My Colleges and Careers proudly announces it’s first ever “Sweater Vest Awards.” The award recognizes collegiate level professors and to be honest there are no requirements. We don’t care what why teach, how you teach, why your teach or even if you are good at what you do. Our only requirement? You are amusing enough to get me to read the second page of results when I google your name. Drumroll please…
“Master of the Op-Ed Award”
Name: Paul Krugman
Area of Instruction: Economics and International Affairs
University Catalog: MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkley
Moonlight Gig: author, op-ed columnist for the New York Times
Pomp and Circustance: Nobel Prize Winner
Fun Fact: President Clinton courted him for a position in his administration but Krugman declared he didn’t bite his tongue enough to have that sort of role.
Sound Bite: “The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century – every case of a poor nation that worked its way up to a more or less decent, or at least dramatically better, standard of living – has taken place via globalization, that is, by producing for the world market rather than trying for self-sufficiency.”
“King of the Hip-Hop Shout-Out”
Name: Cornel Ronald West
Area of Instruction: African American Studies and Religion
Moonlight Gig: West appears in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. He plays Councilor West, one of the elders who serves on the council of Zion.
University Catalog:
Pomp and Circumstance:
Fun Fact: West was also featured on Starbucks Coffee Cups with The Way I See It #284 quoted, “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people, if you don’t serve the people.” In Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Just Might Be OK’ from his album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor, he says ‘I ain’t Cornel West, I am Cornel Westside, Chi-town Rivera.”
Sound Bite: “Who wants to be well-adjusted to injustice? What kind of human being do you want to be?”
“Drug Dealer Finance Awareness Award”
Name:Steven Levitt
Area of Instruction:Economics
University Catalog:University of Chicago
Moonlight Gig:Writing Best-selling books like”Freakonomics”
Pomp and Circumstance: Levitt was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World” in 2006.
Fun Fact: Levitt is known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. He also has some theories on how drug dealers account for money in gang settings.
Sound Bite: “An expert doesn’t so much argue the various sides of an issue as plant his flag firmly on one side. That’s because an expert whose argument reeks of restraint or nuance often doesn’t get much attention. An expert must be bold if he hopes to alchemize his homespun theory into conventional wisdom.”
“The Folk-Rock Credibility Award”
(Editors Note: Beam was also considered for the “Most Likely to be Mistaken for Amish” award.)
Name:Sam Beam
Area of Instruction: Film and cinematography
University Rap Sheet: University of Miami and Miami International University of Art & Design
Moonlight Gig:Um….this is kind of obvious but songwriting and singing. He is the folk god behind “Iron and Wine.”
Pomp and Circumstance: His song “Such Great Heights” is the anthem of every indie wannabe out there.
Fun Fact: His sweet lyrics are likely influenced from having four daughters.
Sound Bite: He is a man of few words. Try listening to his albums.
Professor Most Likely to Bring You to Tears Award
Name:Randy Pausch
Area of Instruction:Computer Science
University Rap Sheet:Carnegie Mellon
Moonlight Gig: A devoted Star Trek fan, Pausch was invited by film director J. J. Abrams to film a role in the latest Star Trek movie. Abrams heard of Pausch’s condition and sent a personal e-mail inviting Pausch to the set. Pausch accepted and traveled to Los Angeles, California to shoot his scene. In addition to appearing in the film, he also has a line of dialogue at the beginning of the film (”Captain, we have visual.”) and donated the $217.06 paycheck to charity.
Pomp and Circumstance: As he was dying of pancreatic cancer, he wrote and delivered and speak called, “The Last Lecture.” His words became a youtube hit and now it is a best-selling book.
Fun Fact:The Pittsburgh City Council declared November 19, 2007 to be “Dr. Randy Pausch Day”
Sound Bite: “We don’t have a Michael J. Fox” to speak for pancreatic cancer “because people die too fast.”
“Most Precocious Professor Award”
Name: Alia Sabur
Area of Instruction: Math and Physics
University Catalog:She graduate summa cum laude from Stony Brook University at age 14 and at 19 she was hired as a professor for Konkuk University in Seoul Korea.
Moonlight Gig:She is a black belt and once played with recording artist Smash Mouth. Random. Looks like she really left Smash Mouth in the dust.
Pomp and Circumstance: She holds the Guiness record for youngest professor in the world.
Fun Fact: In traditional Korean culture, children are considered to be 1 year old when they are born, and add a year to their age every New Year instead of their actual birthday, so in Korea Sabur is considered 20.
Sound Bite: “You can reach a lot of people with music. It’s never been really a hobby to me. It’s always been on equal par with my academics.”
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Cool list! I like that south korean professor, minus her involvement with Smash Mouth
[Reply]
Comment by Jared — July 27, 2009 @ 2:39 pm