Teachable Moments with Edward C. Wachter, Jr., J.D.

The Point
Winter 2013

"I love to learn and I think the best way to learn something is to teach it," says Professor Edward C. Wachter, Jr., J.D. "By sharing what you know, you can help change the live of your students and help them to become better people."

In 1967, Wachter had just graduated from law school and was studying for the bar exam when an opening came up to teach Business Law at Point Park. "I had always wanted to teach and was lucky enough to be hired," he recalls. "The academic year started in October in those days." He taught during the day, napped after classes on his small desk in a shared office in Academic Hall, and finished his bar exam course at night.

Today, Wachter teaches business courses and provides legal and consulting services for individuals and businesses. A practicing attorney, he has been a creative innovator both in his teaching and in his law practice as well as other faculty responsibilities. He developed the first online course at Point Park and since then, has taught seven different online courses numerous times.

Wachter was the designer of the first accelerated program at the University, the School of Business' Saturday Fast program, as well as the Health Systems Management concentration within the M.B.A. program and the Entrepreneurship concentration in the undergraduate Business Management program. "I enjoy being creative," he says. "If there is one skill I've carried throughout my teaching and my law practice, it is creativity," he says.

Wachter is the recipient of a Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status from The Family Firm Institute, a multidisciplinary international nonprofit organization. He is a frequent lecturer, speaker and participant in many professional seminars and workshops including those sponsored by the Small Business Administration and S.C.O.R.E.

Wachter is married to Andrea Wachter, M.P.M., M.A.T., a fellow faculty member in the School of Business. She joined the University in 1984 and teaches a variety of information technology and business courses. For years the couple shared a campus office until the Business School expanded its facilities and both got their own offices in West Penn Hall. "It has been great working together," he says.

Text by Cheryl Valyo
Photo by Martha Rial

The Point is a magazine for alumni and friends of Point Park University