English is one of GCSU’s many majors and the department employs professors with different perspectives on English and literature. One of those professors is James S. Owens, or Jim Owens a limited-term lecturer in the English department. 

Owens attended Auburn University, earning a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature. He then enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for his master’s degree in nonfiction. Owens finished his education at GCSU, earning a Master of Fine Arts in nonfiction

Owens is teaching five classes this semester, three English 1101 and two English 2110 classes which is world literature.

In his classes, he uses assigned texts to help students understand the human condition. A few of those selected texts are Aesops’ Fables, Dante’s Inferno and Madame Bovary. 

 “But it’s also so important to why we’re even doing this stuff we’re doing,” Owens said. “You know, if we can take the past and learn from it for the future, then that’s one of the most valuable things we can do.”

Owens works to have his students understand the why of past writers and how the themes in the chosen texts can be applied to situations in the world today. 

Being a professor happened by accident for Owens, and he has always liked learning. 

“I had a lot of really good professors,” Owens said. “Learning has always been important, and I’ve always liked the professors who did it right, and I think I wanted to be like them.”

While working with GCSU professor Bruce Gentry he built a love for the classroom and students. 

“ He was patient with me when maybe some others wouldn’t have been, so patience is important,” Owens said. “I think never forgetting that never judge a book by its cover. I think we all, we all give a lot of lip service to judging books by its cover, but don’t ever do it, you know.”

Listening to his students is one of the top priorities of Owens. 

In his classes, Owens works to build an environment for healthy exchange among students. He provides students an opportunity to interpret the text that is assigned while also bringing up different perspectives that the students can agree with or disagree with. 

This builds healthy thought processes for each student and helps them to constantly think about the opposite view of a text or theme in a text. 

Owen’s ultimate goal is to ensure all his students leave his classroom thinking for themselves.

Owens also wants his students to see their value and use that in their everyday lives.

“They have a unique thumbprint, like based on where they’re from, their aunts, uncles, grandmothers, the way they’re raised,” Owens said. “And some of those are not the best things. Some of them are very good things, but they have the ability to, it’s almost like every human being is its own little piece of art.”