If you want to pull your hair out and cry for a quarter, take his class. He's the worst professor in the world! The workload is enormous! You're reading about 200 pages a week. His lectures can be interesting, but your hand will hurt by the end of class trying to keep up with him. He has office hours, but he won't reaturn emails even when he says he will. He seems approachable, even nice in person, but he doesn't care about his students. I think he's super jaded and although he knows a lot about Russia, he really needs to get out of teaching.

insanely boring lecture. no slides, nor engagement. the content itself is interesting and the professor is funny in my opinion. your only grade is the final essay.

This class definitely isn't for everyone. Dr. Frank is incredibly knowledgeable on Imperial Russian society and culture, but his lectures can get a bit dry and you'll definitely need to take notes to make the most of them. The readings are manageable, and they were all translated to or written in English. The entirety of your grade will be based on a single research paper, which can be a positive or negative depending on how you look at it. If you're a strong writer and you have a solid understanding of both the class and your chosen topic, you'll do well in this class. Go to office hours, engage with Dr. Frank, and choose a unique topic for your paper.

there were some mixed reviews, but I really liked this class. He was always very kind and one of the funniest profs I've had. This quarter was broken into 5 250 reading responses (optional), participation, and a final. If you went to class, at least one office hours, and wrote a good final it was an easy A.

All these negative reviews are complete horseshit. Professor Frank is a great professor and his classes are a breeze if you just simply do the readings. If you cannot handle doing 100 pages of reading a week than you really should consider why you chose to be a history major or why you chose to take a history class. Hell, you should ask yourself how in the world you got into UCLA.

I took 3 classes with him and he never turned me or others away during office hours and was willing always to talk after class. He was very helpful when it came to finding sources for papers.

Passing his class is simple. Do the readings, write responses when required, and don't plagiarize.

You're a UCLA student. Act like it.

He's an asshole. Avoid his classes. His lectures don't make sense, are not chronological and he never gives you any of the Russian spellings. Won't return emails and doesn't have office hours. I did get an A though by basically writing a paper straight from the readings, no lecture notes... however he does take attendance.

Lmao at the reviews. The reviews describe him so well. He is an uber douchebag. For one, being a jerk to his students. Secondly, for giving his students B+s after they performed so well on the midterm. Ahh to be a history major. Anyway, stay away from this guy if you're a hard worker. This was the only class that I studied for alotlast quarter and I didn't get an A.