Jessica Shawcroft
The Paw Print
ne involving recent graduates and what they feel they learned from their professors. The study focused on the professors that made a difference in the students’ lives, helped them make a hard decision, learn something about their professional life, and enhanced their careers and decisions. The study is posted below.
“Computer science Professor Paul Pauca and I met when I was a graduate student at Wake Forest. In his software engineering class, I was part of a group that created an iPhone application to help Paul’s son, Victor, communicate. Victor has a rare genetic disorder called Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome, which affects his fine motor skills. Our application, Verbal Victor, transformed an iPhone, iPad, or iPod into a ‘touch-to-talk’ device. We spent the summer after the course polishing the application and put it up for sale in the App Store in December of 2010. Since then, we have sold several thousand copies of the application, given a TED talk and been featured in several news sources.
“From Paul, I learned the power of simple ideas that are well executed. Nothing about Verbal Victor is revolutionary or difficult . . . However, to Victor and to thousands of other children and parents, our application changes the way they communicate with their children.” — Paul Thomas, assistant member in the Department of Immunology at St. Jude Children’s Hospital
“One of my favorite professors in college taught me something that has helped my company grow exponentially. He would constantly say, ‘An A product with a B team will never beat a B product with an A team.’ This has made me put a major focus on acquiring and keeping great people in my company.
“So many big companies take the exact opposite approach in today’s world, taking the ‘we can replace you’ attitude. That never works, because companies will anger their great talent and then have to waste time/money hiring, training, and teaching new employees who will also end up quitting when they are good.” — Adam Keune, cofounder of Higher Learning Technologies
“One of my professors who, though she was older, was one of the ‘new kids on the block’ and thus low on the tenure totem pole, advised me to make my career fit into my life, not make my life fit my career. She was a mother of seven children who went back to college when her youngest child began school.
“I took her advice, though it decimated my academic career. I got married, had three children and jealously watched my colleagues accept full-time academic positions all over the world while I changed diapers and arranged play dates.
Occasionally, when I was between children or even huge and pregnant, this professor allowed me to come back to campus and lecture, grade papers — just enough to keep my foot in the door. One semester, she needed help writing and editing an academic journal.
I never considered that people would actually pay me to write or edit, but the little door she helped open for me evolved into a full-time writing career that fits into my life.
From this professor, I learned that I can love what I do, yet still actually have time to comb my hair — most of the time — and enjoy a life with a family. She really showed me how to have it all.
So, next time you’re sitting in a class, bored and counting down the minutes, think about what you could learn from the professor. What they know that might help enhance your life, help you make a decision or even cover the topic again.
I know I’ve had professors help me when I’ve felt lost in a class and I thank them because otherwise I might not have passed. Interesting what we can take away from a professor, or anyone, if we look for it.
What’s Been Said…