Because these professors vary so much in how they intimidate students, it is nearly impossible to rank them. Also, their subjects cover such a broad range that comparison is difficult. One commonality: All are tough.

Another quick note, because some students are scared by some of these profs, some students who contributed to this story asked not to have their names included. That's understandable, right?

Seymour Byman, History: Byman prides himself on Socratic teaching, that is, playing the devil's advocate to stress active learning. He is aware that this can be intimidating. "I have been on this list many times," said Byman. "I decided a long time ago that I was going to try to teach actively, pushing the students to work hard at learning. I believe in active learning, which means I can get in the face of students." He requires written essays every day and lots of reading.

Said Val Karsten, a junior: "He has high expectations. And if you don't live up to them, he lets you know." Karsten said students never know when they're going to be called on: "You better make sure you do the readings because the one day you don't will be the day you get grilled."

Emilio Degrazia, English: Like Byman, Degrazia stresses a devil's advocate role in teaching. Sometimes he confuses students at first as to where they were going with their point. Also like Byman, Degrazia is hardly physically intimidating. It's intellectual intimidation, and it doesn't stop in the classroom. Running into him in the hall can be as intimidating as running into the Incredible Hulk.

"Looks can be deceiving, but I see myself as Mr. Rogers rather than Vince Lombardi," Degrazia said. "Perhaps students require entertainment with their learning these days, and dread can be entertaining. You see it in the movies and news all the time. So maybe I'm fulfilling an educational need out there by tuning into what it is that students really feel."

Karen Cochenour, a senior in English and education, said Degrazia tried to shake her Christian beliefs in his Classical Mythology class. "He would reword what I said or what I believed in so I wouldn't know what I believed in anymore," said Cochenour. "I almost felt like he wanted to hear what I had to say, just so he could bash it. I could've been misreading him though." Cochenour held on to her beliefs but only after plenty of questioning and rethinking.

Degrazia's unsettling style was apparent some years ago when he learned he was going to be on a campus Most Dreaded Professor list. What's it mean? he wanted to know: "I suppose I'd also ask what's so dreadful about the Dreaded Profs," he said. "Do they look too, too weird? Are they personally abusive and obnoxious? Do they assign dreadful amounts of work? Are the grades they dole out radically lower on average? Or do they send shivers because they challenge students to examine given assumptions and change their way of looking at things?"

Vartan Safarian, business: Sometimes you can tell how intimidating a prof is by how many drop the class. "The first day of class, even before he went through the syllabus, he said something to the effect that the previous semester 30 people enrolled in the class and at the end of the semester there were nine," said Matt Michalowski, a junior in management information systems. "I dropped it immediately and took it with Wolfmeyer." He recognized five students from Safarian's class in Wolfmeyer's the next day.

To some students it's Safarian's seriousness on first impression that scares them. He rarely smiles. At the first class, he immediately gets down to business with a syllabus that lays out an incredible workload.

Colette Hyman, history: Hyman takes a kind of pride in being taken as intimidating. She said she was excited about being on this list. "I get those comments on a handful of evaluations every semester," said Hyman. "I think the main reason is because I expect students to think on their feet. That's what part of college education should be about. If you leave here unable to do that, we've failed."

Hyman does not accept rote textbook answers to questions, even if they may be correct. She wants students to examine the issue at hand fully and be ready to back up what they are thinking, so she can see the line of reasoning. To her, that is real learning.

Hyman partly attributes the fact that she is a female to her intimidation factor. If a man behaved the way she does, it wouldn't come off as intimidating, she said: "It's really something that baffles me and continues to be of interest to me."

Marjorie Dorner, English: Dorner, an accomplished novelist, knows not only her literature but she's wise about life. Her accomplishments and her knowledge, as well as her manner, leave many students in awe. She has published four novels as well as a collection of short stories. One novel is a made-for-TV movie. "She has that aura of the all-knowing college professor in the way she speaks, perfectly choosing and articulating each word," senior English major Sarah Mensink said.

As a professor, Dorner is approachable, although some students are nervous they may say the wrong thing and feel as though they have failed her. "I think her intelligence makes her intimidating, although she's really not after you get done with one class with her," Mensink said. "It's difficult to approach someone with a question when you know the answer is completely simple and obvious to him or her."

Asked to comment on being on this list of intimidating profs, Dorner smiled and walked away. That ended an interview that never started.

Gloria Chuang, music: Like with Dorner, Chuang is seen as as intimidating at least in part because of her significant accompishments. Chuang was graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in piano performance from Julliard School of Music, the be all and end all of music education. Said one student: "She's just a fabulous performer and when I go to her recitals I think to myself, I will never be that. I think she's intimidating because of how good she is."

Cindy Killion, masscom: Asked why many students consider her intmidating, Killion said: "I think it's because I'm a big woman. I'm tall, and my voice projects. I can bark pretty loud, but I've never bitten anybody." Killion walks with authority, often charging into the classroom to begin lecturing. She runs her class as if it were the real world, addressing her journalism students as reporters or editors, not students. She is tall, and, as she likes to put it, she takes up her space, not backing down for anyone, not shying away from being who she is. She has high expectations and makes sure everyone is aware of them within the first week, shaking up some students from the beginning. "I want it clear that I have certain expectations and perimeters," said Killion. "I think I'm a tough, fair professor that you can learn a lot from -- and if I'm intimidating, so be it."

Very aware of her gift of intimidation, Killion can see both sides of the coin, the pushing of students as well as the fear she can instill in them. "I think it's unfortunate because sometimes I really do intimidate them to the point where they don't venture into my office and I can never help them," said Killion. "But the students who do venture in, realize there's a whole other reality going on."

John Vivian, masscom: Although he's a masscom prof, many non-masscom students face Vivian while taking a general education survey course on the mass media. Students get to face a handful of intimidation. Not only has Vivian written the leading textbook in the field but also journalism books that are used by many of his fellow profs in the department. That alone sets him up to be intimidating. Let's face it, he wrote the book.

Whether it makes sense or not, a rule among many college students is never take a class with a prof who has written the textbook. But in the case of many masscom students, they don't have a choice. "I think he has this air about him, which he deserves to a point because he has earned a lot of respect," said Jill Edwards, senior studying public relations. "But as a professor, he needs to be more at the students' level, especially in Mass Media and Society, which is taken by a lot of freshman as their first encounter with him.

Vivian is well known for his Mass Media Law, an advanced course in which he has extremely high expectations. "I very purposely took law while he was on sabbatical," said Edwards.

Fred Lee, polysci: Many students find Lee intimidating because of his unpredictability. Stories about Lee are legion, like coming to class without shoes on. For students who find comfort in predictable behavior, Lee's occasional bizarre approach can foster intimidation. One student said she dreaded being called on in class. When Lee asks a question, he is looking for one particular answer, and if you don't know it, you better pray he doesn't call on you, she said.

Mark Wrolstad, finance: Many students hold off until their senior year to take Wrolstad's required corporate finance class, "hoping to survive it" before graduation, Students sometimes feel overwhelmed by the amount of material. "I cover more topics than some of my colleagues," said Wrolstad. "I have high expectations for both myself and the students. I really care about my students and their future success, so I stress understanding rather than just memorization."