作者:大卫·辛普森

It takes a lot to slow Bill 奥因斯 down.

bet8体育娱乐入口教育领导学资深教授, 奥因斯 loves conveying tricky classroom concepts, 指导研究生攻读学位，并为他出版的书籍和研究论文增加了数量.

“Higher ed is the best job in the world,” he said.

但去年年底，他的主动脉瘤变大，足以威胁他的生命. 奥文斯在一月初做了心脏直视手术，在恢复过程中，他已经退出了本学期的教学.

Even so, things are moving along. 他和他的学术合作者兼妻子莱斯利·卡普兰(Leslie Kaplan)正在撰写另一本书. 4月8日，他获得了国家教育财政研究院颁发的终身成就奖.

4月17日，他将成为2023年春季教务长聚光灯的贵宾. 由教务处和教师发展中心主办, the event will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at University Theatre, with a reception to follow.

教务长的聚光灯是一个机会，听到杰出的教师谈论他们的生活和工作的问答形式. The event includes an introduction by Austin O. Agho, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and an interview conducted by Annette Finley-Croswhite, 学院发展中心主任和历史学教授. 

聚光灯下, 奥因斯 will have a chance to talk about his life and research, which focuses on school finance, principal quality, teacher quality and student achievement. He knows his subjects up close, having been a public-school teacher, high school principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of schools.

“Dr. 威廉·奥文斯(William 奥因斯)一直站在我们理解财政资源如何在教育系统中再现不平等的前沿,” said Shana Pribesh, chair of Educational Foundations and 领导. “在教育领域贡献了超过50年的时间. 奥文斯已经改变了校长和学校部门领导的日常生活, as well as 学生 and families, through his research and professional service.”

奥因斯, who's retiring June 1, 在教务长重点报道之前回答了ODU网站登录的几个问题. The conversation has been edited for length.

First I should ask: How are you doing?

Modern medicine is a miracle. I don't know if you know much about aortic aneurysms. Your aorta is the largest artery in your body, and when you get an aneurysm, it's like a bubble of weakness in a balloon. 他们必须更换3英寸长的升主动脉，它承载着两条大动脉，一条通往大脑的右侧，另一条通往大脑的左侧. 然后他们不得不更换主动脉瓣因为它在渗漏, because everything was so enlarged. 于是我们9岁的孙子说:“爷爷，他们要把你怎么样??我说, "What they're going to do is cut out part of my aorta, 缝一根漂亮的花园软管，然后插两根吸管进去, 一条通往我大脑的右侧另一条通往我大脑的左侧, and replace the valve. And he said, “Oh, that's all?"

That's your inner teacher coming out. You know how to explain things clearly and simply.

That's what I tell my Ph.D. 学生. I've chaired 30 dissertations, and when they turn in their first draft, they're using all these 50-cent words. 一篇好论文的目的不是证明你比一个五年级学生聪明. 目的是用五年级学生能理解的方式来解释一个复杂的问题. So that's what I tell all of them, and it's worked so far. 在这30人中, 今年我有三个论文获奖者——一个来自美国教育研究协会，两个来自国家教育金融学院.

What steered you toward education?

I started out as a pre-med student. I wanted to be a dentist. My parents went to this fellow named Dr. 我父母去购物的时候，他让我和他住在一起. 他让我把汞合金、水银和银混合起来做填充物. 作为一名小学生，听到牙医说:“嘿，你想帮我?” – I said, “I really like this.” I got to stay in there if the patient would let me. We worked on them, and I thought, “Wow, this is cool. 你所要做的就是钻洞，把这些垃圾填满，然后赚钱.“但不知何故，和平运动和所有这些东西触动了我, 我说, “I could make the world a better place one tooth at a time. 但我可以让世界变得更美好，一次一间教室的教育, and that would have an exponential effect versus a tooth.“所以我转到了英语专业，因为我是那种像喜欢文学和历史一样喜欢科学和数字的奇怪的人.

What's your philosophy of teaching?

I'm a cognitive constructivist. 我认为你要做的是建立在以前的学习基础上，让学生真正参与其中，感兴趣，并看到他们与你所教的内容的相关性, and building relationships in that process. 如果没有这些，如果学生不知道你真的关心他们，他们就不会关心. 也, I infuse humor into my teaching, because when you say, OK, we're talking about finance and numbers, people go "aaaaaah!“所以我认为注入幽默是很重要的，这样他们就不会害怕你要教的东西.

Talk about your wife’s role in your academic life.

My wife and I work together as a team. 我要说的是，我写的大部分文章都是关于她的. 我们写的所有书，17本书和70多篇文章，都是我们一起完成的. And what I do with all my Ph.D. 我让他们在论文提案答辩之前见我一两次，他们必须经历整个过程, 然后他们在我和莱斯利面前做提案答辩，这样就会有另一双眼睛来关注我可能忽略的意外问题. Leslie has her doctorate from William & 玛丽, 和我一样，她也是一名英语老师——一名高层校长, 在她2006年退休之前，她是一位区级的管理员——她一直在和我一起全职写作. And that's where all these articles came from, and books. But then the same thing for their dissertation defense. The 学生 meet with me two times, 然后他们又和我们俩见了四五次，当着我们的面做论文答辩. So they are really well prepared for each of them.

What has ODU meant to you?

ODU has allowed me to grow exponentially as an academic. 他们在我的研究中，在我的会议演讲中帮助支持我. And truthfully, they left me alone to do it. 很少有人回头看着我说:“哦，好吧，你为什么要这样做?” You know, micromanaging. 我正在取得成果，我得到了完全的支持，不受打扰. I really, really appreciate that.

What are your plans for retirement?

I'm going to spend more time writing with my wife. I feel like we're making a contribution. I think we're good at it, and I love it.