[2] Simultaneous powerful educational experiences were his work on a General Motors assembly line and playing piano and singing with bands in bars.
He also married his wife Virginia (Ginny) Mack, whom he met in his senior year of college before he left for his service in the Navy during World War II.
[2] In 1945, following McKeachie's service in the war as a radar and communications officer on a destroyer in the Pacific, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of Michigan to study psychology.
[2] At Michigan, a most crucial formative experience was his participation as a teaching fellow in introductory psychology under Harold Guetzkow.
During his time at the university, he served 10 years as Chair of the Department of Psychology, authored numerous books, monographs, chapters, and articles.
[5] He was also involved in the collaborative founding of the Combined Program in Education and Psychology and establishment of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the university.