Job title: Assistant Professor
Department: Political Science
How long have you worked at Whitworth? One year
What do you like best about your job? Like most folks around here, the opportunity to work with some great students. And I get to spend my days talking, reading and writing about something I love and feel called to do. Not a bad gig.
In what ways do your gifts and abilities help meet the needs of the campus community you serve? I hope I’m okay at teaching and mentoring students. I sure enjoy it, anyway.
Favorite book: Am I a huge nerd if I say Madison, Hamilton, & Jay’s The Federalist? Okay, then how about Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Favorite movie: It certainly depends on the mood, but “Rushmore” and “The Shawshank Redemption” are always near the top.
Favorite food: There's nothing I won’t eat, but the longer I’m away, the more I love the distinct foods of my previous homes. That’s Southern cooking in general, but especially shrimp & grits and South Carolina pork barbecue (mustard base, of course, but I won’t turn down vinegar). Then Texas taught me to love some authentic Tex-Mex.
Favorite quote: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Favorite music: This is a hard one for a music lover with eclectic tastes, but my all-time favorites include David Wilcox, Van Morrison and The Indigo Girls
Favorite animal: Big, playful dogs
Guilty pleasure: College football. Is it bad for a political scientist to read the daily news about Clemson Tiger football before the daily news about politics?
Hobbies: Outside stuff (running, backpacking, skiing, gardening), music, cooking and spending time with my family
Best vacation ever: My wife and I spent a week on the north shore of Kauai shortly before our first daughter was born. An excellent time.
Birth place: Cleveland, Tenn.
We’d be surprised to know that…I usually run a marathon a year, with the Spokane Marathon up next this fall.
I collect…books.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Somewhere in Africa with my kids while they’re still at a very formative age (but don’t get me wrong, Fiji sounds nice, too)
If you could try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? Today, I think I might be a farmer, Wendell Berry-style.
What is your favorite sound? It’s pretty great to hear my two little girls make each other laugh. And good live music, too.
If the whole world was listening, what would you say? “All you need is love. Love is all you need.”
Favorite childhood book: I can’t recall this one from my own childhood, but my favorite kids’ book since becoming a parent is without a doubt Robert McCloskey’s Time of Wonder.
Favorite childhood TV show: “The Brady Bunch”
Least favorite word: None comes to mind, but my whole life I’ve been pretty, um, particular about grammar (as my students certainly might second)
If you could go on a road trip with anyone (from the past or present), who would you choose and where would you go? In college I had an annual tradition called “Random Roadtrip,” in which anywhere from 7-15 friends and I picked a truly random location no closer than 10 hours away for a Friday night to Sunday afternoon road trip. Destinations included the likes of Graceland, Colonial Williamsburg, Medieval Times (the Dallas location, for the sole reason that, despite having one 13 hours closer, it, unlike others, had a moat), you get the picture. Given the choice of a road trip with anyone to anywhere, I’d reconvene Random Roadtrip with the original cast – destination not terribly important.
Best high school class subjects: Social studies, history, and government (shocking, I know)
Best high school class subjects: Social studies, history, and government (shocking, I know)
