Famous college professors
Famous college professors and Heroes of Higher Education. Today is National Teachers Day, and shiny apples and thank-you cards will grace the desks of primary school teachers across the land. But let's not forget all those higher-education heroes — real and fictional — who've also made the grade.
Randy Pausch
The inspirational former computer science professor was given a terminal medical diagnosis in 2007. What was his illness? Before his death the following year, he delivered some stirring final words to students.
Henry Louis Gates Jr
Gates has been a staple in the world of Massachusetts academia since 1991. He is the award-winning director of the school's African-American research program.
Américo Paredes
Paredes was devoted to the study of corridos. This Texas native taught creative writing and made a campus breakthrough. Which program did he help launch?
John F. Nash Jr
The Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and economist taught such thought-provoking subjects as game theory at this New Jersey school. See which movie was based on his life.
Paul Krugman
Krugman teaches economics and international affairs and gained fame for developing this economic model.
Cornel West
West teaches at the Center for African American Studies, focusing on religion and philosophy. He's also an author and prominent political commentator.
Katherine Watson
Julia Roberts stars as a fictional art teacher in the 2003 film "Mona Lisa Smile." In the movie she inspires her conservative students to explore modern art and to challenge rigid 1950s social mores.
Stephen Hawking
This celebrated British instructor has enlightened students on such subjects as mathematics and physics.
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky is a professor emeritus of linguistics who also is devoted to the study of philosophy and U.S. foreign policy. Which intellectual movement did he help spark?
Vivian Bearing
Bearing is the fictional lead character in the acclaimed play "Wit". She's a cold, demanding English professor who has a change of heart after receiving the news that she's dying of cancer. The play received a top honor.
Albert Einstein
The great theoretical physicist was a professor at this German school when he developed his famous theory. What prompted him to leave Germany?
Mary McLeod Bethune
This famed educator started a pioneering school for African-Americans in 1904. Though the school began as a six-child grade school — what was it called? — it eventually became a full-fledged college. Find out what the school is called now.
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