students, and he thinks it's important that they know it, because that knowledge seems to help them succeed. "I find that once students understand that I care about them, they try harder and are more comfortable coming to see me for extra help," he says. "When students know I am doing everything possible to help them succeed, they will put forth maximum effort."
   Weiner caught the teaching bug as a graduate student, where he was a teaching assistant for multiple courses. He was moved to find out how much impact his efforts could make. "Many students told me that I was the only reason they made it through the course." Having the chance to fill in for a couple of professors on sabbatical sealed his career ambitions. "I was hooked!" he says. 
   The relationships with students are the most rewarding part of being a professor, says Weiner. "Everyone has a capacity to learn; it is the professor's job to figure out how best to make this happen. It's all about trying to optimize and maximize each student's potential," he explains. "Over time, to see all of the amazing accomplishments of my former students, and to know that I played a tiny role in each individual's success, is an unbelievable feeling!" 

he says. "After all, if I am not excited to be teaching a subject, then why should students get excited to be learning it?"
     Chad Zarse (AB, 2005) certainly believes it. "Bill's own enthusiasm for the subject matter was absolutely infectious," says the internal medicine doctor candidate who is starting a nephrology fellowship later this year. "He made the entire class interested in the subject at hand and eager to discuss it."
   Zarse gives Weiner a lot of credit for helping him down the path toward becoming a physician. "Without Dr. Weiner as my primary mentor and thesis research advisor, I'm sure I would not be in the position I am today," he says.
   The bottom line is that Weiner really cares about his