AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Mathematics

Paul M. Wright Associate Professor, FBG

Instructor Biography

First job: painted the trim on a brick house in Houston, Texas at the age of 12. Received $35. Can't remember what I did with the income, but I didn't invest it in IBM (would have been a good pick back then.). Continued painting houses in the summers to earn money for Beatles records and a new guitar (Gibson B-25 natural) that my mom sold when I got in trouble. By the summer of my senior year in high school I owned a paint contracting business (several employees) that yielded rent and tuition for my University of Houston experience(go cougars!). The business was strong enough to enable me to work only during the summers and Christmas holidays. After I tired of painting, I began delivering flowers (fun job) during Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, and Thanksgiving. This is a great job to have if you are in school because the money is usually good and the job is temporary! I still hold the record for most separate deliveries in one day ( 79 ) accomplished in a Chevy Nova 2-door coupe.

Post Undergraduate, Pre-Graduate: Taught 3/4 of a year (It is a long story I'd be glad to tell you about it, if interested) at a middle school in Alief (north of Houston), then finished out that school year at Lamar High School in Houston. The following two years were spent at St. Thomas High School in Houston, where I taught everything from freshman algebra to senior advanced calculus and coached the tennis and football teams (Nduka Odizar won the state singles championship my second year). The school got their money's worth.

Off to Graduate School: Or rather back to U of H to graduate school on a teaching fellowship ($400 a month was good back then) where I taught two class each semester and took three or four classes each semester to earn my Master of Science in Mathematics degree. The summer and fall after receiving my degree I continued to take classes toward a Phd in Mathematics, but became disillusioned and decided to take a back-packing trip to Brazil (another long story that I will be glad to share) for three months. This turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life and much more rewarding than being in school. I was basically weary of school in all forms.

Back in the US: With no money to speak of, but no great debt, I took a job as a geophysicist at Texaco ( If you have a mathematics degree they will hire you for anything.). I spent a lot of time debugging computer programs that aided in the search for oil and natural gas. It was very tedious work and I found out that I am not a 9 to 5 kind of guy, except this was more like 7 to 5 (ugh!), so I took a part-time teaching job at Houston Community College where I could pick my own schedule and during the next three years taught just about every mathematics course offered there. In January 1984 I moved to Austin and I have been at ACC ever since, going full time in 1989. Ask me about my life-changing backpacking trip to Australia just before going full-time.

A sabbatical in England: During the 2000-2001 school year I had the privilege to visit the mathematics department at the University of Cambridge in England. There is much to much to write about regarding that year abroad, but I would be happy to talk about my experiences with anyone interested. My next sabbaticall plan is to visit the mathematics department in New Zealand. I have been there twice on vacations and it is one of my favorite places on this planet.
I will post some photos on another page if you are curious.

Hobbies and other interests: I am involved in the local theatre and film scene as an actor/musician and I have appeared on a few nationally released films and television series. Please feel free to check out my acting resume. I am also interested in music and during my part-time faculty member days played bass guitar with several local bands, Chaparral, Rock Hounds, Burn Steady, and the Richard Allen Band to name a few. I recently (May 1998-May 2000) played bass guitar in the orchestra for the "Believe In Me" concert at Bass Concert Hall and played a couple of shows (Laura Nyro and Celebration) for the incomparable Shelby Brammer, ACC drama department director. This fall, in October 2008, I will work with her again on the play "Proof", playing,of all things, a mathematics professor . I have produced three music CD's for local pianist Billy Wolfe and will play bass on a new CD project of Billy's original music to be released sometime soon. Currenty, I am producing and playing bass and guitar on a CD of great songs for a singer-songwriter. You can check out some of those songs and some other projects I have recently completed by going to www.ragingfireproductions.com. I love to travel and I am a certified advanced open water diver. Finally, one of my favorite things to do on vacation or anytime is walk or hike.
New Chapter: I am now living in Fredericksburg and looking forward to getting to know the town and people who live and work here. Everyone seems excited about the new Hill Country University which is scheduled to be open for classes in 2010.

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