Dr. Paul Wright is an English professor at Cabrini University, students say he has a unique style of teaching that engages them and has been working since 2006. Not only is he a professor, but he is also an avid traveler and displays this wanderlust as the study abroad coordinator. He is enthusiastic about teaching, but his students’ love of learning also inspires him.
Wright is originally from Chicago and earned a BA in English from Northwestern University and he got his Ph.D. from Princeton University. While finishing his doctoral dissertation, he accepted a four-year contract to teach at Osaka University, Japan. After being in Japan for four years, he came to Philadelphia to teach as a postdoctoral fellow at Villanova. While working at Villanova, he did some administration for their seminar program. Dr. Wright arrived at Cabrini when he was offered to stay in the area and work for Cabrini. He was very pleased to work here not only because it was convenient for his family but because he likes how Cabrini is a small university. Wright feels as though that being at Cabrini, you can have a better relationship between students and professors.
“It’s much easier to make an impact on students’ lives, and one can feel professional fulfillment working at Cabrini,” Wright said.
This summer and last summer, Wright has gone to Argentina to set up a new study abroad program with a university there. Currently, Cabrini has a program that brings together Cabrini students and students from Argentina that study at the Universidad El Salvador. The first three weeks of the program, the Argentina students come to Cabrini and live here while taking classes. The next three weeks it’s switched, and Cabrini students go to Argentina. The reason for this program is for more cultural immersion and appreciation. Wright mentioned most study abroad programs are just having people come to the United States or vice versa. Even though they work, he feels that there’s a better way to form the study abroad programs.
“Even though they would experience and see a lot, they wouldn’t have the full immersion in another culture. The six-week program gives a chance for students to know each other and learn from each other. That way, there can be more cultural immersion on both sides than a normal study abroad program,” Wright said.
Other than Argentina, Cabrini has long-term study abroad in Notre Dame in Australia and American University in Rome. They are currently looking for a full semester option for the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Other than being the study abroad coordinator, Wright is an English professor. He teaches more than one course in film and media studies such as Aesthetics of Film and Social Realism in Literature and the Media.
“His teaching style is perfect for the topics that he covers. It’s more discussion-based where we’ll talk about certain scenes and analyze the purpose of how it’s shot,” Aiyana Martinez, a student currently in his Aesthetics class, said.
Not only does Wright work at Cabrini, but he occasionally teaches at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. That is where adult learners take courses on film history or genres of film. Wright also said that he’s trying to work on game-based learning which deepens students learning. He believes that game-based learning is part of a more significant movement called active learning which studies increasingly show deepening students learning.
“I find a lot of times game experiences can bring light to the issues we’re learning.”
Dr. Paul Wright is not only teaching, but he is also working on a book about Machiavelli, who is the political theorist from Renaissance Florence. Wright likes to visit Florence to help him do more research on Machiavelli. Florence is his research destination when writing about Machiavelli.
“It occupies a big place in my imagination as a site of culture. So it’s my favorite place in Italy, maybe my favorite place on earth,” Wright said.
Dr.Wright discussed how people should be less present and learn from our past when talking about his class on Culture History.
“People, myself included, suffer a lot from what we call ‘present-ism.’ We’re too fixated on our moment – and I get why we are because we have a lot of important things to address,” Wright said. “Not only in the present but also in the future. I’m not saying we shouldn’t care about the present. I’m saying we are sometimes so fixated on our moment that we are unable to appreciate the things the people of the past have brought to the table. In terms of culture and history of ideas and a host of other things.”
