David Helfand
- See also Wikipedia's article about "David Helfand".
- See also David Helfand's entry in Columbia's directory.
David Helfand is an entertaining astronomy professor who soiled his good name by creating the less-than-entertaining Core Curriculum class Frontiers of Science to replace what had been a science distribution requirement. In 2009, Helfand stepped down as chair of the Frontiers program.
In 2011 it was announced that Helfand was taking an "extended leave" from Columbia to be president at Quest University in Canada, which he helped found. Like every toxic relationship, Hefland came crawling back in 2015, and now occasionally opens Frontiers of Science Lectures, also appearing in full Santa regalia around the holidays.