Who are the big hitters on faculty at vandy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vandy is redhot and one of if not most popular school in the country.

However I really struggle to think of any top faculty at the school. Hypsm obviously, Chicago, Jhu, cal, duke, Penn, Michigan I can think of elite and big time faculty…

But who are vandy’s superstar faculty?

Big hitters, red-hot, most popular, superstar...

You forgot
Top, elite, big time

[Anonymous]

Meacham is prob the best known, but it might say something about the school that the best known professor isn’t really not a trad academic. Accomplished guy of course, with a # of honorary doctorates.

When I was there in the 90s/00s some beloved faculty were John Lachs, Cecilia Tichi, Tony Early, Ronnie Steinberg, etc. John Lachs is supposed to be “the Doctor of Philosophy” referenced in the Indigo Girls song Closer to Fine. None of the faculty were celebs but they were very generous with their with students bc the school wasn’t as research intensive. Not sure what it’s like now.

[Anonymous]

He may not be a heavy hitter under the OP's definition, but Dan Margalit is chair of the math department and he is a great guy and also a singing math professor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjrF-WgSa14&list=RDkjrF-WgSa14&start_radio=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is anyone supposed to know who the academic big names are outside of their particular field? I couldn’t name a single professor at Harvard or MIT except those in the Epstein Files. Does having Alan Dershowitz and Noem Chomsky on the faculty make Harvard and MIT extra special?

Given how difficult and competitive academia is, I’m sure all full professors at T20 schools are renowned in their fields. From Vanderbilt, I sometimes see Jon Meacham on television. I know him because I like his books. But I couldn’t name a professor of chemistry at any school in the world because that’s not my field or interest.

I went to see Noam Chomsky give a lecture at my undergrad university in the 1980s. I was excited to see such a famous guy. He pretty much raved incoherently and a lot of talk veered into some 3rd world political issues that were not the announced subject of the lecture.

That was a real "Emperor has no clothes" moment for me concerning famous faculty.

I've had a lot of education since then and there's no correlation I've seen between professor fame and good teaching. In fact I had one grad school professor who got teaching awards who had to move on because his publication list was insufficient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vandy is redhot and one of if not most popular school in the country.

However I really struggle to think of any top faculty at the school. Hypsm obviously, Chicago, Jhu, cal, duke, Penn, Michigan I can think of elite and big time faculty…

But who are vandy’s superstar faculty?

Can you run through whom you deem elite faculty at the schools you mention (I attended two of them)? And can you tell me whether and how often they teach undergrads? Star faculty is often defined by characteristics that have absolutely nothing to do with pedagogical effectiveness. Universities who hire them know what they are getting and they know precisely what parents they are trying to impress. It looks like you are one of them.

Most parents and students don't have a clue about who is or will be excellent in a particular department. But they can discern a lot from taking a look at what courses are actually offered each year and then take a look at the faculty bios to get a better sense.

DP, but Denis Auroux and Jacob Baranded at Harvard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vandy is redhot and one of if not most popular school in the country.

However I really struggle to think of any top faculty at the school. Hypsm obviously, Chicago, Jhu, cal, duke, Penn, Michigan I can think of elite and big time faculty…

But who are vandy’s superstar faculty?

I don’t know any juniors who are particularly interested in Vandy at my kid’s school. Maybe it is red hot in some circles.

[Anonymous]

I’m not a Vanderbilt booster and my kids have no interest in the school but this Venmo diagram does a good job of explaining it’s popularity

https://share.google/66bBOYS00oJeBQV5a

[Anonymous]

Do you mean public intellectuals?

Vandy has the most important scholar in my area of research but it's not someone that you would come across if you're not in the field.

[Anonymous]

Why? You aren't going to know all of them or barely any of them? Are you looking for your name?

Why?