Ngoc Bui Asking professors what they like to do in their free time can elicit some unexpectedly random answers. But for those with young children, especially a newborn, the answer is generally self-evident. “I don’t have much of a life right now outside of work and the baby,” said Ngoc Bui, assistant professor of psychology, and mother of 11-month-old Grace. But for Bui and her husband, the “used-tos” that generally precede the statements of new parents are not quite as frequent as most. “We take her with us,” she said, talking about all the activities she and her husband continue to do after having Grace. “We don’t want to shelter her too much. We think it’s good to have her exposed to a lot of situations to get her used to it quicker.” In fact, she said the only thing that’s changed is playing golf, a hobby she and her husband picked up just before she became pregnant. Bui and her husband were bitten by the bug after pressure from hoards of their friends, including her husband’s aunt “A whole bunch of our friends kept talking about how great it was,” she said, as pictures of Grace seem to blanket the wall behind her. “Let’s just find out. It was pretty fun, so we kind of got into it.” However, “kind of” lasted only briefly. Bui admits that the game pulled them in with both feet, as it has the unique ability to do. “Once you get that one good hit,” she said, “and you want to do it again and you can’t, you want to try it again and again. We got into it. “Once you get hooked, you’re finding the best places to play, best shoes, best clubs.” She and her husband even took lessons the year before last, she said. “We were OK,” she said, “and then we were starting to try to play.” Then came Grace. Since the baby, Bui’s husband has recently talked about getting back to the game. She, however, hasn’t been able – yet. “I haven’t gotten back to that,” she said. “It’s something I want to get back to. Everything else hasn’t really changed with my time.” She and her husband continue to travel with Grace, although not quite as frequently. “We used to love to travel,” she said, “whenever any of our friends have destination weddings. Hopefully, we’ll get to travel more.” But despite cutbacks, there hasn’t necessarily been a huge vacancy in Bui’s traveling. Recently, they ventured to the Bahamas and Hawaii, and the family will be going to the Mexican Riviera next year for – guess what – a wedding. In addition, the Christmas before last, they went to Italy because they knew they were pregnant. In another few years, Bui would like to tour Europe, “do the whole Da Vinci Code thing,” in addition to the Louvre and Sir Isaac Newton’s tomb, among others. Bui’s love for traveling materialized largely during grad school, when she and her friends would simply hop in the car and drive. They drove from Nebraska to Florida, Nebraska to D.C., Nebraska through Texas, etc. But this penchant for car traveling is one hobby that Bui will not plan to continue. “That’s something that I used to do,” she said. “That’s not something that I want to do again. I’m just too tired. And I would rather stay in a hotel than sleep in my car.” THE PROFESSOR Bui admits that students who are organized and pay attention to detail do well with her. In addition, “they have to be comfortable with ambiguity. Even though I’m structured, you get a curveball. Some students can’t handle that. “Students who do well are those that can see the connections between things,” she said. “If they don’t, they are really going to have a lot of problems.” She said that students enjoy her open-door policy. “Literally, my door is always open,” she said. “I see it as a good thing. If they can’t find anyone else, I’m here to help them.” RETURN TO FACULTY LISTmailto:buin@ulv.edu?subject=HELLOHome.htmlshapeimage_1_link_1
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