A conversation with Professor John Spevacek. John Spevacek, an assistant professor of engineering at Wake Technical Community College, remembers the university of 1990. That was the year he got his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. In response to my piece “Higher Education Change in 35-Year Increments,” John emailed me with his recollections and thoughts. Having enjoyed reading John’s email, I asked if he’d expand on his thinking in a Q&A.
A conversation on university change with a professor who graduated in 1981 from where he teaches today. How many of you work at the institution where you were once a student? Charles Bailyn, a professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, was an undergraduate there from 1977 to 1981. This personal history puts Charles in a good position to consider how higher education has changed over the past few decades.