ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY

 

JASON TUCKER
Assistant Professor of English

 

Phone: (334) 683-5242
Email: jtucker@judson.edu
Office: Jewett Hall 224

 

 

At Judson College since 2008

 

 

 "Really good teachers want to inspire, want to show students what they're capable of if they put their minds to it. I want students, even those that aren't interested in English, to learn
to like writing." - Jason Tucker

 

 

EDUCATION

• MFA, Nonfiction writing, 2008 - Ohio State University

• B.A., English, 2003 - University of Montevallo

 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

English Composition Lab; Principles of Writing; American Literature I; Research Composition

MEET THE PROFESSER

Though a native of Perry County, familiar with the towns, schools, community and atmosphere, Jason Tucker never dreamed that one day he would come back to Marion to teach English at Judson College. Never having had experience with single-sex institutions in the past, Mr. Tucker has nevertheless found the faculty at Judson to be reassuring and professional, the campus itself, beautiful and comfortable - a place where people are concerned about giving students an upstanding education.

Mr. Tucker found himself interested in writing from a very young age and first learned how to type using his mother's old portable typewriter. A first generation college graduate, Mr. Tucker can remember his father, who once worked on an oil rig, telling him to one day "go get himself a job under an air conditioner."

After graduating from the University of Montevallo with his Bachelor of Arts, Mr. Tucker worked for a time as a reporter for the Western Star in Bessemer but finding it hard to be "idealistic" in the newspaper industry, he eventually received a paid teaching assistantship at Ohio State University and decided to learn everything he could about the "business of teaching."

Mr. Tucker has written for and published with various newspapers and magazines throughout Alabama, as well as, Ohio, and continues to freelance write in his spare time. In 2008, Mr. Tucker completed his MFA Thesis paper, his subject centering around the death of Civil Rights figure (and Marion resident) Jimmy Lee Jackson and the Alabama State Trooper who killed him. Mr. Tucker turned this thesis into a now unfinished manuscript which he hopes to complete soon with the upcoming trial of the aforementioned state trooper. Living in Marion again and working at Judson gives Mr. Tucker "easy access" to do his research!

As a professor of English at Judson, Mr. Tucker hopes to create a "fairly well first-year writing program" with an emphasis on the QEP, and to start a standard of writing for freshmen that he "wishes someone had taught him at that age." In his free time, Mr. Tucker enjoys reading, writing creative literary nonfiction and cooking.

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SELECTED EXPERIENCE / COURSES DESIGNED & TAUGHT

Graduate Teaching Associate - English Department, Ohio State University; 2005-2008

Associate Nonfiction Editor - The Journal, Ohio State University; 2006-2008

Reporter, photographer, assistant graphic designer - The Western Star, 2003-2005

Designed & Taught Courses
Eng. 110 - Documentary Gazes: Representing History
Eng. 110.02 - Literature as Parable: The Rhetoric of Public Criticism
Eng. 367.01 - Critical Journalism: Writing is Judgment

 

SELECTED AWARDS, HONORS, AFFILIATIONS:

• Memoir chapter "Another Thing I Learned from Writing Obituaries" - nominated as OSU's 2007 submission to the AWP Intro Award
• Published "It's More Than Raining," writing pedagogy essay - AWP Online, March 2007
• Vice President - Ohio State Writers Guild 2006-2007
• Co-filmed, co-edited, and co-produced one hour documentary film of literary readings and interviews from 2007 graduating OSU MFA students as a fundraiser for Writers Guild
• Trib Publications - Best News Feature Award, 2004
• Member, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
• Member, Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society

 

FREELANCE WRITING, EDITING

The Perry County Herald; Sports Ohio; Bessemer Magazine; Alabama Alive!