Wayne Willis
Elementary Education
Degree: Master of Arts in Education
Dr. Wayne Willis is a professor of education and chair of the Department of Professional Programs in Education at MSU. He is in his third year as chair, and previously served as Interim Dean of the College of Education and Assistant Dean to four deans.
His Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma is in the historical, philosophical, and social foundations of education, and he is co-author of two scholarly books, Motivation, Engagement and Educational Performance: International Perspectives on the Contexts of Learning with Julian Elliott, Neil R. Hufton, and Leonid Ilyushin, and the forthcoming book Contemporary Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives on Moral Development and Education (edited with Dan Fasko). He also wrote and illustrated a children’s picture book, This Is How We Became a Family.
As a teacher, Dr. Willis tries to help students put contemporary educational issues into their larger social context by exploring parallels from the history of educational thought. Though some of these concepts are difficult to grasp, students report that he has a knack for making them clear and interesting through use of a combination of storytelling, Socratic dialogue, and lectures.