The two most widely-acclaimed and "hot" professors on Ohio State's campus could not be more dissimilar.
According to ratemyprofessors.com, 30-year-old dance instructor Steve Yao and 72-year-old engineering professor Jozsef Gozon are ranked among the best looking-instructors on campus.
Ratemyprofessors.com, which lists more than 700 OSU professors, contains more than 4 million ratings on professors from more than 5,000 schools, said Patrick Nagel, CEO of the Web site.
The Web site claims to be the largest and most popular online resource devoted to students' numerical ratings and open-ended comments on teachers and classes. This feedback, which rates on a scale of one through five, examines the areas of easiness, helpfulness, clarity and hotness, along with an overall rating. The easiness and hotness rankings are not factored into the professor's overall quality.
Judging by the large number of posts, Gozon at 105 and Yao at 235, students seem interested in generating a generous amount of comments on the Web site. Only 15 OSU professors have more than 50 posts, however, and Gozon and Yao are the only two of these rated as hot.
Because they share exemplary ratings in the hotness category, Gozon with a net total of eleven students and Yao with a net total of 96 students, they each display a red chili pepper icon next to their name. In addition to these symbols, three different face icons allow the Web site to distinguish professors as good, average or poor.
Yao, whose classes got an overall quality rating of 4.8 (five being the highest), also received high ratings in easiness, helpfulness and clarity.
His posts from students, which said, "Steve is amazing. I love him," or, "Mr. Steve Yao's ballroom instruction has a strong emphasis on fundamentals," often deliver rewarding feedback to him, Yao said.
"It's pretty cool and kind of surprising to be called a hottie," Yao said.
The posts regarding Gozon were equally complimentary, many remarking that he was the best instructor on campus.
"You will have a blast enjoying the company of the coolest professors at Ohio State," one of his reviews said.
Professors seem appreciative and encouraged by the feedback, Gozon said.
"I encourage my students and I take them to the limit," he said, "but I take care of them."
Though positive posts generally generate a pleasant response, not all instructors respect the Web site's purposes.
"I will not dignify ratemyprofessors.com by a discussion," OSU mathematics Professor Alexander Dynin said in an e-mail.
Other professors take the ratings in stride.
"I visit (the site) regularly," OSU computer science Professor Bettina Bair said. "I'm interested in what students value in a teacher. When I see negative things, I try to pull something out of it to make me a better professor."
Although ratemyprofessors.com gets regular threats of law suits from faculty, no one has filed a case against the company since its beginning in 1999, Nagel said.
"We remove inappropriate comments and professors can flag their ratings and post a response," he said.
In a twist on Web rating sites, there is a new site, Rate Your Students (rateyourstudents.blogspot.com) where professors rate students.
Professors and their student subjects remain anonymous and are not identified by which institution of higher education they attend.
Rate Your Students, said Nagel of ratemyprofessors.com, is a destructive and silly outlet for the disgruntled.
"Ours is a constructive area where students voice their opinions and get help scheduling their classes," he said.
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