Jeopardy! To Host Tournament of Professors

Jeopardy! will hold its first-ever Professors Tournament next month when host Mayim Bialik puts instructors from 15 colleges and universities through the answer-and-question paces.

Airing on consecutive weeknights beginning Monday, December 6, the champion prof will be determined on Friday, December 17.

See the list of competitors below.

“It was an unbelievable thrill to see so many brilliant professors from all kinds of schools and backgrounds come together on the Jeopardy! stage,” Bialik said in a statement. “There was a sense of kinship and academic camaraderie among the group, along with a healthy dose of competitiveness. That energy made this inaugural Professors Tournament incredibly special.”

The 15 professors will compete for a $100,000 grand prize and a spot in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

The roster of competitors and their schools is:

• J.P. Allen, a Professor of Business at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, Calif.
• Hester Blum, a Professor of English at Penn State University in University Park, Pa.
• Sam Buttrey, a Professor of Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
• Marti Canipe, a Professor of Elementary Science at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.
• Lisa Dresner, an Associate Professor of Writing at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
• Ramón Guerra, a Professor of English, Literature, and Latino Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
• Gautam Hans, an Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tenn.
• John Harkless, an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
• Ed Hashima, a Professor of History at American River College in Sacramento, Calif.
• Gary Hollis, a Professor of Chemistry at Roanoke College in Salem, Va.
• Alisa Hove, a Professor of Botany at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C.
• Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders, an Assistant Professor of U.S. and African American History at University of Colorado-Boulder in Boulder, Colo.
• Katie Reed, an Associate Professor of Musicology at California State University Fullerton in Fullerton, Calif.
• Deborah Steinberger, a Professor of French Literature at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del.
• Julia Williams, a Professor of English at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.