Will Peebles, professor of music at Western Carolina University, has been named one of the best teachers in the University of North Carolina system, earning praise for helping students discover how to teach themselves.

Peebles (right) is among 17 recipients of the UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The award will be presented at a recognition luncheon May 9 in Chapel Hill. Winners receive a commemorative bronze medallion and $7,500 cash prize.

A faculty member at Western since 1992, Peebles teaches bassoon and also is director of the recently formed School of Music within the College of Fine and Performing Arts. He has taught courses in music theory, history and world music.

Peebles established Western’s Low Tech Ensemble, which now performs on Balinese, Javanese and Sundanese gamelan, in fall 1999. A gamelan is an orchestra of tuned percussion instruments that consists mainly of gongs, zithers and xylophones.

The educational activities that Peebles’ students experience while learning to play the gamelan provide a perfect example of Peebles’ teaching philosophy and his goal of teaching students to teach themselves, said WCU Chancellor John W. Bardo.

“When students walk into Professor Peebles’ gamelan class, they immediately take off their shoes, sit on the floor amid varied parts of an Indonesian orchestra and begin practicing. Students not only play their parts, but also assist each other, work to correct troublesome spots and ask insightful questions,” Bardo said. “It is clear that the group is discovering how to learn for themselves, take each others’ leads and try new things.”

Peebles said that he is firmly committed to helping students see learning as “one of the most enjoyable activities yet discovered by the human species.” Toward that objective, Bardo said, Peebles teaches music history classes in story-telling mode, where “weaving threads of narrative is more important than memorizing specific details.” In one assignment, students pretend they are musicians from a specific historical period, and they write about the types of music they encounter.

Peebles’ consistently wins rave reviews from students on faculty evaluations. “His presentations were always so interesting that I was disappointed that the class was over,” one student wrote. He also has a reputation for being one of Western’s most accessible professors, because he has an open-door policy, frequently dines with students, and hosts regular study sessions.

“He is so available that one student commented, ‘You could ask Will a question in the middle of a hurricane, and he would stop and answer you,’” Bardo said.

Peebles earned his bachelor’s degree in social work in 1979, master’s degree in social work in 1980, master’s degree in music in 1982, and doctoral degree in musical arts in 1994 – all from Michigan State University. He is a three-time recipient of WCU’s James Dooley Excellence in Teaching Award, and a past nominee for the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Peebles and the 16 other UNC system award recipients, representing an array of academic disciplines, were nominated by special committees on their home campuses and selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Personnel and Tenure. The awards will be presented by UNC President Erskine Bowles and Board of Governors Chairman Jim W. Phillips of Greensboro.

Established by the Board of Governors in April 1994 to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the university, the awards are given annually to a tenured faculty member from each UNC campus. Winners must have taught at their present institutions at least seven years. No one may receive the award more than once.

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Last Modified: Thursday, April 24, 2008