Wikipedia:Notability guidelines everywhere
 | This is an essay on notability. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
You want to create an article about your professor, and you're wondering whether they are notable. So, being a moderately experienced wikipedian, you trundle across to WP:N. Sadly, your prof hasn't been the subject of significant published work. But wait! WP:PROF has your back. While expressed in the terse words of policy, what you need to remember is that, if (but only if) an article satisfies any relevant notability guideline, it is notable. And there are plenty of notability guidelines.
- Guidelines are inclusionist - satisfying any notability guideline means that the article is notable.
- lack of standalone notability - once an article is notable, you're free to write about any aspect of that article. Indeed, it is encouraged to do so. So, your professor is an avid mountaineer. On its own, that's not notable. But, if you have sources, you now have more content for their personal life section.
- at least one guideline should be met - say your prof has published papers, but they've not been cited by quite enough other people to be notable by WP:PROF. Now, your prof has been awarded an award, as per WP:ANYBIO - but it's not that well known. Well, sorry, nearly meeting more than one guideline doesn't cut it. However, you could always head to WP:VP and try and get consensus there.