Professor brings heritage, experience to SWAU
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Paulos Berhane: From Africa to Southwestern
With a history that goes back to Ethiopia, Paulos Berhane, SWAU’s new associate professor for mathematics and physical science, brings his experience in telecommunication to give back to academia.
A fifth-generation Adventist in Ethiopia, Berhane grew up in a community where it was illegal to publicly profess any belief in religion. The government set up after-school music programs in Berhane’s community to keep youth from being influenced by any outside groups.
These programs led him away from the church for a few years in his youth, until he attended Akaki Adventist School for his last two years of high school. The Adventist school was a safe haven for Berhane to openly share his long-suppressed beliefs.
"The school was an oasis that even the communist party couldn't control," said Berhane.
After graduating from high school in 1985, Berhane escaped from communist Ethiopia to Sudan, and then the United States through a family reunion program that the U.S. sponsored.
Once in the U.S., he continued his education for four years at Richland College while he worked part-time in Dallas. Berhane earned degrees in electrical engineering and computer science, and eventually his masters in electrical engineering with a concentration in telecommunication at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Berhane finished his two degrees in 1994 and continued with his masters at UTD. While still working on his masters, he took a job with Nortel Networks, a world-wide business telecommunication company. Berhane spent 12 years working for Nortel Networks before joining the faculty at Southwestern.
While working for Nortel, Berhane started a career learning center in Garland, Texas, the Center for Learning Enrichment. "I started the center in 2004 as my new year's resolution, because I noticed that many people do not get the proper education that they need."
That same passion for helping others led Berhane to Southwestern. When SWAU offered him the job, he was simultaneously offered a lucrative position with a defense company. He had no trouble turning down a higher salary to work at Southwestern.
"The slogan, educating minds, strengthening spirits, really attracted me. It was exactly what I was looking for," said Berhane.
Now in a new spiritual and academic environment, Berhane uses his experience in telecommunication and electrical engineering to teach the principles of physics and mathematics.