Beyond the Beaker with Dr. Bulko: Lifelong Learning, Lifelong Curiosity
By: Haset Mekuria
Interview by Hermella Belay and Haset Mekuria
“It’s computer stuff; you’re gonna love it.”
The best advice Professor William Bulko had ever been given came from his father. He was trying to decide on a college elective to take, and his dad suggested a Fortran programming course, which became the catalyst for Dr. Bulko’s career in computer science.
Dr. Bulko earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science here at UT. After 24 years working in industry, he was thrilled to return to UT Austin, this time as a professor. During our time with him, Dr. Bulko reflected on fond memories of graduate school, such as when he learned more students were joining his section of a course after the first day of classes. But Dr. Bulko’s first time teaching wasn’t during his years as a graduate student. Instead, he taught his first class as an undergraduate at UT El Paso, which he attributes to setting up the course of his teaching career.
“When I first started at UTEP, they didn't have a department of Computer Science, so they had faculty from other departments teaching the CS classes,” Dr. Bulko had once said. “They also didn't have graduate students to serve as graders and TAs, so they hired me as the first ‘Undergraduate Teaching Assistant’ to help the professors. I got to teach my first college class as a sophomore.”
Dr. Bulko “fell in love” with teaching in college, and now he is back doing what he loves. At UT, Dr. Bulko teaches iOS development. “It’s a lot of fun, and it changes every semester.” While he teaches it to students now, iOS development was a subject Dr. Bulko learned outside the traditional classroom environment. “The most important thing I want students to learn from me is that learning is a lifetime thing,” Dr. Bulko said. “I teach iOS development. I’ve taught Python. I’ve taught web programming, and none of those things existed when I was a student. I had to learn them after I finished school. To Dr. Bulko, learning spans our whole lives, but this does not displace the need for reform in the world of academia. “I think one of our biggest problems in society right now is a lack of appreciation for education,” Dr. Bulko said. “I think that students have forgotten why they go to school.” In computer science, a field that is constantly evolving to keep up with itself, Dr. Bulko emphasizes the importance of and appreciation for the learning process.
Outside the classroom, Dr. Bulko has a range of interests, including an affinity for Marvel movies. When asked what was at the top of his watch list, Dr. Bulko said, “always the next Marvel movie.”Dr. Bulko’s other pastimes include reading, watching movies, listening to music, and bowling, in which he once qualified for the Professional Bowlers Association. His other hobbies don’t displace the place of computer science in his life, though. When asked about his favorite thing about his field? Dr. Bulko said, “That it’s fun. I never get tired of it. It’s exciting to do stuff in computer science.”
Additional Resources:
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~bulko/