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Could These Celebrities Be Your Next College Professors?
By Catherine Groux
Posted October 22, 2012 12:00 PM
Many colleges are recruiting celebrities to teach their courses.In recent years, celebrities like Shaquille O'Neal and Eva Longoria have decided to go back to school and earn college degrees. However, some stars have taken their passions for education one step further by teaching courses at colleges across the nation. Whether students decide to earn bachelor's degrees or master's degrees, here are some famous faces they might see around campus:
James Franco
After studying at schools like Yale University and Columbia University, actor James Franco agreed to teach a film production course at the University of Southern California (USC) next spring, the Los Angeles Times reports. The class will be co-taught by Vince Jolivette, Franco's business partner.
In the class, students will be required to direct short films that explore "the unknown, the unexplained and the unimaginable," according to an email sent to USC students from the School of Cinematic Arts. These short films will then be combined to create one longer piece.
This will not be Franco's first time working as a college professor. Previously, the actor was teaching a class about turning poetry into film at New York University (NYU).
Questlove
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, drummer for the Roots, recently told Billboard that he will teach a course called Classic Albums at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts during the spring 2013 semester. The musician will teach the class with the help of Harry Weinger, a two-time Grammy Award winning reissue producer and current vice president of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises.
In the two-credit course, students will discover what makes albums stand the test of time, as well as what defines them as "classic." Additionally, students will be able to examine various parts of the music industry, including production, promotion and marketing.
Spike Lee
While writer, director, actor and producer Spike Lee typically teaches a graduate course at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts during the fall semester, NYU faculty report he has chosen to take the fall 2012 semester off due to his busy schedule. However, they hope Lee will return in fall 2013 to teach his Master Series: Directing Strategies class.
In 1992, Lee was also a visiting professor of a film interpretation course in Harvard University's Department of Afro-American Studies, the Harvard Crimson states.
Condoleezza Rice
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice currently teaches a political economy course at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, the institution's website states. Rice has been a Stanford faculty member since 1981, and even served as the school's provost from 1993 to 1999.
The politician's current course, titled Managing Global Political Risk, examines the political risks modern businesses face, including national debt defaults, coups and cyber exploitation. With Rice's guidance, students will learn how to assess and lower these risks.
