In the first two decades of the 21st Century, higher education has faced several challenges including decreasing enrollments, emphasis on getting students through to graduation, remote teaching, and an increasing reliance on online teaching. These challenges raise three central questions: How has the role of the professor in student success changed? What characteristics does a teaching professor require? What influence does the professor have on student success? The two professor types identified by Polya (1973) can be categorized as the unengaged professor and the teaching professor. To clarify how the teaching of each type influences student success, a comparison of major characteristics of the two types are provided. Practitioners may find value in adding a self-comparison to these.