Interview
Ian McIntosh and Carmen De La Torre
During this interview, our marketing intern talks with Ian McIntosh, who is a program director for UW-Madison, Office of Interdisciplinary Professional Programs (InterPro). He joined the InterPro Facilities and Building Systems team in December 2020 after being a frequent lecturer and course developer for the previous 20 years. Ian completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Solar Energy lab right here at UW-Madison.
In this interview, he discusses the opportunities offered at InterPro and the insight that he has gained as he continues to learn and grow his own skillset. He encourages others avid about continually growing their skillset to pursue a professional development course or certificate with InterPro.
Carmen
Good morning. To start off this interview, I wanted to ask you to describe your current position.
Ian
My current position right now is a program director in the facility and building systems segment of InterPro. There, I specialize in a quality process called Commissioning.
Carmen
And with that, what was your background before you came to this current position?
Ian
Good question. I worked in the private sector for almost 18 years at a full-service architecture and engineering firm. Consulting firm. And there I was the southeast regional commissioning manager based in Atlanta, Georgia.
And for several years I did that, and then afterward I became the national strategy manager, where I developed and led a brand new corporate university, which focused on training and project management to project managers — over 200 of them — in nine different disciplines. So that’s what I did prior to coming here.
Carmen
Okay. And then how was the transition from that role to this role? And how did you even find out about this current role?
Ian
I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, as I think you know. And right after that I actually started teaching as a guest instructor or adjunct professor, however you want to call it at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
For 20 years I’ve been teaching. Most recently, in the last five years, I started my own firm, Ian Teach LLC, after I left the consulting firm I just mentioned. I just needed to do teaching on a more permanent basis, you know? And so while at Ian Teach LLC, I partnered a lot with InterPro, doing some content to some teaching, but some other innovative ideas. And then a position became open in December and on December 7th, 2020, is when I started to fill this more permanent role at InterPro. I feel good about using my God-given abilities to teach and train adult learners at InterPro.
Carmen
That’s awesome. What’s something interesting or surprising about your current job or field that you don’t think most people know about?
Ian
Oh boy, that’s a tough one. Surprising or interesting? Well I guess, just off the top of my head, I would say, a lot of adult learners are really passionate about continuing to learn.
Many people would think that, when you get to a job, you know, in your profession, then the learning stops. But you know, what I found is that a lot of technical professionals are still hungry for learning and they enjoy folks coming alongside them and walking alongside them and teaching them things and helping them to implement it in their day-to-day job.
I don’t know if that’s particularly surprising to everyone, but I think maybe it’s more surprising to younger folks. High school and college folks that think, okay, once you get into your job, that’s it, I’m done with college. Done with learning. But that’s not true.
There are a lot of people later on in life just really hungry for more, you know, and who want to continually learn. Lifelong learners are what we call them here.
Carmen
Pivoting off that, why would you personally encourage someone to pursue a professional development course or certificate with InterPro?
Ian
We are finite beings, right? There is just so much knowledge in the entire universe. So to say that I know everything is really a ridiculous statement. I think that pursuing professional development courses is a wonderful way to just continue to learn and continually advance yourself. It helps you even professionally, right? Because you can get promotions that way. You can do better at your jobs. You can help other people within your firm or organization. And of course, certification. It is a way to demonstrate that you have met a certain competency level.
You know, just like you have a degree a certificate is just another way to hold you accountable, to say, okay, yes, you went through this series of courses, you spent time with us, right? And we trained you, but then you demonstrated this via an exam. Finishing the courses successfully you demonstrate now that you can practice in a certain area. For example, in my area, I teach a lot of building commissioning. We have at least two different certification programs for building commissioning, and folks can get certified and have those letters behind their name to show to the world that ‘okay, I have a certain level of qualification.’
Carmen
What do you find most enjoyable about your current job and what you’re able to do?
Ian
The people, you know. One word, people. I’m a people person, so I really enjoy engaging and interacting with all the learners. And guess what? I also learn from them because teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin. As I impart knowledge to them, they’re also sharing with me. Although they might not even think that they’re doing that. I love to learn. I’m a sponge for learning. And I like sharing what I know with others as well and seeing them apply it and improve. It is about making a positive impact.
Carmen
Totally. As we wrap up this interview, is there anything else you’d like to share?
Ian
I guess I want people to realize that at the University of Wisconsin-Madison InterPro, we have an amazing assortment of courses.
Whatever field, or technical field you’re in as an engineer, I think we have something that we can offer. Check us out at interpro.wisc.edu, look at our courses, sign up, and let’s learn together.