A Professor Doing What He Loves
SPC Programs & Events January 14, 2015By Evan Hildreth
It is eleven o’clock and East-West Synthesis, taught by professor Michael Jahosky has begun. Students file into a humanities classroom, decorated sparsely with images of Hindu heroes and Egyptian wonders at the end of the east wing of the TE building. The students are excited to share the insights and discoveries about the ancient cultures they have been studying. This is professor Jahosky’s last class to teach this week, but for any teacher that is ardent about his/her student’s learning, the end of the lecture doesn’t end the investment into students’ lives.
“I am passionate about teaching because I get excited when I see that students are learning about new ideas and challenging old ideas that they might have never done before,” says Jahosky, as he walks the sunny sidewalks on his way to the SPC Gibbs library to meet with students after class.
Prof. Michael Jahosky with his son, Lucas.
Professor Jahosky has been a humanities professor for SPC for three years. Previously he spent two years as an adjunct professor at the SPC Clearwater campus and another two years of adjunct work at USF. He graduated from UCFs Honors College with dual bachelor degrees in Humanities and History. For his honors college undergraduate thesis, he wrote about Alexander the Great. “I have always been interested in Alexander the Great,” says Professor Jahosky. He continued his graduate studies at USF where he earned a masters degree in humanities. At USF, he wrote his thesis about Leonardo Da Vinci.
A look into his office reveals ceiling high bookshelves full of books, sprinkled with three marble busts of Homer, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great. Posters of middle earth occupy what little wall space is available. He is currently working on a book called The House of David in Middle-Earth, which explores the presence of the biblical themes of monarchy and the return of the king in both the Bible and Lord of the Rings.
In the library, a small group of students already wait for the young professor. The students are eager to delve into the topics presented in the class to gain better knowledge. He spends the time in the library sitting at a circular table so all students can discuss and give input. Jahosky is giving of his time, spending much of it in the library discussing things with his students after class. Professor Jahosky smiles and says, “I don’t like assignments; they tend to get in the way of the learning. I wish that I could make it so that there was just one assignment due each semester, so I could spend the time discussing the topic with my students.” A true Neo-Socratic at heart.
Header photo by Maddie Keating (Flickr Creative Commons License)
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