{"id":2872,"date":"2012-04-03T15:01:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.web.unc.edu\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2024-07-02T13:28:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T13:28:16","slug":"bill_kier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=2872","title":{"rendered":"Professors with Passion: Bill Kier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Enchantment is the word UNC biologist Bill Kier uses to describe his love of the subjects he teaches. And a shared sense of enchantment is what bonds him to his students.<\/p>\n<p>[youtube]http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Av8GlN8G1Aw&amp;list=UUtWAPF8RlSqd6kkVPqAyJNg&amp;index=2&amp;feature=plcp[\/youtube]\u201cI think the process of watching students understand some concept or gain some insight that they\u2019ve never had previously is very exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cSeeing them gain enthusiasm for some of the same topics that I feel great enchantment for is also just delightful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From comparative physiology to comparative biomechanics, Kier teaches classes involving complex processes that may seem counterintuitive. To ensure his students fully grasp the concepts, he employs visual demonstrations in the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat has been great fun through the years,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I can find a particular demonstration for the class that illustrates a principle, often it makes a huge difference in terms of the students\u2019 understanding of that concept.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through understanding comes appreciation, and through appreciation comes the shared sense of enchantment that makes his work all the more fulfilling.<\/p>\n<p>Kier has been teaching in UNC\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences since 1985, and he currently serves as chair of the biology department.<\/p>\n<p><em>Professors with Passion is a video series spotlighting outstanding teachers and scholars in the College of Arts and Sciences throughout 2012.\u00a0 If you know a professor who deserves to be in the spotlight, contact Dee Reid, director of communications, at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:deereid@unc.edu\"><em>deereid@unc.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[ Text and video by Mary Lide Parker \u201910 ]<em>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enchantment is the word UNC biologist Bill Kier uses to describe his love of the subjects he teaches. And a shared sense of enchantment is what bonds him to his students. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-natural-sciences-mathematics","category-undergraduate-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45209,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions\/45209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}