AU announced this past week that they promoted Professor Patrick Thaddeus Jackson to director of the General Education program. The role of the director is to oversee the General Education program at AU, including course development and interconnectedness.
According to Jackson, two of his main goals for the position are to create novel second-level courses and to "enhance opportunities for cross-disciplinary work." Jackson said he will continue to teach courses in the School of International Service, where he is currently an associate professor.
Most have probably seen Jackson around campus; he was the guy wearing a full suit with suspenders and a Yankees baseball hat. While he was taking doctoral courses at Columbia, a history professor gave him two priceless keys to teaching: dress professionally and tell good stories. He takes both pieces of advice very seriously.
A few minutes into any conversation with Jackson, students begin to realize that they are going to be talking a lot longer than initially planned, because he is passionate, excitable and full of endless (yet highly entertaining) stories.
Jackson is an international politics specialist who has earned a reputation as a tech expert, known for using blogging, podcasting and a variety of other technology-driven media in and out of the classroom.
He says the goal of his technology use is "to meet the students were they live, and since you all [his students] are wired - that's the way you take in information and process things." That, and "it's just cool and effective," two words that personify his classroom.
One of his former World Politics students, Jeannine Ajello, a junior in the School of International Service, agrees that he is an "amazing" professor who is highly skilled at "weaving together elements of a discussion" and creating a "freeform and flexible" classroom that is highly conducive to learning.
Jackson's new position will continue his long-term dedication to teaching and learning, especially as related to the fundamentals of education.
His past teaching decisions exhibit this commitment to education basics, even after receiving tenure. In fact, Jackson contends that one of his favorite classes to teach has always been World Politics, which he enjoys because of the broad and expansive nature of general education courses. He said he sees World Politics as an opportunity where students "aren't supposed to learn anything" about politics or international relations, but are supposed to develop academic skills and opinions.
Jackson rewrote the standard World Politics curriculum this year, eliminating unwieldy "classics" and substituting new, more pleasurable literature, like "How Soccer Explains the World: A Unlikely Theory of Globalization" by Franklin Foer.
However, one warning to students who decide to take one of Jackson's classes: Don't misinterpret "not supposed to learn anything" for being easy. These classes may cause serious brain ache from straining and expanding to deal with Jackson's challenges. The projects and papers assigned for the class will seriously inhibit sleep and extracurricular activities. But in the end, his students generally agree that all the work is worth it.
Jackson has also taught international relations research, masterworks of international relations, research methods and the infamous "Envisioning the Future of World Politics" - his trademark creation where science fiction meets international affairs. It is a favorite among upper-level students, is nearly impossible to blue card into and enjoys the rare status of being a class where most of the students actually enjoy doing the reading.
In his research activities as a discourse theorist, Jackson's published works cover subjects nearly as broad as his interests. They range from "Broomstick Diplomacy," about Harry Potter, to "Civilizing the Enemy," his latest book, which discusses Germany's post-WWII reconstruction in terms of "western civilization" discourse. Adding a new subject to his repertoire, he envisions a future book on highways in America.
There are a few things that Jackson loves more than teaching, they include the Yankees baseball, New York pizza and above all, his family.
Want to know more about Jackson - the professor, the researcher, or the man now in charge of at least 10 classes everyone will need to take? Like all tech-savvy profs, he's got it all on his blog: profptj.blogspot.com.
