Article by Alyse Phillips

You stare at the class on MyDrury that you need to graduate – and it’s offered by two different professors. You’ve never heard of either of them. Quickly, you go to Rate My Professors, a review site for university students, to see which one is a better professor. This evokes the question, what qualifications set apart the good professors from the bad?

As of Oct. 20, the three highest ranked professors on Rate My Professors were Ty Pierce of the Psychology department, 4.8/5; Kevin Henderson of the English department, 4.7/5; and Donald Deeds of the Biology department, 4.7/5.

The shared ‘tags’ or attributes that were given to all three of these professors were: gives good feedback, hilarious, and amazing lectures. These three qualities are what Drury students think a good professor should have. However, it can be a little more complicated than that because it can be hard to fit everything that makes a professor “good” into a couple of words.

Lauren Slamb, a sophomore majoring in communication, tried to clear up some of the confusion.

“I like a professor who is genuine, nice, and gets to know their students,” said Slamb. “I also appreciate a normal workload. A good professor makes sure all their students are on the same page as them. Professors that go above and beyond and notice whether their students are having a bad day are a blessing.”

Aaron Bradshaw, a junior majoring in philosophy, said, “Honestly, I’d say a flexible one. Any professor can give a syllabus and say, ‘This is it. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.’ But flexibility is cool, when they understand that life happens.”

Olivia Collins, junior and literacy major, agrees.

“I like a professor who treats everyone equally. I also like classroom structure. Also, my ideal professor has a lesson plan but isn’t afraid to stray from it. I like when they kind of go with the flow, and have some creativity. A big thing for me is flexibility, and understanding how the college life is. They don’t necessarily have to hand out extensions, but just understanding that you may not have access to certain things, such as printers.”

To Genevieve Travers, a sophomore majoring in music therapy, it’s all about the teaching style.

“Some teachers have styles that fit a lot of the students and some only fit a couple of students. Their general ‘niceness’ plays into it a lot as well,” said Travers.

Freshman Communication Major Alyssa Roth said, “I like when a professor listens to students and take our opinions into consideration, and when they can take constructive criticism well.”

But Zach Anderson, a senior majoring in graphic design, may have summed up everyone’s wants:

“A professor should have respect for his students and know how to help get the skills they need to in order to excel in their field.”

Every university has its smatterings of good and bad professors. Here at Drury, there is a wonderful collection of professors who care about their students and want them to succeed. All in all, it appears that Drury students are looking for professors who are human and flexible, but also have the tools to help them excel academically.