New to UT this fall is Dr. Bill O'Brien with the Construction Engineering Project Management group in the CE department. While new to the College, Bill isn't a beginning professor - he spent the last five years at the University of Florida, but the opportunity to join UT's highly ranked CE department and live in Austin enticed him to relocate.
Bill comes with industry experience as well. After completing his doctorate at Stanford, he worked for a construction-oriented Internet company in Boston before he became an assistant professor at Florida. He entered academia because he believes it is "the best place to make an impact," and the ability to integrate research into instruction (the connecting of two worlds) enables him to "make things real for students and keep teaching fresh."
Bill's initial impressions are that the College values teaching. During orientation, David Dolling impressed upon the new faculty the need for "a balanced approach to teaching and research." And Bill is seeing that the College offers support to help you to be successful in the classroom. He attended both the College and campus-wide new faculty orientations and he felt that these events sent the message that "the University places importance on teaching." He heard President Faulkner say that the "mission of UT is about educating leaders." Bill was impressed with that sentiment and shared that notion with his students the first of day of class.
We've already had Bill come by the Faculty Innovation Center to take a closer look at his class and get some insight from us. Bill has a conversational style and brings excitement and wonder into his classes. He likes to communicate to his students that he cares about learning, and he makes a point to share the "why" of a topic. He is also curious about the College's videoconferencing capabilities because he'd like to explore teaching with a colleague at another institution.
We extend a warm welcome to Bill and look forward to helping him educate leaders.