HOPE Award winner loves job
McBride continues weekly review sessions for engineering students
Since coming to teach at the University of Kansas in 2003, Edward McBride has been a valuable asset to engineering students in and out of the classroom.
By Jeff Deters
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
On Sunday afternoons, Edward McBride doesn’t watch a lot of TV. He instead leads review sessions for classes that he doesn’t teach.
McBride, lecturer in civil, environmental and architectural engineering, was one of two recipients of this year’s HOPE Award.
Photo by Katherine Loeck
Edward McBride, instructor in Engineering, is the 2007 recipient of the Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator. McBride was nominated for the H.O.P.E. award in 2005, 2005 and 2006.
“It’s an ego trip,” McBride said. “I mean, you work yourself to death for these kids and they reward you. I mean, if they didn’t appreciate it, it would be most disappointing. But they do appreciate it, obviously, and that makes it very, very rewarding.”
In addition to his Sunday review sessions, which last an hour or two each, he also has one review session during the week. It is not uncommon for more than 30 students to attend each session. McBride said preparing for the review sessions was time consuming because he had to work through many different concepts, formulas and theories. But he said he was comfortable teaching them because the fundamentals of mathematics and science were the same for each subject in the field of engineering.
McBride grew up in Lawrence and earned his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in engineering mechanics from the University of Kansas. After college he spent 20 years working in the engineering industry and later worked as an independent consultant.
His consulting business struggled after 9/11, and McBride was ready to retire. On a trip back to Lawrence he talked with some members of the department, and they encouraged him to teach. He began teaching at the University in 2003 and was nominated for the HOPE Award the last three years. McBride’s father and former engineering professor Edward Sr. also won the award in 1974.
Grant Taylor, Aurora Ill., junior, has been going to McBride’s review sessions for about two years now. He took statics class with McBride and said the teacher was not afraid to challenge the textbook and that he was a very deserving choice for the HOPE Award.
“I don’t think it could have gone to a better professor,” Taylor said.
Erin Lewis, Fort Scott junior, has been attending the review sessions since she was a freshman. She was a student in his thermodynamics and fluids classes. She said McBride was enthusiastic about teaching, and the award was a reflection of how thankful the students were to him.
“We really respect him,” she said. “It’s awesome that there’s a teacher you know you can go to get help on just about any subject.”
Next semester McBride plans to have review sessions again on Sundays and said that was something students could expect from him in the future. “That’s why these kids voted for me,” he said. “They appreciate it. That’s neat. You feel like you’ve done something worthwhile.”
— Edited by Luke Morris
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