I’ve never worked at just one job in my entire life. That’s just who I am.” Bill Post was a counselor for the Delaware Department of Corrections for 28 years. He’s also worked with private nonprofit drug and alcohol treatment centers, group homes for autistic children, homeless shelters, and a Sussex County food distribution program. He served two terms as mayor of Milton, Delaware, where he’s played a part in the town’s historic preservation efforts. At WilmU’s Dover and Georgetown locations, he’s been introducing students to psychology and sociology for nearly four decades.
Human behavior, that’s what my focus is. Given the nature of what I teach, there’s not much that I teach that doesn’t apply to what I’ve done. — Bill Post
The new college try. “I didn’t start out with the goal of being an educator. At a cocktail party, someone affiliated with the college asked me, ‘Can you teach a class?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, but I can try.’ I’ve been here ever since.”
Never stop learning. “I taught online for the first time last year and it was a learning curve for me. I still have a lot to learn.”
William Post | College of Social and Behavioral Sciences since 1982
The forest in the seed. “Do you know how many students I’ve taught? After this long, it’s in the thousands. One of my biggest rewards is when I see students go out and have impact. People I taught here are doing things with their lives, and there’s a part of me in that. That’s rewarding to me.”
Difference and discourse. “The multicultural classroom is so different from the one I started in. We can use that as a resource. Everyone has something to offer the class. If you don’t understand them, it’s probably because you don’t know who they are. But as people share their stories, it gives everyone a different perspective on each other.”
The purpose of education. “There’s more to this than getting a job. Your life is an organic experience, and education is a piece of that. My whole role is to help them use that education to have a better life.”
The right reason. “If you’re not teaching because of your students, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. We’re not getting paid large amounts of money here.”
Service and the self. “My life has been about service to other people. When you help other people, you’re helping yourself. I’ve become a better person through my teaching. I’ve learned a lot about myself. It’s helped me become more and more of the person I want to be.”
— David Bernard