Browse Professor Quotes

I consider myself a pretty avid tree-hugger.
—Dr. Shafer, RPTS 402 (Park Planning & Design) prof
I know you guys go home and curse my name. That doesn't make me feel warm & fuzzy all over.
—Dr. Carol Albrecht (SOCI 205 prof), explaining that she doesn't like handing back bad test grades.
God, tell me why we don't have a Krispy Kreme here. Houston's a long way to drive to get a damn doughnut.
—Dr. Petrick, RPTS 202 (Foundations of Tourism) prof
How many people, even for a brief period, were having a leisure experience?
—Kathy Haras, RPTS 311 (Recreation & Tourism Programs) prof, on playing a game in class
I think I'm having a maple leaf moment.
—Kathy Haras, a Canadian RPTS 311 (Rec & Tourism Programs) on why we have no idea what she's talking about.
Everybody has their quirks, and mine is my 14-year-old cat
—Stephanie West, RPTS 301 (Leisure & Outdoor Recreation) prof, on why shy bought a $100 litter box
I'm not saying every surfer smokes dope.
—Stephanie West, RPTS 301 (Leisure & Outdoor Recreation ) prof
You know, this thing is frustrating, because the other day, I had my slides zappin' in, and they didn't zap.
—Stephanie West, RPTS 301 (Leisure & Outdoor Recreation) prof
Hyperghettoization is no fun.
—Dr. Albrecht (RPTS 340 - Recreation, Parks, & Diverse Populations)
Imagine--Adopt Your Own Ass
—Dr. Kaiser (RENR 375 prof) on possible names for a donkey adoption program
Tennessee furnished more Texans than any other state in the Union.
—Dr. Buenger (HIST 416 prof)
It's the kind of thing for a future horror, kill all the teenagers type of movie.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) on trees with large thorns.
Think of your mucus membranes as a tropical rainforest.
—Dr. Kaiser (RENR 375 prof)
Nothing is absolute, particularly in nature.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301)
If you look around behind you, you won't see a post-anal tail.
—Dr. Bickham (WFSC 302) on characteristics of Chordates
Academic politics are quite nasty because there's not much to fight about.
—Dr. Dunlap (HIST 106)
Our creeks in Texas are mostly dry...unless it's raining.
—Stephanie West, RPTS 301 (Leisure & Outdoor Recreation) prof
Hitler gave Anti-Semitism a bad name. One of his few public services.
—Dr. Dunlap (HIST 106)
Have you ever heard the song 'Poke Salad Annie'? You're better off if you haven't. It's a terrible song.
—Dr. Manhart (BOTN 301) on uses of Pokeweed
x is irrational if and only if x is not rational.
—an undisclosed Discrete Math prof
An inbreeder doesn't mean getting together with your cousin.
—Dr. Manhart (BOTN 301) on plant breeding systems.
You live in Treehouse Apartments...You're BBQing...You could be pushing up daisies.
—Dr. Kaiser (RENR 375 prof) on the risk involved in living near train tracks
You spend $80 to get out of the doghouse, and all you get are a bunch of dead angiosperms!!
—Dr. Greenbaum, Biology 114, Intro to piology
Men are drunken louts.
—Dr. Buenger (HIST 416 prof)
You would've thought we were a mafia family.
—Dr. Kaiser (RENR 375 prof) on his last family reunion
If you're thinking you wanna become a binge drinker, wait until your late 20's or early 30's.
—Dr. Ellen Toby (Stat 302) on the ability to process alcohol in different age groups.
Don't write any of this down. I might be about to make a mistake.
—Dr. Smith, MATH 447, Topics in Analysis
The only federal regulation for passenger comfort is that a given percentage not barf during a flight.
—Dr. Valasek, AERO 401 - Aircraft Design
Engineers are supposed to understand codes and math, not love.
—Dr. Strouboulis, AERO 430, Numerical Simulation
you think this stuff doesn't make sense? try learning all the screwy things about this country
—Dr Strouboulis, AERO 430, on preparing for his citizenship test
We have not gone back to the sexual morays of the 1950's--even with Ronald Reagan.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, on social acceptance of sex in the 1960's
These trees are actually outlawed in some cities because of what could happen if you run into one of them. I mean, it's sad enought running into a tree, but to be impaled on one of these thorns...
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) on trees with large thorns.
Wear only pleated trousers! Abandon all spices!
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106, on how the Indians were forced to "become white"
The anthers are like males in general--they do their thing & then split.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) on plant reproduction.
Humans...we reach a certain point and we stop growing and we just get old.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) comparing trees (which never stop growing) to people
There will always be such coefficients, except sometimes there won't be.
—Prof. Bichtler (calculus prof at UT)
What you need to do when you get out of here is start a nursing home with Grateful Dead symbols on the outside...pipe in rock music. The market is there! You need to get into it!
—Dr. Dunlap (HIST 106) on the aging of Baby Boomers
You may think you've been attacked by a shark when really you've just been snacked upon.
—Dr. Bickham (WFSC 302Natural History of the Vertebrates) on shark behavior.
You're eating a ripened, expanded ovary wall.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) on eating fruit.
George Bush was given 2 choices, & each was worse than the other.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, on the Gulf War
We know what sin(1/x) looks like. But what does xsin(1/x) look like? We squish the squigglies down. That's mathematical terminology.
—Dr. Vogel, Math 409
We're all just fleas on top of the Tomato Soup scum.
—Professor Christopher Mathewson Geology 320, explaining plate techtonics
We're trying to recreate Scotland in Texas. Who's getting fooled?
—Professor Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History), on lush green golf courses in the middle of Texas's dead grass.
You, too, can join the onward and upward march toward scientific discovery! All this, of course, in capital letters.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History), on the 1800's
You'd have to stick the flower up your nose & snort it.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301) on goldenrods as the cause of allergies
It was a very sad event for me. Bit I was getting water in the basement, so there was a decision that had to be made there.
—Dr. Judy Chester, on having to cut down a tree in her yard because it was cracking her foundation
If you make a time machine, don't go back 500 million years without taking a spacesuit or some sunscreen or something.
—Dr. Bickham (WFSC 302 Natural History of the Vertebrates prof) on prehistoric weather conditions
I've had this beard since July 22, 1970, which is the day after I got out of the Army. And even if I wanted to shave it now, I can't. My wife has seen pictures of me without a beard and said she'd divorce me if I shave.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof
The Bureau of Reclamation finds that it has a problem--namely, World War II.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History) prof
Plants are sloppy about sex.
—Dr. Manhart (Botany 301)
As you can see, the extra payload capacity would add $7 million to the cost of the airplane. Is it really worth $7 million to carry an extra 100 pound weapon from here to Austin? ... Hmm, actually, it is. I need to use a better example.
—Dr. Valasek, AERO 401 (Aircraft Design)
I don't care if you believe in Darwin. I don't care if you believe in a 6-day creation or that evolution is a process God used to set things up, or that evolution proves that there is no God, or that the world is sitting on the back of a turtle, and that one is supported by another turtle and it's turtles all the way down. I just want you to learn about the Theory of Evolution
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History)
Have you ever noticed that profs wear really ugly ties. I noticed that yesterday in class.
—Jonathan Greene, PHIL482 TA (Engineering Ethics)
During World War I, Europe had lost a lot of its agricultural sector. All their farmers were in trenches shooting at each other. They were not raising wheat.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History), on reasons for American agricultural success
I wouldn't piss on General Westmoreland if he was on fire.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, on Vietnam War leadership
You know, it's about as hard as opening a car door at 80mph... Don't look at me like you've never done that. Oh come on, live a little.
—Dr. Valasek (AERO 401, Aircraft Design)
This ruins more family Christmas dinners than some of the dishes that Grandma insists on serving every year.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, on debates over the Vietnam War
For those of you who are intimidated, don't worry. Scientific studies have shown that women putting on the same uniform as you doesn't decrease your sperm count.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, on women in the Corps
There is no required text for this course. We couldn't find one expensive enough, so we decided not to have one.
—Prof. Hodges, RENR 201 (Computer Applications in Agriculture)
If you touch your back, you'll notice that you can't touch your spinal cord. That'd be bad if you could.
—Dr. Bickham, WFSC 302 (Natural History of the Vertebrates) prof
I can binge drink a lot easier than y'all can.
—Dr. Ellen Toby (Stat 302) on the ability to process alcohol in different age groups.
I don't care what he calls me, 'cause in 6 months, he's gonna have to call me long distance.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof, quoting one of his friends during the Vietnam War who was being ridiculed by an officer
There's nothing like getting splatted by a bird who's just eaten a bunch of mulberries.
—Dr. Manhart (BOTN 301)
Depends on whether you like toxicity or flavor.
—Martin Terry (Botany 301 TA) on preparing Poke Salad.
Well, you see here, in an internal combustion engine, somewhere inside of it, something combusts.
—- Professor Darcey AGSM 201 on what an internal combustion engine is.
If you throw safety out the window, all sorts of good things happen.
—Dr. Valasek (Airplane Design) talking about how to increase range and payload for an aircraft.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to prevent people from fleeing from the Communist paradise.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 106 prof
You can imagine how mcuh you'd want to expand if you suddenly had 5000 pounds of pressure removed from you.
—Dr. Judy Chester, GEOL 101, on why rocks expand when they get to the earth's surface.
We're doomed! Doomed! Doomed! Well, maybe. We'll see what happens.
—Dr. Dunlap, HIST 359 (American Environmental History) prof
Just when everybody starts to get wild & crazy, the Federal Reserve comes in & takes the punch bowl away.
—Dr. Dunlap (HIST 106) on controlling economic booms & deflation