UNCSA's Wade Wilson receives Board of Governors teaching award for 2020
Wade Wilson, professor of sound design in the School of Design and Production, will receive a 2020 Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence, it was announced today by the UNC System Office. He is one of 17 faculty members – one from each of the UNC campuses – chosen to receive a $12,500 stipend, a commemorative bronze medallion, and special recognition by the university.
The Excellence in Teaching Awards were established by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors in 1994 to encourage, identify, recognize, reward and support good teaching at each of its 17 constituent institutions. Annually, each UNC campus honors several members of its faculty with campus-based Excellence in Teaching Awards and then forwards one name to the Board of Governors for the system-wide awards. Wilson was among six faculty members who received UNCSA campus teaching awards, as announced in January.
“Excellent teaching is the very foundation of a conservatory education. UNCSA students learn from master teachers who are experts in their fields, and Wade Wilson is one of our finest,” said Interim Chancellor Brian Cole. “We are very grateful for his mentorship of our student artists, and we’re proud to see him recognized with the UNC System’s most prestigious honor.”
Wilson has taught in Design & Production since January 2019, after teaching for 11 years in the School of Filmmaking. In both conservatories, he has leveraged experience as sound designer and editor for projects including “Shrek,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Madagascar,” “Elf” and “The Hunger Games” to emphasize hands-on projects , teaching skills that help students land jobs upon graduation.
“I employ real world, time-tested techniques and processes that I have developed over my career as a professional sound designer,” Wilson said. Hour-long lectures are immediately followed by practical two-hour labs.
“This schedule allows the students to rapidly connect to a practical application with the weekly lecture material, which, I think, accelerates the learning process,” Wilson said. “Students get beyond the technology at their fingertips and begin to perform as artists.
I ask my students to see themselves as sound designers; as sound designers to see themselves as storytellers; as storytellers to see themselves as artists; and as artists to see themselves as offering something profound and meaningful to the world.
Wade Wilson
“I ask my students to see themselves as sound designers; as sound designers to see themselves as storytellers; as storytellers to see themselves as artists; and as artists to see themselves as offering something profound and meaningful to the world,” he added.
A student who nominated Wilson for the award said, “Wade brought forth insight that helped me become a better filmmaker by simply telling a story through sound. Without this, I don't think I'd have the job that I have.”
Other students said Wilson is “an incredible teacher and mentor and his classes are some of the highest quality this school has to offer”; “the greatest teacher I have ever had”; and “the professor that all students wish to have.”
Wilson has received five Golden Reel Award nominations from the Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild. One of his most recent film projects, “Abundant Acreage Available,” was overseen by Executive Producer Martin Scorsese and won Best Screenplay at the Tribeca Film Festival.
He earned an Associate in Arts in liberal arts from West Los Angeles College. While at UNCSA, he has chaired the Film Editing and Sound Design Department and was assistant dean of post-production in the film school. He served as chair of the UNCSA Faculty Council and was appointed by the provost as director of interdisciplinary studies for the campus.
April 08, 2020