Educator of the Year

Farrow leads the way

By Seth Jovaag

John Farrow Affiliate director of Project Lead the Way-Wisconsin and professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Milwaukee School of Engineering

Bill Farrow never had a chance.

According to family lore, young Bill was still in diapers when his dad plopped him in front of the television to watch astronauts like Alan Shepherd and John Glenn make the first American space flights in the early 1960s.

Bill doesn’t remember those flights. But he’s never kicked his love of space — or the rockets that go there.

“Even before I can remember, my parents were busy forming me into an engineer,” said Bill, now a professor specializing in space robotics at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

That story’s probably no surprise to those who know Bill’s dad. During some five decades in academics and private industry, John Farrow — like his son, also a professor at the MSOE — has instilled the engineering bug in a lot of young people.

Most recently, the 70-something John took a new tack — he’s affiliate director of the state chapter of Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit group that aims to get kids hooked on math and science in their teens.

At a time when most people’s careers are winding down, John — who is Wisconsin Builder’s 2006 Educator of the Year — is working hard to keep a grassroots program rocketing upward, said Karen Wilken, program manager with the Kern Family Foundation, which coordinates PLTW in Wisconsin schools.

When John started with PLTW in early 2004, only a handful of public schools in Wisconsin were signed up. Now more than 90 participate, Wilken said.

While all the credit shouldn’t go to John, his credentials as an engineer raised PLTW’s stature around the state. He’s invaluable as a liaison between the university system and public schools, Wilken said.

Beyond that, his work for PLTW — including classroom visits and coordinating the rigorous summer training sessions for teachers of the PLTW curriculum — is always carried out with enthusiasm, Wilken said.

“John loves plugging into those late-bloomers or underachieving students,” Wilken said. “He loves to motivate students to take harder math classes and to understand the everyday uses of math.”

Apparently, he’s been that way for decades.

“He’s the perfect person to talk about engineering,” said Hermann Viets, president of the MSOE, where John is a past department chairman. “I’ve seen him teach advanced classes of college students ... and give a talk about engineering to 7-year-olds. He can do it all beautifully. He really captures the essence of how to make it useful to students.”

At MSOE, John teaches mechanical engineering, though he earned degrees in electrical engineering. His career started as an engineer for the Naval Academy and included stints teaching at Marquette University, 20 years in the electric industry and a three-year term on the Public Service Commission. Ten years ago, he was named Engineer of the Year by the Engineers and Scientists of Milwaukee.

“He’s got a tremendous amount of experience,” Viets said. “He’s a very valuable teacher and a very valuable person.”

John is married to former state Lt. Governor Margaret Farrow, and they have five children — all boys.

Bill, whose early days watching astronauts evolved into a career studying, among other things, advanced planetary robotics, said his dad’s urge to teach — rather than focus on research as many professors do — is always apparent.

“He’s much more about getting students involved,” Bill said. “He wants to put more time and effort into the classroom than anywhere else.”