The challenge of facing Parkinson's has not slowed the pace of innovation in the courses of Carroll School of Management accounting professor Pete Wilson, who has been honored in many ways as a master teacher. He thinks about his teaching鈥攁nd just about everything else in life鈥攁s 'the journey from me to we.' (Tony Rinaldo)
On a Monday afternoon, Professor Pete Wilson motions toward a large screen in Fulton 130 displaying an accounting problem that needs to be solved. The class is Introduction to Financial Accounting, taken mostly by first-year students, and Wilson is presenting them with a knotty question about how the air carrier JetBlue accounts for its long-term leases. Wearing a brown suit and floral tie, Wilson looks out on the curved lecture room with rising seats and says abruptly鈥斺�淕o!鈥�
The decibel level rises as 45 students break into small groups, racing to solve the problem. They had prepared for class by examining a Wilson-created case study of a fictitious firm (鈥淏usy Beaver Woodwork Company鈥�) and its accounting entries for leases. That taught them the applicable concepts鈥攁nd in many courses, that might have been enough. But during class, Wilson pushes his students to apply those concepts to a more complex real-life situation. It鈥檚 his way of upping their game.
After just a minute of debate among the student team members, Wilson calls the class back to order. No one has an answer. So Wilson lectures a little more and then invites the groups to convene again. This time, when the brief discussions conclude, a young man in the front, sporting a black T-shirt and green cargo pants, serves up solid numbers and the reasoning behind them. Wilson smiles and gives high-fives to members of that group.
G. Peter Wilson鈥攈older of the Joseph L. Sweeney Chair in Accounting at the Carroll School鈥攃ame to Boston College in 1997, having taught at the business schools of Stanford, MIT, and Harvard. Over the years, he has been honored in many ways as a master teacher. In August, he accepted the inaugural Innovation in Financial Accounting Education Award at the American Accounting Association鈥檚 annual meeting. At that same gathering, he also received the J. Michael and Mary Anne Cook Prize for "superior" teaching at the graduate accounting level.
Wilson does not hide the honors: gracing several bookshelves in his fifth-floor Fulton Hall office are crystal, silver, mahogany, and other varieties of award clocks. And yet, the professor isn鈥檛 the most lenient grader when it comes to his own performance in class. Wilson鈥檚 way of thinking about his teaching鈥攁nd just about everything else in life鈥攈as to do with what he calls 鈥渢he journey from me to we.鈥�
When asked about the undisputed view that he鈥檚 a great teacher, he disputes the point: 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not true,鈥� he says. By way of analogy, Wilson says that he considers himself a 鈥渧ery good鈥� husband and father but that he has a 鈥済reat鈥� family. 鈥淚鈥檓 a very good teacher, but I have great classes,鈥� he says, noting that students are held largely responsible for the success of his classes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about us, not about me.鈥�
Wilson adds, 鈥淵ou have to say it for years before you believe it. And then you wake up one morning and say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do this without them.鈥欌�� He believes it鈥檚 a lesson for not only professors but also students who, in his classes, do much of their work in teams.
For more than a decade, his professional 鈥渨e鈥� has included his wife, Carolyn R. Wilson. In 2002, Carolyn鈥攚ho had held senior positions in accounting at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies鈥攖eamed up with her husband to launch the multimedia website . It is 鈥渁 free portal for accounting educational content for global educators and learners, including corporate and self-learners,鈥� according to its 鈥淎bout鈥� page. The website includes video lessons consisting of PowerPoint-style slides and voice-over by Wilson. It is used by his students at Boston College as well as others around the world.
Seven years ago, Carolyn officially became an unpaid lecturer at the Carroll School, focusing mainly on the use of technology, such as interactive clickers, in Pete鈥檚 classes. Her role has expanded as Pete鈥檚 famously animated stride across the classroom has become a little slower, his chirpy voice a little softer. Wilson lets his students know on the first day of class that he is struggling with Parkinson鈥檚, not to gain sympathy but to make them feel comfortable. 鈥淭hey know that if I mumble, they could ask me to repeat something,鈥� he says. He wears a lapel mic in class and no longer needs to write on the whiteboard because Carolyn is operating the screen.
These challenges