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Brigadier General
William T. Woodyard
Permanent Professor 1958–1978
Vice Dean of the Faculty 1967–1968
Dean of the Faculty 1968–1978
A.S., St. Joseph Junior College
B.S., University of Missouri
M.S., University of Missouri
Ph.D., Denver University
Bill Woodyard, the Academy’s 2nd Permanent Professor, was born in 1919 in St. Joseph, Missouri. He earned an Associate’s degree in Chemistry from St. Joseph Junior College in 1939. He became an Aviation Cadet in 1940 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps in 1941. After completing training at Randolph Field, TX, he served as an Instructor Pilot at Craig AFB, AL, before being reassigned as a Training Squadron Commander at Napier Field, AL, 1941–1944. During this period, he also attended the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, KS. After serving as Post Air Inspector at Napier Field in 1944, he was trained in the B-17 and B-29 bombers. In 1945 he was a B-29 Instructor Pilot at Maxwell Field, AL. Bill became a Squadron Commander in the 448th Bombardment Group in August 1945 at McCook Army Air Field, NE, and was en route to 20th AF HQ in Guam with a flight of B-29s when World War II ended. He returned to Carswell Field, TX, and served as a Squadron Commander with the 19th Bombardment Group until 1946. From February to June 1946 he was a pilot in “Project Sunset,” ferrying B-29s back to the United States from the Pacific. As Commander of the 715th Air Materiel Squadron, Tempelhof Air Base, Berlin, Germany, from July 1946 to May 1947, Bill was charged with supplying the city of Berlin and the Allied Forces therein during the reconstruction. After commanding the 4700th Air Base Group at Lawson Field, Fort Benning, GA, for the remainder of 1947, he entered the University of Missouri in 1948. Bill earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry in 1950 and 1951, respectively. From 1951 to 1954 he was a Chemistry Instructor, progressing to Associate Professor, at the US Military Academy, West Point, NY. In 1954 he became an Associate Professor of Chemistry as an original member of the Air Force Academy faculty at its interim site at Lowry AFB in Denver. Promoted to Professor of Chemistry in 1955, Bill then was appointed Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry in 1956. As Chairman of the Academy Accreditation Steering Committee, he was instrumental in achieving the Academy's academic program accreditation before the first class graduated in 1959. He was appointed a Permanent Professor in 1958, continuing as Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry. He entered the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, DC, in 1961. After graduating in 1962 he returned to his former position at the Academy. He received a PhD in Higher Education from the University of Denver in 1965. While on sabbatical from the Academy faculty, he served as the Chief Scientist for the European Office of Aerospace Research at Brussels, Belgium, 1965–1967. Upon his return to the Academy he was appointed the Vice Dean of the Faculty. Bill was named Dean of the Faculty and promoted to the grade of brigadier general in 1968. During his tenure as Dean, he oversaw the 20th Anniversary Study and implementation of its recommendations, which included adjusting graduation, core, and major course requirements as well as adding a flight requirement for all cadets. He instituted the Honor Graduate Program, the Cadet Exchange Program with the French l’École de l’Air, and the Distinguished Visiting Professor Program. The latter brought outstanding civilian Professors on sabbatical leave from their institutions to the Academy for an academic year. Bill Woodyard retired from the USAF in 1978.
After he retired Bill moved to Sun City West in Arizona. He immediately became the General Manager of the Recreation Centers in Sun City West for the Del Webb Corporation and continued in that role for 12 years. He served on the Boswell Memorial Hospital Corporate Board from 1980 to 1986 and the Del E. Webb Memorial Operating Board from 1986 to 2002. Bill died in 2018 and is buried in the Air Force Academy Cemetery.