Hiker. Teacher. World traveler. Professor. All these words describe Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Kris Wiley, but one word stands out above them all.

Mentor.

Stepping into Wiley’s office, it’s not hard to determine his attitude and personality from the artifacts that lie within: multiple movie posters plastered on the walls, Indian candy sitting in a small dish and of course, the two furry companions favored by all the students in his classes, his dogs: Rose and Pepper.

Unfortunately after this semester, his office will be only an empty room. Wiley will be saying goodbye to Drury and taking a leap of faith into the unknown. He’s chosen to take his expertise to Virginia, but specific plans remain up in the air.

The path to academia

Education wasn’t always in the books for Wiley. A native of Springfield, Wiley graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in English and General Sciences.

“I pursued the idea of teaching in multiple ways, including teaching certification,” said Wiley. “Instead I got these dual degrees and spent several years landscaping and selling sleeping bags and even delivering pizza, until two of my teaching mentors from my childhood came to me and said if I’m going to ramble about the nation, why don’t I just become a teacher.”

Wiley took the advice to heart by coming to Drury and graduating with his Master’s Degree in Gifted Education in 2001. He spent the next several years working with gifted middle schoolers before marrying his wife, Jennifer.

The couple spent two years in Ukraine with the Peace Corps, teaching English to Ukrainian teachers before returning home in 2007, when Wiley returned to teaching at the Springfield Scholars Program. Wiley decided to pursue his Doctorate in Gifted Education from the University of Charlottesville in 2009 and graduated in 2013.

“When I started looking around for positions to take, I enjoyed the idea of coming home to Springfield,” said Wiley. “I had a colleague here at Drury, Dr. Janie White, who had actually taught me during my certification course.”

“Dr. White was preparing to go on sabbatical and delayed her sabbatical by a year so that the university didn’t hire anybody new,” continued Wiley, “and I came here to fill her position when she retired, and this is my fifth year here at the university.”

Student reflections

When Dr. Kris Wiley came to Drury University in the fall of 2013, nobody could have known just how much of an influence he would have on the students he taught, and the faculty that he worked with.

“Because I’m trying to fit so many things into a four-year program, it was crucial for me to have a really detailed plan from the beginning,” said Junior Laura Brasier. “What I always tell people is that Dr. Wiley worked tirelessly with me on my four-year plan.”

“Dr. Wiley is the kind of professor that everyone should have a chance to be taught by,” said Sophomore Ian Orlich. “The investment that he makes in the well-being and betterment of his students is a quality that not all educators possess.”

A future beyond Drury

Dr. Wiley has achieved much during his life. Aside from the Peace Corps, teaching at the university level and his wide variety of jobs, Wiley has even hiked along the Appalachian trail from Georgia all the way to Maine: a startling 2,200 miles that took him six months to complete.

“You know I don’t want to say that my bucket list is ‘done,’ but I’m definitely putting it on hold,” Wiley said when asked what he wanted to do next.

Wiley continued, “Eagle Scout, international travel, I’ve worked a variety of jobs. Teaching has been a thrill. But right now it’s time to focus on the other members of my family and make sure that they are fulfilling parts of their bucket list.”

Wiley also puts a lot of consideration into his spouse’s career.

“When Jennifer and I got married fourteen and a half years ago, my career path kind of defined what we did,” said Wiley. “It’s time for me to take a step back and allow her and her career to just start running at full speed.”

The Last Lecture

On Thursday, March 29, Wiley gave his “Last Lecture,” a Drury tradition based around the best-selling book by the same name written by the late Dr. Randy Pausch, a former professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Sitting in the well-populated lecture hall and watching as Wiley stood in front of the room, the students were overcome with a strong sadness and shock when Wiley announced that this would be his final semester at Drury; a fact that of which, up until that point, they had not been aware.

During the lecture, Wiley gave the audience the advice to “Hike their own hike,” and he was willing to elaborate further on the subject here.

“Having taught CORE 101 and 201, in addition to upper-level education coursework and graduate level coursework like the capstone paper, one of the fundamental tenants of the Drury University education is the ability to think critically,” said Wiley.

He especially values humility in an academic setting.

“We drill that over and over again and it’s essential, but something that I’ve picked up in my conversations with Dr. Panza is if all you do is take students and drill them in the ability to critique, you’re begging them to critique everything.”

Dr. Chris Panza, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Strategic Planning and Data Analysis for Drury, is one of Wiley’s closest colleagues.

Final thoughts

“We live in a time and place where we are invited to critique everything. Everything we see our opinion suddenly matters, and we have the ability to show these opinions to everybody we meet”

Wiley values intellectual introspection and the ability to recognize in ourselves that we can know something without knowing everything.

“It’s never that you have the full weight of opinion on something or you should shut up about it; instead let us negotiate this space and say ‘oh I know this about that, but it’s not conclusive.’”

Wiley gave his one last valuable piece of parting advice.

“If we feel like we need to pass judgement on every little thing, we’re going to kill ourselves and we’re going to be ineffective when we need to make our opinions heard.”

Article written by Ryan Smith