Wanless has been described as “paternal, kind, and enthusiastic, with a gifted memory and an encyclopedic knowledge of Pennsylvanian rocks, he was a legend in his own time.” (http://isgs.illinois.edu/harold-r-wanless) During his time at UIUC, Wanless taught many different geology courses. He taught graduate courses in Sedimentation, Advanced Dynamic Geology, Advanced Historical Geology, Photogeology, Pennsylvanian Geology; Undergraduate course in Field Methods, Agricultural Geology, Physical Science, Geologic History of Vertebrates, Geology of Upper Mississippi Valley, and Geologic Maps. He was a good teacher in the field as well as in the classroom.  Wanless had his own personal library that was so big it filled two rooms. This library included publications of scientific journals. He let his students borrow books from his library which allowed him to become closer to his students. His weekend field trips were legendary. Wanless was the founder of the first UIUC Geology Field Camp and directed it from 1944 to 1951. UIUC Geologists go to field camp even now, many decades later. Field Camp provides a chance for students to get practical experience in the field and observe structures that they learned in class in real life. The picture to the left is of a plaque Wanless received after teaching at the university for forty years. It reads,

It is our pleasant privilege tonight to send you affectionate greetings in recognition of your forty years of distinguished and devoted service to the University, to the Department, and to the Geological Sciences. Those of us here salute you, not only for ourselves but also in behalf of all of your university colleagues, your horst of past, present, and future students and the countless number of your geological associates and admirers throughout this planet. Geologists will be forever indebted to you for your eminent and voluminous contributions to your science. These intellectual benefactions are epitomized for us by your original and provocative investigations of cyclothemic sedimentation and by your enormous labor of love in unraveling the incredibly complex mysteries of the paleogeography and paleoecology of the Pennsylvanian System. Your close associates remember with gratitude your boundless freindship, benevolent counsel, unpretentious humanity and selfless service to the University and community. They are grateful and proud for having had an opportunity to have had some share in the life of you and your devoted wife, Grace. It is an especial pleasure to realize that this occasion represents not an end of a journey, but a simple milestone marking the way to your further scientific discoveries and the continued savoring of life with your friends. With warmest and respectful regards, (signed by a representative for the Geology Department, the Alumni, the students, the State Geological Survey, and for they USGS) Signed May 16, 1963