Ahh the professors...

Like farmers, Hopkins Professors are outstanding in their fields, and one can be assured that they are included on very important projects and research. When I took Physics, my professor is in charge of running the Hubble Space Telescope. One day he came in to announce that he would not be in tomorrow because he had better things to do...I believed him. Rather than be insulted, I thought, "wow, what a bro."

I give a few tours and the question that comes up EVERY time is the accessibility of the professors. Again, like at any other school, it is difficult to make a statement about an entire faculty. For example, that same physics professor probably wouldn't meet with me in a eon, but he has set up his class such that he doesn't have to and I can meet with a veritable army of TAs. He also set up DAILY review sessions.

On the other hand my Biochemistry Professor would take as much time as reasonably possible to talk about topics in and out of the classroom. I went in to talk to him about grad school and these sorts of things.

My Orgo Lab professor was one of the better teachers I have ever had. She made sure that she used visuals, and verbal lecture effectively and was always consistent with her availability of information. There were two lab write up necessary for the class and she stayed at her office till nearly midnight reading over anyone's lab who came to the door. Amazing.


But on the prowess of the professors themselves. My Chinese History prof was very fond of telling the story about how he was offered a position at an Ivy school and it was one of the happiest moments of his life turning it down. He had great stories about going to China in the 60 and 70s to do research and the friendliness of the Communists, etc. Great great stories.

My Public Health professors are incredible especially the guest lectures. My Medical sociology professor is a congressional expert on psychological illness in the US. I met Dr. Naverro who was Hillary Clinton's health policy expert in the early 90's. The former head of the National Health Statistics Center. The World's leading water expert, DR. Kellogg taught me all about water sanitation and security. After September eleventh, the Bloomberg School of Public Health had to take over for the EPA to monitor the pollution levels from the debris because we were the only ones with the correct tools.

My recommendation is to take college courses in high school to get out of the intro classes and take the higher level courses with smaller class size to meet these professors. Incredible people, some are better teachers than others, but it's cool when you see them interviewed on the History Channel.

"Hey! Dr. Mooney!" As he talks about the possible demise of humanity through biological agents.

In alphabetical order:

1. Dr. Gregory Ball: He's a professor of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who taught "Introduction to Psychology" in the spring of my freshman year. (By the way, I've observed that not the same professor teaches that course each semester.) I liked him because he didn't lecture just by reading prepared notes or slides of a PowerPoint presentation; instead, he often spoke directly to the class (referring to his PowerPoint presentations every now and then to reiterate his point) in a very loud and clear voice. Plus, his lectures were always entertaining and informative at the same time. Based on my two semesters (and one summer) of taking college courses so far, he's the best lecturer I've had. (FYI, there's also a Dr. Laurence Ball who's a professor of the Department of Economics.)

2. Dr. Robert Horner: He's a professor of the Department of Biology who taught Freshman Seminar: Tuberculosis in the fall of my freshman year. I enjoyed how Dr. Horner kept the seminar very light-hearted and entertaining. Plus, he did a pretty good job explaining to thirteen college freshmen--with varying high school biology backgrounds--chapters from a medical textbook on the immune system, as well as research papers on Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

3. Dr. Andrew Talle: He's a professor of the Peabody Conservatory who taught "Introduction to Western Classical Music" here at the Homewood campus in the fall of my freshman year. I liked him because while his lectures seemed dry if you didn't listen closely to them, he inserted many wry jokes every so often. Plus, he had relatively flexible course requirements--he tried to make it a point that he was there to help you appreciate classical music more than anything.

I've had two outstanding teachers since i've been at hopkins:

1. Professor Cohn:  She was my expository writing professor.  Class with her consisted of the 12 people in class simply having a conversation.  We would be assigned a reading assignment over the weekend and then the whole week would be spent discussing what we read.  She did not take a dominating force in the discussion but merely got involved as though she was another student (who just really knew her stuff).  She moderated the discussion and then ended the class with an over-arching theme.  Other classes where spent on writing technique and the structuring of arguments.  She always met with students individually to go over their work.

2.  Professor Klein:  As Tanmay described, Professor Klein took the daunting class of Organic Chemistry and made it enjoyable.  I have him right now over the summer.  He's absolutely amazing.  You can tell that he really cares and wants to make sure that everyone in the class understands whats going on and has no problem stopping to explain things 2x over

I had a ton of fantastic professors over the past four years...it's crazy to think about the number of hours I spent with some of them (multiple classes over multiple semesters, in lab, etc)! I have really fond memories of almost all of my professors, and Phil's right that pretty much every professor you'll have at Hopkins is top notch in their field (my cog sci professor was awarded the equivalent of his field's Nobel last year - so cool! - and yet he is still down to earth, says Hi in the hallway, and suggested that we have class outside. often.).

Some of my favorites:
* Paul Smolensky (cognitive science) as mentioned above. Brilliant, but able to bring his content down to an understandable level without "dumbing it down" to the point where it didn't mean anything substantial - I learned SO much, without really feeling like I was trying hard. Instead, it just seemed interesting, and I wanted to keep reading more and more.

* Stefanie DeLuca (sociology) and Steve Plank (sociology) - two young professors hired relatively recently, with great drive & motivation to teach about their passion - sociology of education. Really inspiring, great advisers, and willing to sit and chat about current events in the field, future plans, or interesting articles from the news. Happy to meet at Starbucks, too - always a plus!

* Barksdale Maynard (art history) - yeah, it's a weird name, but he's really that cool. "Landed southern gentry turned Delaware architecture aficionado" is probably the best way to describe him. Encyclopedic knowledge, great slides, funny anecdotes about everything and everyone; generally interested in making sure that students got a lot out of his class. He would always encourage students to check in with him about their paper topics and would help with outlines, sources, etc.

* Qiao Zhang (math). Absolutely a dream. Wrote PERSONAL comments on 200+ calc II students' tests, commenting on what they did well and their areas to focus on in the future. Does problems in class & gives you time to try it on your own, so that you can see whether you got the hang of it or need to go home and review. Made me want to go to early morning math - I didn't think that was possible.

* Stewart Hendry (neuro). Michelle B. & Tanmay love him for good reason; he's funny & explains complicated things in easy ways. His on-board diagrams can get crazy, but they somehow seem easy to follow no matter what. Focuses on both details and the big picture, to make sure that even when you forget specifics, you'll still know why you should care in the first place.

* Larry Raifman (psych). Adjunct (part-time) professor trained as a lawyer and PhD in psych. Teaches fascinating classes on Law & Psych and Behavioral Finance. Tells good stories, always has something relevant to talk about from his work that day. Showed me how you can mix disciplines across traditional boundaries and find a place/job that's right for you.

Like others have said, it's really hard to make a general statement about the entire faculty--it really depends on the individual teacher's style.  Some are more accessible than others but a lot of it is up to you--if you want to meet with a professor, you definitely can. It's just a matter of pursuing them yourself.  

First, I second Phil's love of Professor Rowe (Chinese history).  He told our class some great stories. Most of what I learned was from his own anecdotes and recollections of his many trips to China.  I have never had a professor who cared so much about his or her field.  He speaks Chinese fluently and knows almost all of the scholarly work that has been written about China.

Second is another history professor Melanie Shell-Weiss.  Professor Shell-Weiss is definitely the most well spoken professor I've ever had.  Her lectures for a course on the history of immigration were amazingly clear and she really inspires interest in the subjects she teaches.  I recommended that a friend take a class of her's last spring and she also loved Shell-Weiss.

As far as political science professors, I have three favorites (sorry, but it is my major!) The first and obvious choice is Professor Deudney who Esther wrote about.  I can't really explain the Deudney experience--take International Politics and then you will understand.  Second, is Professor Ginsburg who teaches Intro to American Politics and runs the Aitchison DC Study Program which I will be doing in the fall.  His teaching style is very anecdotal and he's really fun to listen to.  Third, is Professor Blyth who taught Comparative Politics last year.  His specialty is in comparative economics which was definitely a little complicated but he was a great teacher.

I hate to cop out and not think of something different/original, but whatever... I'm going to have to agree with everyone about Professor Deudney. He taught my International Politics class last fall and was AMAZING. IR theory can be extremely complicated and abstract at times, but Professor Deudney made every lecture enjoyable, clear, and worth attending. His love for both political science and teaching in general are obvious-- all you have to do is sit in on one of his lectures to realize it. Professor Deudney's sense of humor is also another reason why students love him so much. What other teacher would make a reference to Borat during a lecture...?

I'm definitely lucky he's my advisor.

I loved having Qiao Zhang as a professor, his enthusiasm was addictive and you could tell her really wanted you to understand the concepts.  As Michelle said above he wrote personal comments on everyones midterms and finals and that is seriously a lot of writing.

I also loved my Shakespeare Class which was taught by Professor Halpern.  He presented both unique and commmon theories about different Shakespeare plays and proceeded to prove them with evidence from the text.  I also thought he emphasized the important things with clips from BBC productions of the plays.  You can tell he really knew what he was talking about and the lectures were fascinating.

I’ve had a wide variety of professors at Hopkins, and while there was the occasional complete disaster of a professor (*cough* my Chem II professor *cough*), I can assure you those are few and far between. Most of my professors have been great, and never have I taken a class where I felt like I couldn’t get personal attention if I needed it (either in class when the professor stopped during lecture to field questions, or after class at office hours/TA help hours)

Some of my professors stand out in my mind for being particularly awesome. They include:

Dr Sprenkle- His Music History II class taught at Peabody was fabulous. He has been doing this for a while and knows exactly how to structure a lecture: with a great mix of listening, theory, and history lesson all mixed in. You’d just walk in to class, he’d say really interesting things about music, and then before you knew it you were done. The best thing we did in that class was our 3-week analysis of Bach’s B Minor Mass. Instead of trying to cover all of Bach and only getting a passing familiarity with a TON of works, we studied one of his masterpieces seriously in-depth. I just emailed him a few days ago and he gave me permission to sign up for his graduate seminar on Bach’s Passions- his specific wording in his reply was “Sure- the more the merrier”. Sprenkle has one of those classes that seriously be recorded and turned into a PBS documentary. He’s great.

James Glossman- His directing seminar class was so personal and involved. My class only had 8 people in it, and we were able to choose our own selections for which scene we wanted to direct. Then, we’d all have sessions in class where we’d bring our actors in and run scenes, and everyone in class would comment and Jim would give us suggestions on how to better perfect our scene. He was always such a straight shooter and was always so helpful telling you things you needed to fix and always complementary of things you did well. An amazing teacher.

Krista Smith- Words cannot describe how amazing Krista was to work with. She was the professor of our Peformance class and the director of the play we put on through the class- The Marriage of Bette and Boo. She cast the play within the first week of school and we got to go through an extremely thorough study of our characters and build an immense sense of trust with our fellow actors. The thing that made Krista so amazing was her unending willingness to respond to any concern that anyone had, and work one-on-one with each student for discussions about not only their role but anything else going on in their life as well. She got the entire cast free tickets to go see her show in NY that she had directed. Just phenomenal.

Hendry- The best science professor I’ve ever had here. Dr. Hendry’s lectures are always so clear and interesting, and he always makes sure that students know what he’s talking about. He’s always willing to answer student questions in class and stops frequently in lecture to allow for questions. He always makes himself available to students who are struggling or just have questions, and he personally tracks each student and targets the ones who seem to have trouble with the subject matter to call them to office hours and help them out. Plus, he’s an absolutely brilliant neuroscientist.

So, I could go on about even more professors but this post is becoming really long. Shout-outs include Dr. Grossman, my Constitutional Law professor, Dr. Hatter, my Cell/Molec neuro professor, and Professor Maura Tumulty, my analytic philosophy professor.

Now that I'm a month and a half into my sophomore year, I want to mention a few more professors:

1. Dr. Stewart Hendry: He's a professor of the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience; this semester, he's one of three professors who are co-teaching the "Nervous System I" course that I'm taking. I agree with Michelle B. and Tanmay (you can read what they've had to say about Dr. Hendry in earlier posts on this discussion thread) that he's an excellent lecturer and remembers students' names and faces really well.

2. Dr. Samer Hattar: He's a professor of both the Department of Biology and the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience. Like Dr. Hendry, I have him as one of the three professors who teach "The Nervous System." I don't think he explains concepts in lectures as well as Dr. Hendry, but he's still good at trying to do his best to help you understand concepts. He's also a friendly individual, and it's not unusual to see him biking around campus or exercising at the rec center and greeting his former and current students.

3. Dr. Michael Koortbojian. He's a professor of both the Department of Classics and the Department of the History of Art. This semester, he's teaching the "Art in the Age of Augustus" course that I'm taking. He's yet another professor who makes things sound simple, but instead of discussing the nervous system, he talks about ancient Greco-Roman art. His lectures consist of him showing slides of various works of art and him pointing out their symbolism, and he'd sometimes pause to ask questions to make us figure out the symbolism in other works of art ourselves. He's also a relatively unconventional professor in the sense that he provides no syllabus; his reasoning is that we're adults, and he shouldn't be telling us how to study for his course.

I love Professor David.  He's teaching my Contemporary International Politics class right now and he's amazing.  So organized, informative, and funny.  I learn sooo much in each day of class.

Yes, like Kate, I would like to update you on amazing professors.  

Professor Elizabeth Johnson:  This is my professor of Biostatistics (a 300-level required Public Health course).  She is absolutely amazing because she truly inspires you to dig in.  I am not fond of probabilities whatsoever, but I have yet to be disgusted of the course work.  It is so applicable and current in terms of public health research.  Plus, she is amazingly down to earth.  She slips in so many hilarious sayings throughout lecture.  For example, one day when our class was moved to Merganthaler, she was forced to write on the chalkboard.  She was erasing, and the eraser slipped out of her hand and hit her shoulder.  She mumbles, "Ah, I'm attacking myself with the eraser."  ..... I thought it was quite hilarious.  Plus, I love how she's out and about around campus with her girlfriends on a Saturday afternoon.  It makes it more real.

:)

Dr. Stephen Drigotas is possibly the best person to have for any psychology class.  He makes a 250 person lecture seem personal and engaging.  The class is a lot of fun.  I am even trying to get into his Social Psychology Class next semester!

I also have to say that I enjoy Professor Linda DeLibero for my Intro to Film Class.  It is partly because it is my major and so I've gotten to build a better relationship with her recently.  

I didn't believe it, even on campus, but GET TO KNOW YOUR PROFESSORS!  I almost missed out on taking Intro to Film Production next semester, but I talked to Professor DeLibero and because I did, she helped me get into the one spot that was left after preregistration because someone crossed their name off the list!  So make the effort!