All Good Things

"This guy is a straight beast. I don't think there's a better teacher at ISU. Exams were online and his lectures were entertaining." --An anonymous Principles of Economics student from ratemyprofessors.com.

"I wanted to thank you for teaching the Forecasting course this semester. I took this course as I was considering a career in forecasting market trends, and this class was by far the most interesting I've taken so far. The material just made sense to me, and I hope to pursue a career in this field."

"I had a fun time in your class. It was challenging at times, but it was wonderful learning new material. You are a great teacher. I will definitely sign up if you teach a new class. "

"My sister talked about how amazing your class was constantly. She had a largely negative experience with distance learning overall, but your class stood out as truly excellent to her."--An unsolicited Thank-You email from someone I have never met.

"I also wanted to say that I also really enjoyed the class, and it was one of my favorites out of all four years of college. I felt like I learned a bunch, and it helped me decide to go for my masters because I felt like there was so much more to learn.I also wanted to say that you were literally one of the two professors in my 4 years of college that I ever went to office hours for more than once. I really appreciated the fact that you didn't make me feel stupid or dumb when I was totally lost, and you were always willing to take the time and take a step back to explain something from the first step if need be. Another thing I really wanted to shout out was the fact that you emphasized taking care of our mental health during the pandemic. When you talked about it during class, it made me realize that it was also important to reach out to others, and several of my friends have thanked me for taking the time to catch up with them even with everything going on!" --Waseb Bajwa

"I want to take [another] interesting, futuristic, and fun class like Econ 475,"--Hyojun Kim

"Super good person, interesting class. Although the course it self can be a little bit hard. You really can learn something from it." -- a Forecasting student from ratemyprofessors.com

"I actually look forward to coming to his class and attendance isn't even mandatory. You don't have to buy the book. He fosters a lot of participation, but if you're not into that it's not going to hurt your grade at all. He also gave us a lot of extra credit." -- a Comparative Economic Systems student from ratemyprofessors.com.

"He's fun. Way better than the other guy.**"--An anonymous Principles of Economics student. 

"I wanted to thank you for a great semester in your class. It was really tough and I was scared at some points, but I was always rescued by your teaching style. While I’m happy that I never have to take that class again, I will really miss having you as a teacher. Best of luck to you for whatever comes next in your life sir. Have a happy holidays and a happy new year!! "--A core Econometrics student.

"ありがとうございました先生 "--A multi-lingual student.

Comments from ICES Spring 2020

Anonymous comments from the COVID era:

• He made stats fun which is hard because usually stats is really boring. He did extra office hours for us, and he always seemed like genuinely wanted us to do well.

• Philipps is the best

• This was one of my favorite courses at UIUC. It was something that was different than a lot of the other classes, and I'm glad to have taken it. The professor was one of the few that I've gone to repetitively for office hours because they were actually helpful and I didn't feel like I was being judged at all if I was lost on the topic.

• Good at explaining complex topics and take time to explain things thoroughly

• great, easy to follow

• Really good at providing help when needed and created a fun environment for the class while also effectively teaching a ton of material

• Very engaging with the class, always looked happy to teach.

• He explained the concepts in both an engaging and informative way, allowing an easy absorbtion of information. This is especially important as the content covered within the course is relatively challenging.

• The material was presented in an enjoyable manner. This was a good introduction to the theoretical background of forecasting.

• Great professor who cared about the course material. The transition to online learning was smooth as well. Interacted with students a lot. Great convos.

• Collins was a great communicator- engaging, entertaining and very insightful.

• Nice personality and understood material really well

• Knowledgeable and have a sense of humor.

**I don't know who "the other" guy was.