2008 Woodie Awards
Faculty Profiles: Professor Paul Humke
Caroline Davis
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: News
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For Professor Paul Humke, mathematics is a family business. Humke's father, uncle, and grandmother were each math teachers.
But Humke wasn't always sure he wanted to be a teacher. A stint as a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee helped make up his mind.
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to go into math or science," says Humke. "I kind of knew I wanted to go into math and when I started in graduate school I had a class that I taught as a teaching assistant that I really enjoyed. At that point I thought that this is what I want to do."
And he's been doing just that for 35 years now.
This is Professor Humke's sixth year of teaching at Washington and Lee. While he teaches most of his courses here in the winter and spring, Humke also teaches at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota during the fall. Some of the classes he teaches at W&L include Calculus, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and Probability and Statistics to name a few.
Profesessor Humke admits that teaching is just as rewarding for the teachers as it is for the students.
"As a faculty member you tend to be a link between the professional world where you come and the students that are just beginning to learn what professionalism is… It's fulfilling to see students grow. It's a neat position to be in where you can help them achieve their goals, their objectives and you can help them formulate them too."
When he's not teaching classes, Professor Humke is working diligently on research with long-time mathematics colleague Professor Michael Evans. Humke and Evans started their careers together with their first jobs at Western Illinois University. After going their separate ways, the pair connected again when Evans invited Humke to come work at W&L. Currently they are working on a series of papers that they have written over the past five years.
But research and teaching aren't enough for Professor Humke.
But Humke wasn't always sure he wanted to be a teacher. A stint as a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee helped make up his mind.
"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to go into math or science," says Humke. "I kind of knew I wanted to go into math and when I started in graduate school I had a class that I taught as a teaching assistant that I really enjoyed. At that point I thought that this is what I want to do."
And he's been doing just that for 35 years now.
This is Professor Humke's sixth year of teaching at Washington and Lee. While he teaches most of his courses here in the winter and spring, Humke also teaches at Saint Olaf College in Minnesota during the fall. Some of the classes he teaches at W&L include Calculus, Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, and Probability and Statistics to name a few.
Profesessor Humke admits that teaching is just as rewarding for the teachers as it is for the students.
"As a faculty member you tend to be a link between the professional world where you come and the students that are just beginning to learn what professionalism is… It's fulfilling to see students grow. It's a neat position to be in where you can help them achieve their goals, their objectives and you can help them formulate them too."
When he's not teaching classes, Professor Humke is working diligently on research with long-time mathematics colleague Professor Michael Evans. Humke and Evans started their careers together with their first jobs at Western Illinois University. After going their separate ways, the pair connected again when Evans invited Humke to come work at W&L. Currently they are working on a series of papers that they have written over the past five years.
But research and teaching aren't enough for Professor Humke.
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