Phil Wood's updated classification talk

Today’s speaker was our own Phil Wood who gave an updated classification talk which included his sabbatical year adventures. Phil began by telling us how he had spent a happy 31 years at McMaster University – first as a Professor in Chemical Engineering, then in academic administration as Director and Chair in Chemical Engineering and then Associate Dean of Engineering. In 2002 he made a career change to AVP of Student Affairs, a non-academic post responsible for developing students as growing citizens and running a wide range of services such as residences, athletics, food, career services. Some of his happiest moments were in sport – hiring coaches, winning a Vanier Cup ring and broadcasting Marauders Basketball.

In July 2013 he began a year’s sabbatical with a trip to the UK, seeing many famous sites and attending a wedding best described as “like Downton Abbey”. Another trip to California involved visits to Stanford and Caltech, both impressive institutions.

Phil is now back to more serious work while on sabbatical, participating in the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, developing methods to assess learning outcomes.

Phil ended by previewing our club speaker program for the next few months – he is lining up some prestigious speakers on very interesting subjects.