& with Dr. Terry Pilling Dr. Terry Pilling’s career has taken him all over the world. He currently serves as the dean of the School of Engineering at Mary, but before that, he lived in many places, including Canada, Australia, London, Hawaii, and Russia. Pilling was instrumental in the creation of the School of Engineering, helping write the curriculum, recruit the professors, and design the building. Get to know our resident rocket scientist in this issue’s Q&A.
How did you end up at the University of Mary? When I was working for a wind power company, I had bought a house in Mandan, a Victorian Queen Anne house built in 1895, and I spent the last ten years restoring it. One day a man named Kirk Lanterman knocked on my door and told me his grandfather had built my house and asked for a tour of it. While we were talking, he asked how long I had been in the construction business because of my work in the house. I told him I wasn’t in the construction business; I was a physicist in engineering physics. He said, “Do you think you could start an engineering program?” and told me he was on the Board of Trustees at the University of Mary. He took my name back to the board, and they ended up hiring me in 2015. What are some of your hobbies? I love restoring my house, and lately, I’ve gotten into cooking. I like reading and writing, especially poetry. I enjoy fly fishing and riding my Harley-Davidson as well.
Pilling kept journals of his thoughts and ideas while beginning the School of Engineering.
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Wow, that’s a lot of hobbies! What do you think your students would be most surprised to learn about you? They’d probably be surprised I ride a Harley! And that I write poetry. Also that I worked at a high-security nuclear physics lab in the middle of Russia. In fact, they’d probably be surprised about a lot of things that I’ve done.
