Professor Knight

Professor Derek Knight is a supporting character in Disney•Pixar's 2013 animated film Monsters University, the prequel to the 2001 film. He taught Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan as their Scaring 101 professor in Monsters University.
==Background==
===Official Description===
:"Professor Knight teaches Scaring 101, the introductory course to Scaring at Monsters University. With hundreds of new Scare students each year, Professor Knight must weed out the weak from the talented and identify who shows the most potential to be real Scarers. Only a few have what it takes to pass the formidable final exam and move on to the elite Scaring Program."New Character Posters – Meet the Monsters of Monsters University
===Personality===
Professor Knight is shown to be a firm but fair teacher, although he puts great emphasis on the nuances of scaring through his teachings. He wants to make sure his students are well-educated and are fully ready to be scarers. He therefore commends those who work hard (such as Mike) and looks down on those who don't utilize scaring to the best of their ability (such as Sulley).
===Physical appearance===
Professor Knight is a monster whose design resembles a dinosaur. He has orange skin with a yellow underbelly and black claws. He wears glasses, a white shirt, and striped tie that comes with a tie clip.
==Appearances==
===Monsters University===
Professor Knight introduces the new class of monsters to Scaring 101 at the beginning of the semester; particularly, he advocates that he has high expectations for the students to take scaring seriously. Suddenly, Dean Hardscrabble arrives in the class, startling Knight, to inform the students of the program's crucial final exam and the consequence of getting removed from the program should they fail. Once she leaves, Knight recollects himself and opens the class to a discussion question, which one of his students, Mike Wazowski, is about to answer before being interrupted by the arrival of Sulley into the classroom. Learning that Sulley is the son of Bill Sullivan, an accomplished scarer, Professor Knight praises having a Sullivan in his class and tells the students they can learn something from Sulley, much to Mike's frustration.
As the semester goes on, Knight switches his approval from Sulley to Mike: Mike is doing extremely well on the course's tests and practices due to the fact he takes Scaring seriously and puts in passionate efforts to become a Scarer. Meanwhile, Sulley's academic performance is falling since he doesn't take the material seriously or even bother learning anything he doesn't already know, towards which Knight expresses disappointment by telling Sulley "One frightening face does not a scarer make, Mr. Sullivan." Once the students reach the final exam with Hardscrabble present, Knight is shown looking forward to Mike's performance. But an argument between Sulley and Mike occurs before Mike's turn, which gets Hardscrabble's prized scream canister broken. Although Knight tries to speak on behalf of Mike, Hardscrabble kicks both students out of the scaring program.
Shortly after Oozma Kappa wins the Scare Games, Professor Knight congratulates Sulley on his team's victory as he looks forward to having Sulley back in the program; his statement guilt-trips Sulley into confessing to Knight and Hardscrabble that he cheated in the game's final round, causing Hardscrabble to expel Sulley from the university.
During the credits, a Scare Card of Professor Knight is shown, revealing that he was once a scarer at Fear Co. before retiring and becoming a teacher at Monsters University instead.
===Monsters at Work===
Professor Knight appears in the first episode of the series to oversee Tylor Tuskmon's Scaring Finals test and hand him his job acceptance letter from Monsters, Inc. signed by Mr. Waternoose. Unfortunately, this coincides with the immediate aftermath of the film's ending and the beginning of the company's switch to laugh power, rendering Tylor's degree and Scarer training useless.
==Trivia==
*Professor Knight's name might possibly be an homage to the 1800s paleontologist , who was famous for his reconstructions of dinosaurs and other extinct life.
**His design also loosely resembles the outdated, yet iconic dinosaur reconstructions illustrated by Knight.
==Gallery==
===Screenshots===
Monsters University - Professor Knight (1).jpg
Monsters University - Mike attempting to be scary.jpg|Professor Knight with Mike
Monsters University - Professor Knight (2).png
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Monsters University - Professor Knight (9).png
Monsters University - Professor Knight (10).png
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Monsters University - Professor Knight (13).png
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===Miscellaneous===
Professor Knight transparent.png
Professor Knight in MU comics.jpg|Professor Knight in MU comics
Professor Knight's ID card.jpg|Professor Knight's ID card
==References==
Category:Pixar characters
Category:Monsters
Category:Males
Category:Adults
Category:Characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Reptiles
Category:Professors
Category:Monsters, Inc. characters
Category:Teachers
Category:Mentors