Although it might not be wise to mention it during a salary review, being in the classroom doesn't feel like work for William Montgomery. “Sometimes, I catch myself saying, out loud, ‘I can't believe I'm getting paid to have this much fun.’ I've never wanted to do, and cannot imagine doing, anything other than teaching.”

William graduated from Baylor in 1992. He then earned a degree in English from Johns Hopkins University and taught English, world religions, and math at St. Paul’s School for Boys in Baltimore for two years. He returned to school to earn a master’s degree in Eastern classics from St. John’s College and then taught English, again in Baltimore, at The Bryn Mawr School. He returned to his native Chattanooga in 2001, and for the ten years before he joined the Baylor faculty, William was an instructor of English, history, and religion at GPS.

“When I was growing up, my teachers made me feel safe and welcome, and they introduced me to the power and beauty of learning. Among those stalwarts were Heather Ott, Floyd Celapino, Sue Ramsey, John Bradford, Park Lockrow, Ginnie Harris, Lewis Rush, Schaack Van Deusen, Jim Stover, Bill Cox, Perry Key and Grant Wood. I model much of what I do on what they did for me.”

William is married to another of Baylor’s great teachers— history instructor Heather Biebel. Their son, Lake, was born in 2008; their daughter, Lila, in 2010. William and Heather both enjoy snowboarding, rock climbing, backpacking, riding road bikes, and reading, and they look forward to sharing their interests with their children.

William is delighted to be back at Baylor, which he says is unlike any school at which he has studied or taught. “It is not a school but a home, an amazing thing to consider. Not only do people live, work, and learn here, but folks are married here and buried here; children are born onto and into this campus. And one of Baylor's greatest traits is its ability to welcome the humanity of its family members in all of its beautiful and mischievous forms.”

Appointed 2010

Written by Rachel Schulson, 2010