Looking back on his thirty years as an IAA instructor, Roy Walls, who retired in October 2020, said that he hoped his students and colleagues would think well of him. He need not worry.
Just ask any of those who have encountered Walls since he began teaching IAA students in 1990. “We were lucky to have him,” says IAA alumnus Dan Hofmeister (’96). “Roy’s a memorable, great teacher, and you could tell that he really enjoyed what he did.”
What did Walls do at the IAA? Alumnus Brian Hogan (’14) thinks a better question might be: What did Walls not do? “We [students] gave him a nickname: Mr. Everything,” Hogan remembers. Walls did everything from serving as a one-man help desk for the IAA’s information technology needs to teaching courses such as Fundamentals of Agricultural Mechanics, Landscape Construction, Surveying & GPS Applications, Power & Machinery, and Computer Applications. Moreover, Mr. Everything did it all with grace.
“Roy has an endless reservoir of patience,” according to IAA Director Glori Hyman. “He would spend hours on end helping students to understand content and complete projects. He has the awesome superpower of staying calm in anxiety-inducing situations. Think power tools and fire.” Indeed, Walls always kept his cool in “the shop” whether he was teaching engine repair or welding skills. The patience he practiced there in the Animal Sciences Building would produce some of his favorite IAA memories.
Walls said those fondest memories came on “engine run day,” the culmination of his Power & Machinery course. He taught students about the workings of small engines by having them disassemble one, spread out its parts on a table and eventually put it all back together. With fingers crossed, Walls’ students would attempt to start their reassembled engines. “If it runs on the first pull,” Walls says, “that’s a special event. You remember the look on the student’s face.”
Walls’ students remember his classroom and lab lessons well, and they credit him with much of their post-IAA success. Dan Hofmeister, now the superintendent at Laytonsville Golf Course, says the welding, plumbing and electrical skills he learned from Walls’ Agricultural Mechanics course have proven valuable during his career. Hofmeister says those practical skills freed him from reliance on an equipment manager. Additionally, Hofmeister remembers having once worked outside of Maryland with people who graduated from other schools. “They didn’t have any classes like Roy’s,” Hofmeister remarks. “IAA students were ahead of the game; they were more prepared than their competition.”
As much as Walls’ students have learned from him over the years, Walls says that he has gained lessons from them as well. “I learned how to bend over backwards to help people,” Walls says, “and that’s a good thing.” Walls says he learned how to maintain an attitude of never giving up on someone. Hyman concurs: “I’ve worked with Roy for 30 years, and only once did I see him become exasperated with a student. It didn’t faze the student, but it upset Roy for a week.”
Walls’ legacy of teaching and mentoring IAA students began during fall semester of 1990. When asked what he remembers about his first day on the job, Walls immediately recalls the exact date: September 10. “The IAA people were very kind to me even though the semester had already started,” Walls says. That autumn he was transitioning to the university from a staff position at the Maryland State Department of Education, where he had worked in vocational-technical education since 1982. Prior to that job, Walls served as a vocational agriculture teacher at Linganore High School in Frederick County.
Joining the IAA thirty years ago was a homecoming of sorts for Wall, as he had earned University of Maryland bachelor’s and master’s degrees (1975 and 1987, respectively) in Agricultural and Extension Education. His subsequent decades as an IAA instructor are marked with dozens of teaching awards, including some top university honors just prior to retirement. Walls won the Provost's Excellence Award for Professional Track Faculty (2019-2020) as well as the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Paul A. Poffenberger Award for teaching and advising. Beyond campus, in 2017 the National Association of Agriculture Educators (NAAE) awarded Walls with an Outstanding Service Citation, describing Walls as “a shining example for agricultural educators everywhere. His impact on students is immeasurable.”
That impact spans multiple generations of IAA students. Dan Hofmeister is one of several alumni whose children found their way into Walls’ classroom. “Roy’s last year of teaching was my son’s first semester as a student,” he says. Mason Hofmeister (‘22), who is following in his father’s golf industry career footsteps, says Walls exceeded his high expectations while taking the Surveying and GPS Applications course. “I told [my dad] that Roy’s class was one of the most fun I think I’ve ever taken, including my high school classes,” Mason recalls.
Dan Hofmeister notes that the GPS course was not offered when he was an IAA student, which “just shows Roy’s willingness to continue to learn” and keep up with technology. Walls continuously stayed on top of technological growth during his IAA career – yet another testament to his ‘Mr. Everything’ moniker. This dedication allowed him to help students well beyond their graduation dates. Walls regularly invited his students to reach out to him for help as they advanced in their careers. Hogan is one of many alumni who accepted this generous invitation. “We met in Jull Hall [this past summer],” Hogan says. “I had picked up a GPS device and needed a refresher. He still had my ‘data dictionary’ on a thumb drive from six years ago. I was impressed.”
Hogan adds, “Roy is so talented. He could’ve done anything he wanted and made a lot more money doing it. He could’ve invented something or run a corporation, but he chose [teaching] because he enjoyed doing it.” Hogan, like so many of Walls’ students and colleagues, realizes that his 2020 retirement leaves some “big shoes to fill.”
As a retiree, Walls says he will continue living in College Park while filling the shoes of the other roles he enjoys: father, grandfather, and cycling enthusiast. Will Mr. Everything miss the many roles he mastered at the IAA? “It was a lifetime of enjoyment,” Walls says wistfully. “I enjoyed coming to work every day.”
