rofessor Nancy Frankenberry

John Phillips Professor of Religion

Don’t take a class with Professor Frankenberry if you don’t want to think. Reading and reflecting intelligently are requirements in any class she teaches, but Professor Frankenberry more than repays your efforts with her own insightful comments and powerful thought. It must also be said that Professor Frankenberry handles a tough subject—the space between reason and religious belief—with extraordinary grace and care. Remianing sensitive to students’ beliefs but nevertheless demanding rigorous and self-critical thought of all beliefs and positions, Professor Frankenberry is a model of intellectual activity and the thinking life.

Professor Donald Pease

Professor of English, Avalon Foundation Chair of the Humanities

A phenomenal lecturer with a unique and wide vocabulary, Donald Pease has a masterful understanding of’th Century American Literature and 20th Century American Drama. Pease conducts his classes in a traditional lecture style, speaking for the entirety of the 65 minutes on his interpretation of the various novels and plays assigned for readings. Classes move quickly, and the readings for each class can be long and dense. But Pease is tremendously successful at unifying all the works of literature assigned and portraying the works within the histriographic framework of the time they were written. His classes are not to be missed.

Professor Mikhail Gronas

Assistant Professor of Russian

A highly regarded poet, author and researcher, Prof. Mikhail Gronas has credentials and accomplishments that demand major respect. Still, ask any Russian major or minor about Prof. Gronas, and they are far more likely to refer to him simply as Mischa, as if he were a friend instead of a figure of authority. The best thing about having a class with Mischa is his casual, impromptu and highly amusing way of conducting the classroom while bringing fountains of information to the conversation. Whether he’s chucking a ball around the room, drawing on the board, or breaking the class for a cigarette, Mischa’s familiar modes of teaching can even make learning the tenets of Russian grammar amusing.

And if that doesn’t work for you, how’s this? He’s a an imposing, bearded, heavily-accented Russian poet who chain smokes and chucks balls at your head to get you to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. What more do you want?

Professor Amy Allen

Associate Professor of Philosophy and Women’s and Gender Studies

Dartmouth philosophy professors as often as not seem to have written the book they teach, and yet Amy Allen still stands out as especially knowledgeable. She is a sharp, fast lecturer with a broad knowledge base: she is fluent in Nietzsche and everything else in continental philosophy, but has written a book in feminist theory and is working now on another on social criticism. Most impressive is her high priority for students; she is well prepared for her lectures and accessible and friendly in office hours. She is invested and professional in her classes and expects the same from her students, so expect fair grades and demanding material.

Professor J. Martin Favor

Chair of African & African American Studies, Assoc. Professor of English

Professor Favor mixes enthusiasm and sheer knowledge better than just about anyone on campus. His lectures are wide-ranging but always deeply revealing of the material at hand and are undeniably and reliably captivating. It is not out of question to compare his lectures to the jazz he loves to talk about; both are improvisational and earnest, and deeply rooted in an endlessly rich tradition.

Professor Clarence Hardy

Assistant Professor of Religion

Professor of Religion Clarence Hardy is certainly not one to be missed. His class on Religion and American society is one of the most interesting and thought provoking classes at Dartmouth. He is truly a gentleman and a scholar who knows how to keep the interest of a class while still entertaining all questions, and he often gives a creative option in addition to the standard paper form which enables students to put texts and authors in conversation with each other.

Professor Ellis Shookman

Associate Professor of German

Even if you do have to wake up at the crack of dawn (or before in the winter) to get to drill, taking a language class at Dartmouth, even just for the hell of it, can possibly be a rewarding experience. Taking a language class, or any other course, with Professor Shookman is inevitably an immensely rewarding experience. Professor Shookman is meticulous but patient, wicked smart but genial, and has a deceptively hilarious sense of humor. Professor Shookman also teaches many excellent literature courses, including one on the Faust tradition.

Professor Michael Chaney

Assistant Professor of English

The English Department’s newly acquired star Professor Michael Chaney teaches classes on topics ranging from early African-American literature to graphic novels. He leads class discussion with an enthusiasm and intellectualism both engaging and challenging, and his impressive oratory skills will make you wish Dartmouth still offered a public speaking program. Always available during office hours to chat with students about everything from their academic interests to Dartmouth’s social scene, Chaney embodies what a Dartmouth professor should be: brilliant, interesting, and interested

Professor Amy Lawrence

Professor of Film and Television Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Comparative Literature

Professor Lawrence is the kind of professor that makes you leap out of bed when your alarm goes off. One could discuss, in great lengths, her merits in blunt list format $mdash; her overwhelming command of the course material; her attention to organization and structure in planning her courses; her excellent lectures; her ability to carefully stimulate and guide class discussions; her creativity in assignments and materials $mdash; but none of this wouldn’t matter quite so much if she weren’t such a bright, cheerful presence in the classroom. It’s a rare teacher whose abundance of enthusiasm and endlessly sunny disposition can alone make a class worth taking; it’s another story altogether when that personality also posesses the intellect of a top-notch academic.

This term, Professor Lawrence is hosting, along with Professor Steve Swayne, the Loew Film Series:The Classic American Film Musical every Thursday at 7:00 pm.

Professor Timothy Pulju

Lecturer in Linguistics

If you can find a more engaging lecturer at Dartmouth, please blitz us so we can take her class. Even in as large a class as Linguistics 1, Professor Pulju holds one’s attention so well, even the New York Times crossword looks dull and Facebook seem like a total waste of time. Seriously, though, Professor Pulju knows not only his subject (and a great many others besides) but how to teach. He conveys everything—tough ideas, simple concepts—with ease and flair.

Other Professors of Note:

Annabelle Winograd, Visiting Professor of Theater

Barbara Will, Associate Professor of English

Paul Christesen, Assistant Professor of Classics

Brenda Silver, Mary Brinsmead Wheelock Professor of English

Annabel Martín, Associate Professor of Spanish, Comp. Lit & WGST

Mary Coffey, Assistant Professor of Art History

John Kopper, Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature

Marlene Heck, Senior Lecturer in Art History

Lee Witters, Professor of Biology