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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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 [b]Noem Chomsky[/b] 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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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