Dr. Alicia Wyatt

Dr. Alicia Wyatt, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, remembers exactly when her life changed course.

“I was at Texas Tech in the 1970s in the school of business,” said the 2005 winner of the Lola and Gordon Bennett Award, given annually to McMurry’s outstanding professor. “I was a key punch operator.”

When the business major saw where the computer pioneers were working, she knew her life’s work was going to change directions.

“When I saw that main frame and learned to exchange messages on a teletype machine, I knew that’s what I wanted to work with computers,” she said.

She also made another career-changing decision: she changed her major from business to education.

“I have a strong service ethic,” she said. “I wanted to serve. I couldn’t see myself spending my life focused on generating profit.”

Dr. Wyatt’s service has been to help students use technology to further their education. What excites her is seeing technology go from something only a few can use (as it was in the late ‘70s) to something almost everyone can use to their advantage.

“I find that technology levels the playing field,” she said.

One of Dr. Wyatt’s current projects is evaluating an open-source course management system called Moodle. With Moodle, students can keep up with their coursework, communicate with the professor, turn in assignments and check to see what else is happening in class that semester outside of class or without ever having to leave their homes. For non-traditional students, especially parents with small children, the system is a god-send. She is also assisting a colleague with podcasting lectures to Dyess students stationed in Iraq. Podcasting is a technology that students could use to make audio content available to listeners over the Internet. Dr. Wyatt would love to podcast chapel services and public announcements from social clubs or academic organizations.

“Doesn’t that sound like a great class project?”, she asked.

Like any good student, Dr. Wyatt gets many of her ideas from other places and adapts them to her own needs. It’s a philosophy she shares with her colleagues.

“The idea is to train the trainers,” she said. “Once you have a few people in each department who are comfortable with technology, it helps provide support for everyone else.”

Toward that end, Dr. Wyatt was the driving force behind an annual McMurry event each May, Geek Week. For three summers in a row, McMurry faculty members shared technological expertise and strategies. Another Geek Week is in the planning stages for 2006.

“Sharing across disciplines creates a wonderful synergy,” she said.

It is difficult to pigeon-hole Dr. Wyatt into any one category. She loves technology, but she loves teaching more. She loves teaching, but certainly it is accurate to describe her as a life-long student. Perhaps she gives her own best description.

“I see myself as the middle cog in technology,” she said. “I am successful when students and faculty members take it and run.”

Promoting technology is something dear to her, but not just for technology’s sake. The real benefit she finds is in helping students or in helping instructors help students. Right now, one of her favorite technologies is something called a Tablet PC—a mobile computer which is pen enabled or can be used as a laptop. A person can actually write or sketch on it and download, save, or print the notes. Currently, almost 40 faculty members have a Tablet, but Dr. Wyatt looks forward to getting these into the hands of students.

“That would be my dream,” she said.

There will be a dream after that, and another following that. Her office speaks to her interest in technology, with an abundance of wires, cables and devices. There appears to be enough to keep her busy for as long as she cares to keep working.

“I’m never bored,” she said. “There’s always something new.”

And always something that will grab her attention the way those enormous computers did three decades ago.