Meet a Deac – Paul Pauca (’94)

There are many people on campus who touch the lives of your students, and we like to feature profiles of our campus community members in a segment we call “Meet a Deac.”  Our Intern C (’13) checked in with Dr. Paul Pauca (’94) – and here’s what she learned about him.

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What is your official job title?
Associate Professor of Computer Science

How long have you worked at WFU?
Since 2002; I graduated from Wake in 1994.

What is your favorite course to teach?
Computer Science 111: Because I enjoy teaching the students what computer science can be about. I also enjoy teaching the graduate students. I feel lucky to be able to do one of the things that I am passionate about and one of those things is teaching.

How would you characterize Wake Forest students? What are some common attributes they have?
WFU students like to be involved. They want to participate and are motivated. Students are in class because they really want to learn something.

What advice would you give to students?
Explore all the courses. Get out of your comfort zone and take those courses that you never thought would be useful to you. Force yourself to do something.  We all have this wonderful opportunity, we are the elite; being able to take any one of the diverse courses that Wake has to offer. Here at Wake, we have the opportunity to learn and be movers and shakers if we want to; 98% of the population in other parts of the world do not have the opportunities we do.

What do you like best about working at Wake Forest?
I like the fact that I am in a great department that is interested in each other. As a department, we are also very interested in teaching and worried about the future of our students.  More so than even this, I like having the opportunity to interact with students. The fact that I can work on my research but also always be interacting with students and learning new things from them is what I like most about working at Wake Forest.

Some fun questions!…

Book(s) you’re reading now: Brave New World, it really makes you think

What music are you listening to these days? what my kids listen to, Shakira and Black Eyed Peas

Favorite movie: Forrest Gump

Website you frequent: soccernet.com

Favorite place to be on campus: the crux (rock climbing room)