Finding purpose in life can be daunting, it’s trial and error. It is a process of self-discovery and adaptation. However, sometimes all it takes is stepping foot in a classroom and it all clicks together.
Begona Perez-Mira is a professor of computer information systems at Northwestern State University of Louisiana who is originally from the town of Alicante, Spain.
Perez-Mira has been part of NSU since 2009 where she has taught many courses ranging from marketing and business administration to computer information system classes.
She initially decided to come to NSU in 1997 to get her master’s degree in English after failing to find a job in England; it was then that a professor suggested she attend NSU.
“From the minute I walked into this town and walked into this university, I fell in love with it. I absolutely fell in love with the people, the professors, did everything I loved and I got my master’s. I also found my husband, which is, you know, good too,” Perez-Mira said.
Perez-Mira knew she had found her place in Natchitoches. After getting her master’s degree, she began working for the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts.
After learning how to program through business classes she took for her thesis, she fell in love with programming.
“So I started taking classes and I enrolled in business administration and computer information systems and three years later, I graduated with both degrees. And I decided, I’m like, you know what? I really like this,” Perez-Mira said.
Perez-Mira decided to go back to school to earn her doctorate in information systems and decision sciences at Louisiana State University in 2010.
During the process of writing her doctoral dissertation and moving back to Natchitoches, the director of business programs at NSU offered her to teach classes after a professor had quit, a week before classes started.
“And she was like, can you help us? Can you teach some classes? I’m like, absolutely and that was it. So I think that it was a combination of being in the right place at the right time, but also having an open mind, loving this place and working hard,” Perez-Mira said.
She discovered her passion for teaching when she decided to attend NSU, and she noticed the big difference from her school back home in Spain.
“In Spain, university is completely different from this. Our classes could have 300 people in one class, you rarely saw the professor, the professor never talked to you directly,” Perez-Mira said.
Perez-Mira confessed that she had an instance where a professor threw a board eraser in her direction for trying to ask a question during non-office hours.
“So when I came here to NSU, my professor would talk to me. They would say good morning and good afternoon, and they knew my name. They were interested in what I was doing and that I was successful. I was like, this is what it should be,” Perez-Mira said.
After choosing to become a professor herself, she has loved it from the moment she stepped into her classroom and continues to do so. Making an impact on her students is what makes her job so unique and enjoyable for her.
“I love every single day of this. I have always said that this is the best job that we can have. I get to make a difference, every semester, and if for whatever reason, I have not made the difference that I thought I should’ve made — there is some new opportunity coming in, just weeks after that,” Perez-Mira said.
Her love for teaching is reciprocated by her students. Perez-Mira was named a recipient of the 2023 Faculty Excellence in Academic Advising at NSU. The Office of Academic Engagement and Student Success recognizes faculty for their mentorship and commitment to student success.
“Whenever I can make a difference in a student, I think it’s one of the best days of the year for me,” Perez-Mira said.
