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)

We continue to feature our top ten submissions in Senior Orations.  Today we hear the thoughts of Meredith Browne.

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Service Done Right

While attending a meeting to prepare for the Volunteer Service Corps trip to Kolkata, India, we discussed our own personal philosophy of service. I was surprised to find out how greatly everyone’s ideas differed. This led me to more deeply consider what service to others is, since it seems to be so subjective. What does it mean to go to a university whose motto is, “Pro Humanitate?” Is there a right kind of service?  Why do we travel thousands of miles to help others when Winston-Salem has some of the hungriest children in the nation?

Serving others has always been an important aspect of my life. From middle school on, I was required to do a certain amount of service for the organizations to which I belonged. This is not to say that I did not understand the value of helping others, but it was always mandatory. When I came to Wake, however, no one was telling me I had to volunteer. Instead, I became aware of the importance of Pro Humanitate to our school, and was overwhelmed with all the activities on campus that fulfilled this motto. Although I understood the importance of Pro Humanitate, I did not reflect on why this was our motto. Perhaps to go to Wake Forest is it not only a call to do all one can for humanity, but it should also be a call to question why we serve.

The simple definition of service is an exchange involving two parties: those who are offering their time or goods and those who are receiving them. This broad definition leaves room for interpretation and frankly, recklessness and self-satisfaction. Although most service is initiated with good intentions, good intentions can soon be lost by a lack of empathy for those being served and a lack of preparation for the work being done. I experienced this important difference when I traveled to Nicaragua with Wake Forest this past summer to learn about global health and communication. We prepared for our trip for on campus before travelling to Nicaragua for three weeks of service learning. Before going, we learned of the history and culture of Nicaragua and about about AMOS, the organization with which we would be working. AMOS improves the health of impoverished communities by working alongside the community. One important distinction of this organization is that the community must first come to AMOS asking for assistance. To me, this is an example of “service done right.” There is a need in these communities yet there is no sense of superiority from AMOS because they have the resources to help.

When flying into Nicaragua, I was struck by all the volunteer organizations in the airport. I spotted one group of young volunteers wearing matching shirts that said, “Save Nicaragua!” I shudder to think about the friends I made there and what they would think if they saw those shirts. Whether it refers to a religious or economic “saving,” this phrase implies the rescue of an entire “lost” nation, not a partnership with individuals, which is so essential to service. I reflect on my friend, 60-year-old Gerarito, who guided me to different houses in his community so we could check on the efficiency of their water filters. The pride he had in his farming community was evident as he led me from house to house. I think he, and the rest of the people I encountered there, would agree with Lilla Watson, an Australian activist, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Yes, service is about giving help but it is also more than that; serving is about the liberation of both parties. Perhaps some Nicaraguans need to be liberated from poverty and a lack of health care, but from what do we as North Americans need to be liberated? Maybe we as traveling volunteers need to be freed from our own preconceived notions about the world around us.

While preparing for my trips to Nicaragua and to India, I was bothered by the fact that the cost of my plane ticket could feed hungry children in Winston-Salem. I asked myself, “Am I even going to really help anyone, or is this just a selfish fulfillment of my own desire to travel?” The answer to this question is neither simple nor easy. Yes, international service may partially be a selfish desire to see the world. But more importantly, it is a way for us as members of the Wake Forest family to demonstrate that we care for the welfare of those in other countries as well as those at home. It is vital for us to see the world and to serve it, and then to come home as more empathetic individuals and continue to help those here.

International service must be coupled with thoughtful preparation and reflection upon our motives. The reasons we as individuals decide to serve others either locally or internationally, are personal and complex. Some say service is an attempt at self-gratification. I think, however, the answer may be quite simple and innate in many of us. Essentially, we participate in service because we are created to love our fellow humans. At our best, we want the best for each other. We may serve differently with our individual gifts, but if what we have to give is not done with sensitivity and love, it can be worthless and even harmful. Thank you, Wake Forest, for not only giving me so many opportunities to serve, but for guiding me to think critically about the meaning of service.

Founders’ Day Convocation was held yesterday afternoon, and a feature part of the ceremony is the reading of three senior orations.  Seniors were invited to reflect on their Wake Forest experience in the form of an essay.  Ten finalists were chosen, and three were read during Founders’ Day Convocation.

Because all ten finalists had compelling things to say, the Daily Deac is privileged to reprint their senior orations.  We’ll feature a couple of them a week for the next few weeks.

Today, we are featuring the oration of SheRea DelSol.  Enjoy.

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Spring 2010. Introduction to Theatre. August Wilson’s Fences. Troy Maxon’s mantra:  “You gotta take the crookeds with the straights.” Since I arrived at Wake Forest, this mantra has manifested itself and taught me perseverance and determination. After all, I am the first in my family to attend college.  As the youngest of seven children, I feel a responsibility to advance the social mobility and financial stability of our family. Oddly enough, in August 2009, when I first stepped foot on this campus, I didn’t fully realize that there were more firsts for me to experience.

I spent a semester in London and visited a number of other cities. I was a volunteer on the first Wake Forest service trip to Nicaragua. On the other hand, not all of my firsts were pleasant experiences. Wake gave me my first D on a test, my first encounter with strep throat, and — most importantly — my first realization that I was different. On St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, where I grew up, everyone looked like me, laughed at the same jokes I did, and even spoke like me.

My hall mates noticed the “difference.” “Speak English,” they said.  “What are you saying,” they asked.  I came to the land of North Face jackets and Sperry Topsiders, Vera Bradley, and sundresses, and knew I did not fit in.  As a student, I can say with confidence that a homogenous culture pervades the campus. So how did I dare to be different? How did I dare to stop chemically straightening my hair and to embrace my curly, wild tendrils? How did I dare to wear bold lipsticks and vintage clothes?

When I walk on the Quad, I see girl after girl trying to be skinnier than the next. They think a longer neck, thinner arms, and smaller thighs will make them more beautiful. With two carrot sticks, a broccoli crown, and a teaspoon of hummus on a saucer plate, they swallow their insecurities. It is a world of intelligent and determined women who are often blindsided by appearances. It is a world where this curvaceous, sassy, and larger than life personality has often felt boxed in by small thinking and even smaller waistlines.

Some students complain that “Wake Forest isn’t diverse enough.” Sure, I agree that this institution, with 75% white students, needs to achieve and maintain diversity to include a wide range of perspectives and raise the level of discourse on campus. But, I would argue that the administration is not at fault. Who says your friends have to look like you? We do. We create boundaries where we should be trying to build bridges.  Still, there are pockets of diversity at Wake. Though small in number, we are here. African Americans, West Indians, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and Latinos, we are here. We embrace a number of faiths. We come from all walks of life, and we have chosen to make Wake Forest our home for four years.

So, do not make excuses for your own prejudices, get beyond them. Do not focus on what is missing at Wake Forest, appreciate what is here. We stand amongst the brightest young minds in the world; we are taught by award-winning and respected faculty who are the leaders of their disciplines; and we are loved and nurtured by staff members who care about our success as scholars and as human beings. There have been times when I was bitter, somewhat hateful about my college experiences here. Now, I can enthusiastically say that this fine university welcomes diversity. It welcomed me, a passionate young woman from a little island in the Caribbean Sea.

Of all the hours I spent in the library and all the papers I have written, that one quotation from Fences stands out, “You gotta take the crookeds with the straights.” This is what higher education is all about: taking failure along with success and sadness along with laughter. And in the process, we cannot accept homogeny. Our goal should not be to create a melting pot because we are different and should embrace our differences.  Instead, we should create a mosaic. In our mosaic, newcomers will see our differences, and in our differences, they will see our similarities because together we form one community. I am Wake Forest. You are Wake Forest. We are Wake Forest. I thank you parents, friends, faculty and staff, and especially Mother So Dear for helping me trek through the Forest and proclaim from the top of Wait Chapel: I am the first, but not the last. 

Deac families, there is a wonderful opportunity coming up next week for your students to be involved in a conversation about the campus culture of Wake Forest.  We want and need their voices represented, so I hope that if you think this would interest them, you will pass it on to them.

This is one of the “Deliberative Dialogue” events on campus.  This will be a deliberation open to the campus community on Thursday evening, Feb. 28th focused on the issue of Diversity and Inclusion at Wake Forest.  This event, co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Engagement, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of the Dean of the College, and the Office of the Provost is a follow-up to last year’s deliberation on campus culture (see recap of that here).  The issue of inclusion was the one where participants last year felt we needed to keep talking and dig deeper.  This is a Faces of Courage event, part of the year-long commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of integration at Wake Forest.

Registration and access to the issue guide is now available through the following link:  http://college.wfu.edu/politics/diversityandinclusion/

Participants need to register so that we know how many people to plan for and can assign them to diverse break out groups.  Registration will close on Feb. 26th.

It will be important to have a broad representation of students, faculty and staff participate in this dialogue.  We hope your students will attend!

Yesterday the big news on campus was the announcement of Dr. Penny Rue as the new Vice President for Campus Life, effective mid July.  There was a press conference of sorts in the Green Room of Reynolda Hall, open to anyone who wished to attend.  It was a nice crowd.

President Hatch and Provost Kersh spoke about Dr. Rue’s many accomplishments, and then we had a chance to hear from her personally. She seems like a very affable person – relaxed and easy at the microphone, showing great collegiality with the president and provost, very smart, and one who appears to really love working with college students and campus communities.  The News Service did a great story on her online.

Some of the things that struck me during her remarks:

She’s worked in virtually every area of campus life during her career, so my sense is she knows a lot of the ins and outs of things like residence life, academics, counseling (where she has an advanced degree), and more.  She also talked about having been in the dunking booth, which suggests to me she is an administrator that is game for student activities and that she knows how to connect with them.

She has been integrally involved in issues of well-being on the campuses she has served, and that will tie in well with the work we are doing here to educate the whole person and promote well-being, which is a primary focus.

She has strong ties to the ACC, having gone to Duke as an undergraduate and having done graduate work at the University of Maryland.  She also held positions at UVA and UNC Chapel Hill.

She has been married for nearly 30 years and loves the Outer Banks and Paris (editor’s note: these are some of my favorites too!)

This is an exciting appointment and it will be very interesting to see in the coming months and years what kind of impact Dr. Rue will have on our campus community.  Until then, we welcome her with open arms!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all our Wake Forest families!  We wish you a day full of love and joy (and that your children remember to call/email/text you to tell you they love you!)

In honor of the day, we thought we might talk about some of the places on campus that seem especially perfect for young couples.

The Quad is a wonderful place to be at twilight when there is an especially interesting sky.

Another great time for the Quad is after the Lovefeast, when the luminaries are lit.  The whole place looks fantastic.

Some might sneak a smooch on the balcony of Huffman or Efird residence halls.  For the first year students on south campus, the roof of Babcock or Luter might also conceal a pair of lovebirds.

    If you want to take a romantic walk, there are great destinations at Reynolda Gardens.  There is a formal rose garden that blooms closer to spring and early fall; there is a great little columned area in which to sit, and there is the big field leading up to Reynolda House.  In years past it has been filled with black eyed susans; right now they are not.

Scales offers the allure of finding yourself backstage in the winding halls and rooms behind the theatre, or you can sit at the back entrance near the loading dock, which is not often busy unless a show is in rehearsal.

Just nearby on Davis Field, there are great swings that can provide a lighthearted moment of swinging/being pushed by your sweetheart.

This is a great place to be in love, and beauty is practically everywhere you look.  I hope your students  experience some of the romance of Wake Forest.

The Volunteer Service Corps is getting in the Valentine’s Day spirit.  They are working on a service project called “Cupcakes for a Cause” – detailed information below.  If your student likes to cook and/or wants to exercise the creative and philanthropic parts of his/her mind, this may be a great option.

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Do you love cupcakes? Do you have a favorite charity?

Compete to win money for your favorite charity (and some free froyo from Brynn’s) 

Sunday, February 17, 1:00 – 3:00
Benson 409 

The Office of Multicultural Affairs is hosting an event tomorrow evening that might be a very interesting one for our students.  On February 13th at 7 pm in the ZSR Library Auditorium 404, Dr. Bob Zellner, a prominent Civil Rights activist, will be lecturing on his memoir, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek.   

The Office of Multicultural Affairs website provides some information about his background:

“Raised in south Alabama by members of the Ku Klux Klan, Bob Zellner spent his adult years bringing Civil Rights to the forefront. Arrested 18 times in 7 states, Zellner was charged with everything from criminal anarchy in Baton Rouge to inciting the black population to acts of war and violence against the white population in Danville, Virginia. Zellner’s memoir, The Wrong Side of Murder Creek, A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement, tells his story of one white man who challenged the southern way of life on which he was raised.”

We frequently tell parents and families to encourage their students to take advantage of the special speakers and guest lecturers that come to campus.  There is a plethora of experts that our students can hear from on a variety of topics.  If you think this would be of interest to your Deac, be sure to pass it on to him or her.

It is a gray and soggy Monday.  Our thoughts are with the many Deac families in the NE who are digging out of 1-2 feet of snow.  We’ve had a tremendous influx of students from the Boston area over the past few years, so we know you have been hit hard.  We are thinking of you and wishing warm Southern winds would blow north to you.

Our thoughts are also with any Deac families we have in Mississippi, where a large tornado cut through Hattiesburg.  We received an email from a concerned parent lastnight asking “does Wake Forest have storm shelters?” presumably because of seeing the coverage that there was a college in Hattiesburg that did sustain some damage.

No, we do not have an underground storm shelter that would house all students and staff in case of a tornado warning.  However, what I can tell you from personal experience my freshmen year when we had a tornado warning, the RAs told all of us to move into the basement of our residence hall and close the room doors (so we were away from windows).  Most of our buildings have a basement level – on the academic side as well as the residence hall side – and that would be the place to go.

This seems a good time to mention that there is a Wake Ready web site that talks about emergency preparedness, and we encourage parents to talk to their students about it and share this link so that students can review it now.  There is a section on their Emergency Situations site about weather that details tornadoes or other extreme weather.

Leading up to Valentine’s Day, the Daily Deac is reflecting on some of the reasons we love Wake Forest.  Today’s reason is:

We help students discover their passions – sometimes ones they didn’t even know they had.

This can happen in a lot of ways.  One of them – hard as it may be for your students to believe – is through Divisional Requirements.  The liberal arts educational model at Wake Forest requires our students to sample classes within five broad classifications of human knowledge: the humanities, literature, the arts, social sciences, and math and natural sciences.  Within each of those division, students have the ability to choose (or avoid) departments in favor of other ones.  Sometimes when a student tries a class in a department he/she didn’t have access to in high school – philosophy, anthropology, Russian, whatever’s your pleasure – that student finds that he/she is really interested and inspired.

One of my fondest memories as an academic adviser was to watch one of my students (now graduated) who decided to embark on a new language for his language requirement.  He chose Arabic because he was interested in the events in the Middle East, and ended up majoring in Political Science and becoming fluent in Arabic, studying in Jordan his junior year.  It was wonderful to watch him discover an interest in Arabic he never thought he had, and to see that manifest itself in a semester abroad.  He found an academic passion.

There are other students here who find volunteer passions.  Whether that is working with Project Pumpkin or the Volunteer Service Corps, or taking an International Service Trip or a Wake Alternative Break, they find impactful activities that help them grow even as they serve others.  This video was done a few years ago about the impact of international service trips, and these students tell their stories better than I ever could.

And while this generation tends to “date” less than mine or yours did, people do still find love at Wake Forest.  It may or may not last forever, but you do see students walking hand in hand or arms around each others’ shoulders on the Quad.  Interesting fact from the Alumni Office from last year: there were 8,643 WFU alumni married to alumni (about 10% of our alumni made what I call ‘advantageous marriages’).

Finally, we also help students discover their passion and help them explore how to live that out in their life in the world of work.  The Office of Personal and Career Development has been at the leading edge of helping students explore their talents, values, skills, and dreams so that they can leave Wake Forest poised to go to a job or graduate school that really suits them (instead of taking any job just because it is available).  You can see the year-by-year activities (buttons at the top of this web page) our students are encouraged to do via the OPCD to get an idea of some of the tools in the toolbox for them to use.

And for parents in Charlotte, NC, we cordially invite you to hear more about how we are helping students find their passion.  Andy Chan, Vice President for Personal and Career Development, is going to be speaking on Thursday, February 21st in Charlotte.  Here is a flyer about this OPCD Event in Charlotte with information about how to register.

Has your student found his or her passion yet?