Visiting professor of geography William Bailey has been part of the Auburn family for 22 years and has found a way to impact students of all majors.
"I have had contact with many different professors from different backgrounds, but none like William Bailey," said James Chapman, senior in software engineering. "He has made the absolute greatest impact upon my academic career, and more importantly, upon my life."
Chapman said Bailey shows interest in his students outside the classroom.
"He has valuable knowledge from many of his past experiences that he can relate to the class material to make it easier to understand and draw parallels to," said Cody Blair, senior in accounting. "He also takes numerous measures to ensure that his students succeed in all of their classes, not just his, as well as their out-of-school activities."
Bailey said he is strict about attendance, but tries to make classes interesting for students.
"I think there are things you can do other than exams, especially in big classes," Bailey said. "You get the multiple choice test and there's a right answer and wrong answers, no in-between, although life is in between."
Chapman said he enjoys Bailey's unique teaching style.
"His classes are really great," Chapman said. "I don't have to take geography, but I took his intro class one semester because I needed to make a good grade in a class and I thought it'd be a good class to do that in. I was so interested that I took another class, and I plan on taking more until I graduate."
Blair said he looks forward to Bailey's classes.
"It has a different atmosphere than many of the other classroom environments," Blair said. "Bailey's teaching methods are a little different than most of the other instructors. I always feel as though I have learned something new when I leave."
Bailey said he tries to style his classes differently from the usual lecture format.
"I try to have a conversational style of teaching," he said. "I don't just get up there and lecture or read them the book."
Bailey came to Auburn in 1989.
"I was an elementary school principal in Rabun County, Ga., and I got a call from my major professor at Tennessee who said he wanted to recommend me for a job at Auburn," Bailey said. "I said, 'Well, you know, I'm really happy where I am.' I thought I might even want to retire there. Nevertheless, I came down."
At the time, the geography department was looking for someone in geographic education who could also teach in liberal arts.
Bailey stayed from 1989 until 1996, and he then worked in consulting in Auburn until 1998 before moving to Atlanta to retire.
Bailey said he has enjoyed being a visiting professor the last four years.
"Each time they offer it I think about it, and it's an easy choice," Bailey said. "Who knows? They need to hire somebody full time. I guess once they do that, they'll change the situation. I'm enjoying it in the meantime."
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