The Students Become the Teachers

Ben Pauli and Vivian Kao remember the class in which they met at UW Tacoma. “It was called Ancient Literature of Western Civilizations taught by Joe Sharkey,” said Ben. “We didn’t really connect much during class, but we made a mutual friend who connected us later.” 

That connection became a thread that bound the two together and stretched from the UW Tacoma campus across the United States. Along the way, it was attached to UW Tacoma professors like Dr. Sharkey, who inspired and encouraged Vivian, and Dr. Michael Forman, who inspired and encouraged Ben. It stretched to Rutgers University in New Jersey where the couple, who married a year after their 2005 graduation, eventually completed doctorates in their respective disciplines. Now, that thread is woven into a tapestry and settled in Flint, Michigan where Ben teaches at Kettering University, and Vivian teaches at Lawrence Technological University. 

For Vivian, the tapestry was visible from the start. “I loved it at UW Tacoma,” she said. “I chose it because it was close to home, and I could commute and at that time the tuition was very low, so I could work and pay my way through.” She also received a scholarship, allowing her to make more time for her studies. “I had great professors, and I wrote a senior thesis with Joe Sharkey, which helped me get into grad school. I had a wonderful time there,” she said.

For Ben, who lived on Tacoma Avenue with his mother and stepfather, the thread was thin and worn as it led him to UW Tacoma. “I came out of Tacoma Community College with an associate degree and at first went to UW in Seattle.” But Ben said he wasn’t fully prepared for the size of the campus and had a hard time connecting, so he chose instead to try something different.

“When I left UW in Seattle, I was in a band and trying to make that work,” Ben said. “We thought we were going to get big and worked at it, but it only took a few months to realize that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. Ben moved back home and said it was his mother, who is currently the city manager for Tacoma, who encouraged him to go back to school at UW Tacoma. When he did, he found the smaller class sizes and close relationships with professors opened up a new world for him. “It was a really refreshing and rewarding experience being a student there.”

Both Ben and Vivian say they’re still impressed with the time they spent at UW Tacoma. “In retrospect, now being a professor myself, I’m impressed with just how communicative everybody was, how available they were,” Ben said. “I relied on them to do things like letters of recommendation for graduate school. I got some really significant help not just from one or two people, but from several. That doesn’t happen everywhere.”

That help was what led to Ben thinking about teaching at the college level, and with the help of Dr. Forman, he got into a graduate program at Rutgers that suited him. “I had kind of a weird transcript, and so I didn’t look like a typical candidate and it really mattered that I had somebody who knew me personally who convinced these folks (at Rutgers) that I could do the work,” he said. “He was a key figure in my life to help get me going.”

For Vivian, teaching had been on her mind since before she came to UW Tacoma. “I really liked the level of thinking we were doing at the college level, and I really admired the professors that I had both as teachers and as people,” she said. “Our professors warned us that the grad school path wouldn’t be easy, and they prepared us.”

By the time each graduated from Rutgers, Ben with a Ph.D. in Political Science, and Vivian with a Ph.D. in English, they had several options about where to go. Back in Tacoma, Ben had been fairly active in social justice causes, and while grad school pushed some of that to the back burner, the couple knew they wanted to live and work in a community where they could help make a difference.

“Vivian had quite a few offers from places as far flung as Los Angeles, Bozeman, Montana and even Tokyo,” Ben said. “But ultimately, we chose the offer I got here in Flint.” The city offered them what Ben called a safe and comfortable life, as well as a chance to become involved. “We got involved and helped to start a free Montessori program in public schools here,” said Ben. “And I also got involved with the process of reviewing and revising the city’s charter.”

It was also about that time, Ben said, that Flint became infamous for its public water supply issues, leading to lead poisoning that made national news for many years. The couple, who had a three-year old son by then, got involved with other activists to call attention to the matter. Their first concern was for the safety of their son, but it quickly became apparent that the whole community was at risk. Both Vivian and Ben got involved with the grassroots level, and eventually Ben even wrote a book about the experience called, Flint Fights Back: Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. It was the beginning of what has become a passionate involvement in environmental justice for Ben.

Now their family tapestry includes two sons, Julian (12) and Flynn (6), and the couple balance a work-home life that requires coordination. Kettering University is in Flint, not far from where the family now lives, but Vivian has to commute to Lawrence Technical University a bit over an hour each way. “I try to make the commute just two days a week,” she said. Her schedule allows her to do that, and it also allows both parents to be with their children, while also accomplishing the intensive work they each do teaching at their respective schools.

The couple still find time to come back to Tacoma to visit family and to reflect on where it all began. Their boys are even spending a part of this summer back here with Ben’s mom and stepdad. “We get back to Tacoma at least once a year,” said Ben. “We both have family in the South Sound area, so we go back to visit when we can.” No doubt at some point, Julian and Flynn will get to see the campus where their mom and dad met, and where they may even find themselves weaving a new tapestry one day.