There will be certain professors you will remember 10, 20 or even 30 years from now; professors you will tell your parents and children about, and who will forever have a place in your memory. These professors have the potential to change the career paths and futures of students, and sometimes, one lecture is all it takes.
A lot of people say that it is not the subject matter, but the professor who determines how interesting and fun a class will be. The Daily Cardinal has looked into these various groups, and decided to profile three professors from different subjects to see what the fuss is all about.
Professor Richard Knowles
Department: English
Some students say professor Knowles lectures in blank verse; his words flow off his tongue in a Shakespearean way so as to engulf his students in the subject matter.
However he teaches, he must be doing something right because many students have joined a Facebook group dedicated to him titled, I want to spend an afternoon in the park with Dr. Dick Knowles!\ The group has 125 members thus far and is growing.
Knowles teaches English 220, and Shakespearean Drama and is incredibly modest when it comes to his student following.
""I take no credit for myself, all the credit is Shakespeare's, of course,"" Knowles said with a smile.
Hope Lawrence, a UW-Madison junior, disagreed.
""Reading the plays for me was so hard ... he made even the most boring stuff seem interesting, he really knewhowto find the interesting aspects of them,"" she said.
She went on to retell a specific lecture that stuck
out in her mind.
""He said, ‘Of course Juliet is happy. She just spent the night making bliss with her husband.' He referred to having sex as ‘making bliss.' If there was anything ever cuter than that, I've certainly never heard it!""
Knowles said he loves teaching the course because, ""One of the great things about reading Shakespeare is that you're in daily contact with genius.""
Whether the true genius is Professor Knowles or Shakespeare is, according to many of his students, up for debate.
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