Faculty Spotlight: Dr.Kris Wood
Spring 2007
Arriving on our campus in 1989, Dr. Kris Wood came here to the Mechanical Engineering Department because of the balance between research and teaching. His interviews at UT made him feel that teaching was valued and he knew he needed to be at an institution that would encourage his lifelong goal of being a teacher. While in his own educational experiences, he didn’t always have outstanding teachers, but the ones he did have, left a lasting impression. Two of his professors at Caltech who were leaders in their field, were aptly competent at conveying information. Not that lecturing is all there is to good teaching, but it can leave a positive impression. Kris was fortunate to have an excellent mentor during his undergraduate days at Colorado State University and this professor’s insightful approach inspired Kris to not only go on in his schooling, but to set his sights on developing into a competent and passionate teacher.
Kris is a recognized teacher (he is a member of the University’s Distinguished Teaching Professors and has won numerous teaching awards). His mantra is, “While we convey a lot of knowledge to students in higher education, we are really here to help them learn how to learn.” He realizes that faculty need to motivate students and in doing so they will find out if students are intimidated or lacking in self-confidence that they are good enough to get it. In his class, team-based approaches are fundamental to encouraging students to help them think at deeper levels. He is an advocate of using specific approaches, such as the Kolb Model or the Six Hats Model, helping teams be more effective and to help them communicate. These approaches seem to make a difference and empirical evidence bears this out.
One of Kris’ passions is to determine complementary methods for teaching. One of his key teaching concerns has been how to motivate students. He is finding that providing students with active learning is making a difference. Any investigation activities and show-and-tells in the classroom help students to want to know why and to know more. In mechanics of materials or machine design classes, for example, many students struggle, and Kris is finding that active learning practices are not only motivating, but they are also effective.
While Kris is well known for his classes in engineering design and manufacturing, he and Dr. Richard Crawford are now teaching one of the freshman seminar signature classes called, The Engineered World: Innovative Products. This class, taught for the first time last fall, had students in diverse majors and was well received. The two aims of the course are to teach technical literacy to a general student body and to groom students to be scholars. As Kris noted, “We need to build a culture where students are curious and where they go and seek out learning.” His hope is that this type of thinking will become more ingrained in all UT students.
In his various teaching endeavors Kris has come to depend on the Faculty Innovation Center for its facilities and support. The FIC assists with his course materials as well as his books/resources. He has used the FIC to develop Websites and videos and to help with educational research projects. In a nutshell he says, “…it is terrific. I can’t imagine not having the FIC.” We can’t imagine not having Kris and his creative energy and we hope that more of you will take his lead and come meet with us.