Catherine and David Deavel, Faith and Timothy Pawl, and Rachel and Mathew Lu are three of several married couples who teach at St. Thomas. Balancing their professional lives and personal relationships isn’t always harmonious, but it’s been a rewarding experience for these professors.

Catherine and David Deavel

The Deavels have been married for 13 years. Catherine works in the philosophy department and has been teaching at St. Thomas since 2000, and David has been teaching in the Catholic studies department since 2002.

Catherine and David say their personal views are often complementary and that they frequently help one another with different teaching styles.

“I’m in philosophy, so I like to go from: here’s the first step, now is the second one – and here’s the third, ta-da!” Catherine says. “Dave has a really great speaking style, and he has kind of a quirky sense of humor, and that makes me think about how to keep lectures interesting and how to move through it in a way that’s more human.”

David says he has incorporated some of Catherine’s step-by-step methods.

“I’ll tell all these stories and jokes and kind of move through this material and assume they’ve seen the connections,” David says. “But I need to go back and say, OK but here’s the structure of what I was doing. This is why I went from here to here to here. We play to each other’s (strengths).”

Catherine and David are raising six children who occasionally visit their parents’ classrooms.

“Our children love to help bring in cookies at the end of a class,” Catherine says. “It’s kind of funny.”

The couple said they are both “enthusiastic” about working at a Catholic university because faith is central to their lives.

“Marriage is always a shared project, and for us faith and family are the core. We both wanted to be at a Catholic university,” Catherine says. “It’s a more natural and explicit overlap with the things that are core. I relish that. I love it.”

Faith and Timothy Pawl

Faith and Timothy have been married for nine years, and they’ve both been teaching in the philosophy department since 2008.

Working in the same department has been a positive experience for both Faith and Tim, allowing them to communicate well and learn from one another.

“I think the things that Dr. Pawl is interested in philosophically are super interesting even though they aren’t topics I would want to work on,” Faith says. “It’s nice for him to be able to read my work and comment on what I’m doing because he fully understands the norms and standards of our discipline.”

The positive communication between Faith and Tim also extends into the classroom. They are both currently teaching ethics and often share notes with one another in their shared office.

“I like sharing an office with (Faith). I think it’s nice,” Tim says. “We can leave little notes for each other in the office as well, which is fun.”

Faith and Tim say working in the same department allows them to have mutual friends and colleagues.

“I like the fact that we can go in and see the same people and talk with them. It’s good to have the same colleagues as one another,” Tim says.

Faith and Tim have four children and agree that St. Thomas is a family-friendly environment where they can raise their family.

“We’ve talked to friends at lots of different institutions that don’t have nearly as generous of parental leave or in general the culture isn’t so friendly to people that are working to balance work and family life,” Faith says.

Rachel and Mathew Lu

Rachel and Mathew, who have been married for nearly eight years, both started teaching in the philosophy department in 2008.

Rachel and Mathew said they don’t always see eye-to-eye on philosophical topics such as the ontological argument or the value of human freedom.

“(Mathew) had me as a guest lecturer for his class once so I could present my side, and then we argued about (the ontological argument) for the class,” Rachel says. “That was fun, and I think the students were amused.”

“I do think the students enjoyed that,” Mathew says. “In any case, she’s still wrong.”

While their disagreements occasionally spark debates, Rachel says she has learned from Mathew’s teaching methods.

“He’d been teaching longer than me, so it was interesting to watch how he integrated lecture and discussion in his class and how he laid out the points of an argument in a way that the class could follow,” Rachel says.

Rachel and Mathew support one another and acknowledge each other’s strengths.

“I’m always a bit surprised and impressed at her easy mastery of her material and the natural authority with which she delivers it,” Mathew says. “In a way, I get to see my wife through fresh eyes and be reminded just how extraordinary she really is.”

With three sons, Rachel and Mathew say they identify as a “Tommie family.” They live in the St. Thomas neighborhood, occasionally bring their sons to events around campus. Both say it’s been a rewarding experience for their family.

“We have many friends through the university,” Rachel says. “Outside of work, I’ve done lots of play groups with faculty and faculty spouses, and altogether we just see St. Thomas people a lot.”

“It would surely have been very difficult to find this kind of Catholic milieu in many other institutions,” Mathew says. “It’s definitely one of the things we’re thankful for here.”

Margaret Galush can be reached at galu4637@stthomas.edu.