Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy Walter Curtis Connolly (May 1, 1922-) was born and reared in Ohio. He earned his B.A. degree from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in 1944, his M.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 1946, and his Ph.D. degree from the Catholic University of America in 1954. Connolly began his professional career as a physics instructor at the United States Naval Academy, and he taught there for nine years. He worked for Westinghouse Atomic Power in Pittsburgh for one year, then taught two years at Auburn University. Leaving Auburn, he worked as a senior scientist for the University of Virginia for five years. In 1963, he came to Appalachian State University to establish the physics department and served as its chair for eleven years. He resumed full-time teaching in 1974, instructing engineering physics classes and other courses at Appalachian. Connolly has served on national committees for the American Association of Physics Teachers and was for five years an assistant editor and "Apparatus" column editor for The Physics Teacher. He received the Trustees' Award for Outstanding Teaching (1978-79) and the Pegram Medal for Excellence in the Teaching of Physics from the Southeastern section of the American Physical Society in 1987. Connolly was awarded emeritus status by the Board of Trustees in March 1992. Connolly and his wife, Crystle, now live in Boone. Sources: Appalachian State University files. -Patti Levine-Brown
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