Barry Wills remembered

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

From March 26th's Daily Bulletin

Barry Wills, a member of the University of Waterloo's first graduating class of engineers and one of the University's longest-serving faculty members, died March 18 at the age of 74.

Wills, who was a systems design engineering professor, retired in 2006

Barry Wills
after 42 years with the Faculty of Engineering.

At the time of his retirement, Wills actually had 48 years of connection to the university under his belt: he arrived as an undergraduate student in January 1958, and graduated in July 1962 with the first class of Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) recipients, along with future Waterloo faculty members Jack Kruuv, Bill Lennox, and John Roorda, who had arrived on campus either in early 1958 or with the original first class in July 1957.

Wills completed an academic hat trick at Waterloo, completing all three of his degrees ('62, '63, '68) in electrical engineering. He pursued his master's degree under the supervision of Basil Myers, the first head of electrical engineering, and did his PhD under the supervision of Peter Roe.

A specialist in systems modelling and simulation

 After he completed his master's degree, he signed on as a demonstrator in the Faculty of Engineering in 1964 and became an assistant professor in 1968, joining the newly-formed department of systems design engineering. Wills was a specialist in systems modelling and simulation, and became deeply involved in the use of computer-aided learning technologies and in engineering education.

As associate dean of engineering for computing in the 1980s, he set up the first fully-equipped computing labs for students in engineering. He also helped establish the Engineering Education Research Centre to improve Waterloo engineering education through the use of technology.

He coordinated the fourth-year systems design workshop for many years, and taught many of the courses. He also helped organize the original Shad Valley summer program for high school students in 1982. He served on numerous university committees and was systems design engineering's associate chair for undergraduate and graduate affairs.

Wills was also an accomplished jazz pianist, having paid his way through university by playing gigs with a number of bands. He could be heard quite frequently in noon-hour jazz recitals in the chapel of Conrad Grebel College. He would often urge his students to take time out from their engineering classes to attend concerts or check out art shows.