the sort of Professor she truly is. They were left by students who took her class last quarter, which I was also in, and were upset due to the lack of communication that their TA's had with Professor. Their TA's decided to take matters into their own hands when it came to due dates and other things, which led to a conflict that could only be resolved by leveling the playing field after some students got a greater advantage over others- because of their TA- without her knowledge. This is why some students got upset, but the reality is that she never cheated a student out of their real grade.

She is passionate about her job and is always thoughtful and caring, as well as communicative with everyone. That's why I, just like many others, took her class again this quarter, and plan to take her again next quarter! The students who wrote those negative reviews just didn't want to settle for the actual grade they earned, and got mad because of it. I would ignore those few outliers if I were you all.

Professor de la Vega is a delight! She loves her work, and it shows. She's invested in students making real-life connections to what they study, and is constantly promoting outside opportunities to be more engaged in the community. There is a lot of latitude to take the course materials and shape the learning outcome individually for each person, based on what you want to learn for your final project. Professor de la Vega is the type of instructor I wish all classes had!