Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus has announced Bill Genereux, professor in the department of integrated studies, as this year's recipient of the Rex McArthur Family Faculty Award for excellence in teaching and research.
Genereux has been a faculty member at K-State Salina since 2004 and instructs classes for the campus's computer systems technology, digital media technology and web development technology degrees.
"I am honored and humbled to be receiving the Rex McArthur Family Faculty Award," Genereux said. "I looked at the list of past recipients of this award, and many of them are mentors and have encouraged me in my career. To think that I have received the same award as people that I look up to is a humbling experience. With this, I hope to be able to help other instructors win awards and advance their careers."
Some of Genereux's interest in technology was developed in the late 1980s while in the Navy. One of his first experiences with computer networks was helping to install a local area network for Macs and PCs aboard the U.S. Battleship Missouri, a skill that he still uses today.
Much of what he teaches involves instilling technology literacy in students and helping them learn more about working and living in a digital world. More and more of his instruction now consists of using cutting-edge technologies for telling stories to prepare students to be at the forefront of technological innovations.
While Genereux enjoys teaching students, he also finds the time to research how technology impacts society and helps students gain a constructive, helpful and optimistic vision of what it means to be a human being in the digital age.
He is interested in learning and writing about what we are giving up by letting machines and AI do the creative things that people enjoy doing, such as drawing or making art. According to Genereux, while the computer might be more efficient and can save time, creating art is ultimately a human activity to be enjoyed by humans.
"Much of what I have learned in studying for my doctorate is how technological advances cut both ways," said Genereux. "It gives society something that is cool but also takes something else away at the same time, and sometimes we tend to downplay the bad side of that.
Genereux added that he wants his students to think about the technology they adopt and what they are trying to achieve.
"If you want to be in the field of technology," he said, "you must be a lifelong learner, or else it will move right out from under your feet, and what you know will become obsolete."
Genereux, who lives in Clyde, earned an associate degree from Cloud County in 1997, a bachelor's degree in computer science from Kansas Wesleyan University in 1999, a master's degree in internetworking and telecommunications from Fort Hays State University in 2005, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a technology education emphasis in 2015 from K-State.
"Professors like Bill are what make K-State Salina such a good place to get an education," said Alysia Starkey, K-State Salina CEO and dean. "When you combine the knowledge from industry experience with the knowledge from innovative research and a passion for education demonstrated by our faculty, our students are being prepared to become the future leaders of tomorrow."
