Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/James R. Barker (2nd nomination)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Withdrawn. Drmies (talk) 17:47, 20 October 2021 (UTC)

James R. Barker
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A PROD was denied earlier without explanation, though a faculty page was added--well, that's not enough. NPROF says notability can come from a named chair at a major institution, but there is no doubt that any school in the Anglo world will claim to be major one way or another (shoutout to my homeboy who is a named chair at a university slightly less mediocre than mine), and there is nothing here to suggest the chair is notable--whoever Herbert S. Lamb was, he's not notable, and he's not even mentioned on Dalhousie University. Besides that, it's just another academic CV (written in precisely that style) that's been here for a decade, with no evidence that the person ever had an impact or published/researched something that was noticed by critics. Drmies (talk) 02:32, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletion discussions. Lightburst (talk) 02:45, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Education-related deletion discussions. Lightburst (talk) 02:45, 20 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Comment. It doesn't matter whether the namesake of a named chair is notable. The reason holding such a position qualifies for NPROF C5 is because it demonstrates the university has deemed the recipient highly distinguished among his peers. Whether this reliably corresponds to externally-recognized academic prestige is a matter of discussion for the NPROF talk page, but the guideline as it currently stands indicates he is notable enough for a biography. JoelleJay (talk) 03:43, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * And Dalhousie is definitely a "major university"--in fact, any one of these criteria would probably qualify it: in the top 20 research universities in Canada (and a member of the U15), 200 years old, has almost 20k students, has a medical school. JoelleJay (talk) 03:56, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep the faith in the university system, JoelleJay, and how a charitable foundation can bestow a name on a "chair". Drmies (talk) 04:59, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * I never said I agreed with the reasoning behind C5 (almost more math profs at my university hold named or distinguished professorships than assistant, associate, and full profs combined...) or what constitutes a "major university". I'm just saying that you are not going to get far in deleting an article on someone who explicitly meets an NPROF criterion (maybe even two, depending on the prestige of his chief editorship). JoelleJay (talk) 05:31, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep. Passes WP:Prof and more. Xxanthippe (talk) 04:40, 20 October 2021 (UTC).
 * Keep. I have the impression that business schools in particular have almost as many named chairs as law schools, out of proportion to the distinction of some of their holders, but in this case he also has heavily cited papers and an editor-in-chief position at a journal notable enough to have an article here. Unless we're going to deny the whole premise of having a separate notability criterion for professors, he easily passes multiple criteria. And the nomination statement more than hints at snobbiness rather than at being grounded in policy. —David Eppstein (talk) 06:06, 20 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep. Very clearly passes WP:PROF #5 as holder of a named chair at a major university (which Dalhousie obviously is), whether you disagree with the criterion or not. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:08, 20 October 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.