Dr. William ‘Bill’ Kraus—He’s Not Your Average Professor: Rock DJ, City Manager, Educator, and Champion for Adjunct Faculty

This article originally was published in the Motlow Buzz.

Dr. William ‘Bill’ Kraus—He’s Not Your Average Professor

Tell me a little about yourself, so our readers can get to know you and what you do here at Motlow?

Answer: “I have been here 13 years as an adjunct professor in political science, as well as teaching First Year Experience. I have also been associated with the Writing Center since 2015, as well as an embed tutor in several English classes. I currently serve on the President’s Leadership Council and was very humbled to receive Adjacent Faculty Member of the Year in 2017. (Out of 400 faculty members across the four campuses, Dr. Kraus received the award in this field.) I also serve as one of two advisors to student government here at the Smyrna campus.”

Question: What made you want to teach in the political science field and in the areas of state and local government?

Answer: “I have been involved in all aspects of government and politics for most of my professional life, including serving as city manager for six California and Tennessee city governments ranging in size from 5,000 to 100,000 citizens; managing a wide range of health, community and professional nonprofit associations on a national state and local basis, which required significant political advocacy on behalf of my occasions; and teaching both on a part-time and full-time basis at a number of colleges and universities since 1974. Having more than 22,000 student subjects, to ‘quote the Kraus humor.’” (If you look at Dr. Kraus’ personal email address, you will note he is referred to as “Wild Willy,” a title he earned in his early life as the top rock ‘n’ roll disk jockey in the state of Hawaii.

Question: What do you like about Motlow?

Answer: “I have been with Motlow State since the time our student body at Smyrna numbered in the hundreds. We did not have a campus, but met in several classrooms at the Tennessee Army National Guard facilities. Throughout this period, I’ve been extraordinary impressed and excited about the overall abilities, dedication and excellence of our students. I have the opportunity to compare them with those men and woman in other colleges that I teach at or have taught at in the past, and I will say without reservation that Motlow students are indeed second to none.”

Question: I heard you say Hawaii. How did you end up all the way over there?

Answer: “I enlisted in the United States Naval Reserves, and my active duty placed me as the public information officer of a naval air station there. I had been in radio as a news director and an announcer throughout my undergrad years, and shortly after arriving in Hawaii, I went to the first radio station in Honolulu listed in the telephone book and asked if they needed any part-time help. After determining that I had the appropriate certification, I was told that I would be on the air in 15 minutes… My new name would be Wild Willy and that I would be working for the top rock station in the state.”

Question: How long did you serve?

Answer: “I served in the reserve for six years, in which two were of active duty, all in the beautiful area of ‘pineapple, sugar cane and surfing.’”

Question: What made you decide to leave the sand and surf and come here to Tennessee?

Answer: “Originally I spent most of my life in California. It was about 15 years ago that we moved to Tennessee, for our daughter (Jennifer Kraus), who has been a news anchor and reporter for Channel 5 for nearly 25 years. Jennifer was having a growing family, and when her second child was born, shortly after he went into a coma and was in critical condition at Vanderbilt. After a long four days and a miracle drug, he came out of the coma and has been fine the rest of the years. However after this traumatic time, Jennifer suggested to my wife and myself that we should live closer as a family and that the house next door to her was coming on the market. To please her, we went to check out the house, and 15 minutes later said we will buy it. The rest is history!”

Question: What brought you here to us at Motlow?

Answer: “Prior to coming to Tennessee and not knowing what I would be doing once we came to the Volunteer State, I sent out resumes and letters of interest to many colleges and universities in the area. I was immediately hired by Vanderbilt University, as well as Austin State, while assuming the position as city manger of Oak Hill (in Davidson County). It was two years later that I got a call from Motlow State replying to my earlier interest… and here I am.”

Question: What advice would you give on being successful in life or in a particular area?

Answer: “Very simply, always be optimistic… happy… look for the best in people and opportunities, and always have a plan B!”

Question: What would you say is your favorite quote?

Answer: (I love how Dr. Kraus put the following… his Writing Center background really shows through with his answer!) “I like to paraphrase Henry Ford’s quote: Coming together is a beginning, working together is progress, and achieving together is success!”

Question: So you mentioned being very active in the political field. How does English tie into that and your work here at the Writing Center?

Answer: “Writing and verbal communications are the book ends of life’s success. If you can verbalize well, and write well, you will be two steps ahead of most. In the Writing Center, I don’t only look for language structure and appropriate grammar, I want to encourage everyone to be creative and share more than just what they read or what they quote.”

(When I asked Dr. Kraus if there was anything else he would like to add, he told me this: “Future… I live day to day, moment to moment and look back at the end of each day and ask myself, did I make the lives of others a little brighter and a little better… most hopefully I can achieve.” I think we could all learn something from these wise words.)