Jeremy Gibson

I would like to share with you a little bit of my story of how I wound up as an assistant professor of Zoology here at Kentucky Wesleyan College. As you can imagine I didn’t always have a Ph.D., in fact I wasn’t at all keen on the idea of going to college at all. When I was preparing to gradate high school and was thinking about my future, I was satisfied with what I was doing. At that time, I was the manager of a local video store (yes, I know I’m old) and I also had my own small business as a graphic designer. I was happy with things. Although, it was made crystal clear to me that If I wanted to “continue living at home” I would have to attend college. So, my family essentially forced my hand and I enrolled at Northern Kentucky University (NKU).

If you can imagine such a thing, I wasn’t always in love with biology/zoology. Although, at this point in my life biology was the subject I did enjoy the most, but I didn’t think if “it” as a career path. After all, throughout my undergraduate career I worked fulltime in various service-oriented jobs, so that is what I was familiar with. What ultimately opened my eyes to other career possibilities was a conversation with a very close friend of mine. At lunch one afternoon she told me about a grant she was writing with a professor; which if funded, would pay her to go to New Mexico to do fieldwork with him over the summer. This was truly a piece of information that would change the course of my life. Needless to say, I also wrote a grant, and I was fortunate because it was selected to be funded (as was my friends). So that summer three of us went with the same professor (Dr. Jon Hastings) and we each conducted our own independent research projects in the field (in central New Mexico). It was such an incredible experience; I went back the following year but this time as a teaching assistant for a desert ecology class.

Because of those experiences, I decided to pursue academia (education and research) as my chosen career path. Even though I selected that career, my pursuit of that path was everything but straight (another story). Despite many of life’s tangents, with a lot of personal sacrifice, persistence, and support, I earned a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. Because of my academic career I have had the pleasure to visit and work in 8 different countries (France, Germany and Spain to name a few) and I have even lived in Scotland (UK). I have also had the pleasure to work with people from over 18 different countries and many of them have become lifelong friends. My journey so far has been incredible, and I am thrilled to continue my adventures here as a member of the KWC community. I am humbled that I get to be a part of your academic journey as you write your own stories.