RWC Professor Bill Marsh, of the Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science, was presented with the 2005 RWC Distinguished Teaching Award at a ceremony on April 29.Marsh has been a teacher of Mathematics here at RWC for 38 years, since 1967, when the college first opened its doors. He came here after teaching for seven years at public schools. He was Chair of his department here for 16 years.
Associate Dean Don O’Meara introduced Professor Marsh by saying, “Just think, for a moment, of how many lives Professor Marsh has positively impacted during his 38 years of teaching here on this campus, and how many lives, in turn, his students touched as a direct result of the knowledge Bill imparted to them.”
Dean O’Meara added that Professor Marsh has had a profound impact on the college’s programs. Not only has Professor Marsh served Raymond Walters students, but he was also acknowledged for his involvement in key college-wide committees, including the Executive, Long Range Planning, Curriculum, and Scholarship and Honors committees.
“For all the leadership he provides Raymond Walters,” Dean O’Meara said, “Professor Marsh is a teacher first and foremost and in this capacity, he has distinguished himself, indeed.”
Professor Chuck Emenaker, current Chair of the RWC Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science Department, was also in attendance at the ceremony. He acknowledged the outstanding teaching accomplishments of Professor Marsh by saying, “Students regularly make comments to me that Dr. Marsh is an exceptional teacher and I have never heard a single comment about Bill that is anything less than glowing.” Professor Emenaker also stated that, “It has impressed me that when one student makes a positive comment, several other students will voluntarily provide additional support to Professor Marsh’s skills in teaching.”
Fabio Santos, RWC Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Department, also had nothing but wonderful remarks to make about Professor Marsh. “Dr. Marsh’s extensive knowledge of curriculum development and experience in the classroom become a vital resource for the design of our new business statistic program, and, on several occasions, he gave important feedback for the creation of the new statistics course, the modification of existing courses and the best way to deliver them to our student population,” Santos said.
Dr. Marsh commented on his teaching style. “I always try to give practical illustrations for the concepts that are presented,” he said. “I believe students can better grasp the concept if it’s a real-life situation so I try hard to explain the meaning of it and put it in words they can understand.”
Dr. Marsh enjoys seeing the solutions that his students provide for everyday problems. “I also enjoy interacting with my students and getting feedback from them that they understand what I’m teaching them,” he said.
Dr. Marsh advises other teachers and professors to continue learning all they can and always seek better ways to make the subject matter easier to understand. “The more you learn yourself, the more illustrations and real-life applications you can present so students who come from many different backgrounds can make sense of it,” he said.