Barbara Kunkel

genuinely so much better than hafer but still not all that. 2960 is a lot of memorization and not that difficult but just SO much content for each exam. its doable but hafer and kunkel do not make it any easier.

5/11/2025

Good bio prof

5/8/2025

read directly off slides and was not engaging. barely went to any lectures and was able to do fine by cramming every lecture slide on a cheat sheet. exams are needlessly wordy, complicated, and harshly graded. curriculum based entirely on memorization without understanding.

11/19/2024

2-4 hrs/week

The course was a pretty standard introduction to biology, and was pretty much all of the same content as AP bio. It was pretty clear that the instructors weren't that passionate about lecturing and mostly read from slides, but the TAs were very accessible.

5/18/2024

Kunkel clearly likes biology, which makes a world of difference when she is teaching instead of Hafer. She also doesn't read verbatim from the slides, which is nice, as it makes the class more interactive. She is rather caring and can generally answer people's questions, which is great.

5/12/2024

No idea why her ratings are so high. She is unclear, moves extremely quickly through material, simply reads off the slides, and will have you leaving class knowing almost nothing more than you came in with. If you haven't taken bio in a while, this class is going to suck. Very difficult to take notes by hand, thanks to the bombardment of slidedecks

3/5/2024

I found that Kunkel cared about what was being taught and that made her lectures enjoyable enough. She taught rather quickly, in my opinion, but doing the study guides and practice quizzes help get me up to speed.

5/9/2023

I'll start with the positive. Dr. Kunkel is nice to her students. now for the negatives. In the lectures she mostly reads off of a powerpoint and it is very difficult to stay engaged during them. Grading of exams is awful and as they are worded horrendously, also asking clarifying question is not helpful. The exam average is around a C-.

5/8/2023

The Bio 2960 lecture professors are both kind, but they just throw information at you and hope you can work enough outside of class to understand it further. Exams are fair and straightforward.

5/5/2023

Kunkel is nicer than Hafer and seems much more approachable. She has no authority in class however and does not know how to teach a big class like 2960.

4/10/2023

Dr. Kunkel is a very sweet person and cares about her students. However, she simply reads off the content heavy slides and doesn't explain much. This means you have to teach yourself some tricky concepts. She is active on Piazza and answers questions there in a helpful way though. Class itself can be hard, but taking AP/IB bio makes it a lot better

5/12/2022

Really fast paced lectures, but that's not her fault; there is a lot of material to cover in Bio2960. I didn't take any high school bio, so this class has been an insane amount of work. She is very accommodating, clear, and logical. She cares a lot about her students. If you don't have any background in bio, get ready for a GRIND.

4/5/2022

Not the best lecturer but so much better and nicer than Prof Hafer. When she can't answer a student's question (which is honestly frequent) she owns up to it and offers to look into it after class. Don't buy the textbook it's unnecessary. Class is memorization-heavy but if you take good notes you'll do well.

7/21/2021

kunkel such a kind person. if she doesn't know the answer to a question, she'll be honest about it. very helpful during office hours and makes sure you understand the concepts. i loved her lectures because they were always very clear

7/6/2021

Loved her as a bio professor! She always answers questions in a non-judgmental manner, and she explains the course content really well.

4/16/2021

I vividly remember the first day of classwith palms sweating, heart racing, tears dripping down my red, blustery faceof having to stand up in the 370 seat Wrighton 100 lecture hall, everyone standing up, carrying out the biological ethics oath. Though nervous of messing up the oath, I didnt; The dna gel electrophoresis was mine now. Good prof.

4/27/2020

Professor Kunkel is very nice. Her teaching style is clear compared to her co-lecturer, Professor Hafer. This class very test heavy. Also, you do NOT need to buy the book. You do not need to read in order to pass the class. Notes from the class are sufficient.

5/15/2019

She explains stuff really well especially compared to everyone else that taught that class along with her. Her slides were easy to follow and in a logical order and she explained everything very thoroughly. I understood the parts of the class that she taught the best and was always relieved when it would be her turn to teach

4/22/2017

She is very very sassy and honestly kind of mean. Hard to get help in office hours because she is not willing to explain things twice. Very boring

4/22/2017

Make general biology very boring, but she tries (tries!) to be exciting. The material is very difficult and memorization heavy. Think 5x AP biology. Clickers are useless (don't bother)

5/28/2015

Plant Bio and Genetic Engineering is a great class, and I really can't recommend it enough if you like plants and genetics at all. The lectures are very clear, though sometimes a little repetitive (you will draw many many constructs). Just enough work.

3/30/2012

This has been the worst class I have taken at Wash U. Kunkel is a TERRIBLE teacher, and she takes a class with very interesting material and ruins it. Do not take this class. Everyone that sat around me also thought it was a terrible class. Trust me, its awful.

12/22/2010

I'm a junior, and she's probably the best bio professor I've had so far at WU. The first third of the course was just basic plant physiology and that wasn't really my thing, but after that the genetic engineering stuff gets very interesting. Word of caution: some people take this class thinking it will be easier than other bio courses. It isn't.

12/1/2005

Such a nice teacher. She is really caring, and loves the subject she teaches. I highly recommend this class to anyone who has not thought about plant biology. I love animal physiology, but this class makes plants very interesting. The presentations at the end are really neat too.

12/22/2004

plant bio is amazing. such a fun class. so useful. very well taught. take it and brave new crops (anthro)--that should be a cluster

12/21/2004

Very helpful, explained things very well and made it easy to remember them.

12/21/2004