Why is Bill Shields such a rock star at Illinois State?

Bill Shields teaches

Lecturing to about 700 students on subtropical deserts, when many of them have just rolled out of bed, is a tough assignment. But Bill Shields ’99, M.S. ’01, has done it 32 semesters in a row, waking mostly freshmen with his stories of growing up in the 1800s and hammering shoes on mules. Some of