Course Evaluation
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Winfrey’s celebrity and lack of academic experience have some Kellogg faculty wondering if her appointment will be a coup or a short-lived publicity stunt. “She’s an enormous name, but she doesn’t have a lot of experience teaching,” observes Kellogg professor Walter Scott, one of two instructors who already teach leadership courses. In magazine surveys rating graduate business schools, Kellogg has ranked at or near the top in recent years, but some professors speculate that a school’s buzz can boost its ranking. One Kellogg professor says the school keeps “careful track of how many ‘hits’ each professor gets in the media.”
The deal to appoint Winfrey was struck by Donald Jacobs, dean of Kellogg, with little or no input from other professors; Jacobs was out of town and unavailable for comment. Students were cautiously optimistic about the appointment. “I think bringing in people who have leadership experience is good for the school, but I just don’t know how good a teacher she will be,” says Gilad Sokolov, who gave up a lucrative job in his native Israel to enroll at Kellogg. Another student, who asked not to be identified, said, “I think it’s fantastic because Winfrey brings experience to the room, and not just research.” But everyone seems to agree on one point. As Dranove put it, “Oprah should have no trouble engaging the students in conversation.”
Fun in Yugoslavia
