The effects of national media attention on a professor are unclear: professors like the attention but not too much of it, and students disagree on whether or not a professor's fame drives up enrollment.
Professors at Tufts - whether they have been interviewed for magazines or newspapers or asked to appear on TV or radio - gave mixed reviews of their dealings with the press.
English Professor Jay Cantor said he has never turned down a request for an interview, and he said he enjoys the attention. When he writes a screenplay, Cantor said, "I rehearse my speech to the Academy."
During the month before and the six months after he releases a book, Cantor said, he is approached by the press daily, but the attention is less when he does not have something new.
The media attention has not distracted from his job as a professor, Cantor said. His job would only be affected, he said, if the number of requests greatly increased. "If J. Lo were a professor, she would be distracted."
Philosophy Professor Daniel Dennett said he has gotten used to the attention. "If it stopped, I would feel a certain emptiness," he said. Dennett said he often receives 50 requests for interviews each week, making it impossible to talk to every reporter.
Dennett said he appreciated when reporters do background research and ask informed questions. One of the better reporters at this, Dennett said, is Alan Alda, the host of the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers.
A LexisNexis search showed Dennett quoted in 63 articles in major newspapers dating back to 1991.
Dennett is on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of top 100 public intellectuals - a list that also includes former president of the Czech Republic V???¬av Havel and Pope Benedict XVI.
History Professor Gerald Gill said he has had some negative experience with the press. "I talked to a reporter from Boston Magazine for two hours and nowhere in the article was I quoted," he said.
"I find that too often the press seems to want to oversell its viewpoint," Biomedical Engineering Professor David Kaplan said. He said sometimes his words were taken out of context or distorted.
Tia Huang, a graduate student who does research for Kaplan, said the media attention he gets does not take away from his duties as a professor. "He often has meetings to go to, but he always finds time to guide us," Huang said.
Dean of Undergraduate Education James Glaser, whose job includes hiring professors, said the University does not look for professors who will get media attention. "Most professors do not come here famous," he said. "We look for a potential for fame."
Students differed on whether it matters that professors receive outside media attention. Sophomore Jayson Uppal said media attention may increase the chances he would take a professor's class. "A professor's credibility in the field is increased if he is famous," Uppal said.
Freshman Jeff D'Elia agreed. "If I were hesitating between two classes, I would choose the one taught by the famous professor," he said. D'Elia is in one of Cantor's classes, but he said he enrolled in the class because he was interested in the subject.
Freshman Stephanie Kreutz, though, said the media attention a professor gets may not determine the quality of the class. "A professor's name does not guarantee that the class will be good," she said.
