Jeremy Wynia, an alumni from Wayne State College and current WSC instructor, gave insight into his transition into a professor and gave advice for students from his experiences. 

Wynia has been on staff for 10 years, and this is his second semester teaching at WSC. He also worked with at the Networking and Technology Services (NATS) station as the networking infrastructure and networking security person for his first years at Wayne.  

Wynia has three children, two of which are in Elementary school and the other being in middle school. He and his family enjoy playing videogames, his favorite being “World of Warcraft.” 

Wynia has enjoyed his time as an instructor. Although he is getting acclimated to being a professor, he finds that his schedule to be fitting for him and allows him to have more time with his wife and children. He originally wanted to be employed at WSC because that is where he graduated from, where he met his wife and where he wanted to raise his children.  

He admitted that originally, he was not sure that CIS was where he wanted to be in. It took convincing from a professor and exploring on his own to figure out what he wanted to do.  

“Well, there’s the old adage, find something you love and you never work a day in your life,” Wynia said. “So just kind of figure out what your passion is and kind of you have to do a little soul searching and figure out what you like doing. Don’t work [for] a paycheck, work for yourself.” 

Wynia also talked about how the transition to becoming a professor had its challenges, with one of the main differences being that public speaking is now a daily aspect of his job. He mentioned how he can still get nervous at times to speak in lectures and understands the struggle that students may have with public speaking.  

“We just have to come to the realization that the topic you are speaking on or presenting on and you are the subject master and you are the subject matter expert,” Wynia said. “That’s what I would say. So, they’re there to listen to you, you just give them your knowledge. You’re there to be that subject matter expert so be confident.” 

 “With significant enrollment growth in recent years, plus the growing importance of networking and cybersecurity to the needs of organizations and society, the CTIS department was looking for a faculty member with the right mix of theoretical background and practical experience, plus someone who could relate well to our students,” Tim Garvin, department chair for the Computer Technology and Information Department, said. “We were very fortunate to find that mix in Mr. Jeremy Wynia, who is already proving that he is a valuable addition to our faculty.” 

Jeremy had one more piece of advice for all students here at Wayne State.  

“Take some technology courses, everybody,” Wynia said. “It’s only going to help you moving forward. I mean to have some familiarity with IT. Computers and IT and all of those things are not going away so at least get an introduction into it.”