Name: Alan B. Jacob (The “B.” is there because of long, funny story that involves the police.)
Job title: Associate Director of Housing
Department: Student Life
How long have you worked at Whitworth? 6 wonderful years
What do you like best about your job? The best part is working with a bunch of crazy people…I fit right in. And having a coffee shop on the floor below has been great.
In what ways do your gifts and abilities help meet the needs of the campus community you serve? My job is unique in that it combines a ton of data, computer, and nitty-gritty detail work, but at the same time requires me to be a good “people person,” seeing each question as unique, each person as an individual, and every interaction as a chance to help a person, be it student, staff or faculty member. I’d like to think I’m good at seeing the forest amongst the trees, the trees among the forest, and even the crazy squirrels running around them all.
Favorite book: Anything by James Herriot, the author of the All Creatures Great and Small series
Favorite movie: “Snatch.” Admittedly it has enough swear words that you’ll never get all the soapy taste out of your mouth, but the characters in the movie are spot-on and hilarious.
Favorite food: Any and all food, morning, noon, or night. I don’t think there’s ever been any odd or unusual food offered to me that I haven’t tried.
Favorite quote: “Consider the daffodil. And while you’re doing that, I’ll be over here, looking through your stuff.” Jack Handy
Favorite music: Anything from Ben Folds
Favorite animal: I have two dogs, but I wouldn’t mind getting a dog that won’t “do its business” in my backyard. It doesn’t exist yet, but I hear top scientists are working on it.
Guilty pleasure: There’s never been a dark-chocolate candy bar that I cannot finish in one sitting.
Hobbies: I’ve been known to throw my leg over a bicycle from time to time.
Best vacation ever: 10 days in Playa del Carmen, 85 degrees, endless beaches, and coconut-scented sunscreen. June 2001
Birthplace: I tell people it’s Rhinelander, Wisconsin, only because I’ve never learned to spell Millwawkee.
We’d be surprised to know that…I have a subscription to and read Scientific American cover to cover. Not because I understand any of it – genome splicing, string theory, and almost always something about photon torpedoes? – but because it reminds me that I don’t EVER want to go into the sciences.
I collect…sarcastic comments and save them up to unleash in a biting torrent. (But don’t worry, I only save them for people I love.)
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? To the center of the earth. If I do it right, I think I would be weightless. But very hot. I’d have to check Scientific American for that one.
What cartoon character best describes you? Is there a character that eats a lot, drinks too much coffee, and has the attention span of a five-year-old? What’s the question?
If you could try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt? No joke: rally car driver
What is your favorite sound? The rear derailleur of a bicycle while shifting gears
What is your life motto? “It could be worse.”
If the whole world was listening, what would you say? “Never think that you’re so high and mighty that others couldn’t knock you down a notch, and never think that you’re too lowly and worthless for others to help you up a bit.”
Favorite childhood book: The Jungle Book. To a small boy, the idea of hanging out all day with a bunch of talking animals in the jungle AND never having take a bath is amazing.
Favorite childhood TV show: “National Geographic,” but only because Mom and Dad wouldn’t let us watch anything unless it was on PBS.
Least favorite word: “Nuclear,” only because everyone keeps telling me I’m saying it wrong but I can’t figure out how to say it right!
Best high school class subject: I did pretty well in my art classes, but looking back at the “art” I made, the word definitely deserves quote marks around it.
