Professor of Sociology
I am passionate about teaching and learning and have been arduously working to enhance the art and science of teaching. Course evaluations routinely demonstrate my zeal for teaching, students, and sociology. I am continually integrating pedagogy that fosters active learning, using case studies, games/simulations, multimedia, as well as developing extensive experiential and high-impact learning opportunities. One of my strengths is developing high-impact programming emphasizing experiential education and intercultural competency. For example, in a Community and Urban Affairs course, students participate in a four-day Chicago immersion experience, where students use public transportation, spend time and assess community strengths in Indian/Pakistani and Hispanic/Latinx neighborhoods, panhandle for lunch money in affluent neighborhoods, witness African American community organizing, and partner with homeless people selling StreetWise. (StreetWise is a homeless-inspired newspaper produced and sold by the economically vulnerable to become financially independent and connect with social services networks.) Over the years, I have developed twenty-five partnerships with ministries, social service agencies, and organizations to help students become more internationally competent and culturally sensitive citizens.
I have had the privilege of leading teams of students and faculty on numerous international experiences, namely in Rwanda (8), Uganda (9), South Korea (3), Japan (1), Chile (1), and Ireland/N. Ireland (4). I have organized and led faculty/student development teams to Rwanda and Uganda, sponsoring a series of workshops on tribal/racial reconciliation, trauma counseling/healing, microfinance/microenterprise, writing as healing, and coordinating an international documentary filmmaking course as well. I recently developed and coordinated tribal reconciliation workshops in Bidi Bidi, one of the world's largest refugee camps in northern Uganda, and Omugo Camp in NW Uganda. In fact, the training material I developed in trauma and reconciliation is now being used in several refugee camps across Rwanda and Uganda.
I also serve as President -- Executive Board of Directors, Urban Light Community Development Foundation. ULDC supports women in recovery, affordable housing, and community development and engagement in Muncie, IN.
Most recently, I have a manuscript, "Working on the Privilege Chain Gang," being reviewed by the Journal of Excellence in College Teaching. I am also presenting, "Watch Your Step: A Token Danger" at the Lilly Conference on College Teaching at Miami University Ohio, in November.
In progress, "Using Improv to Teach Race/Ethnicity" in Teaching Sociology.
Jessup, Michael M. 2016. "From the Heart: A Workbook on Reconciliation." Watermission, Kampala, Uganda.
Jessup, Michael M. 2012. Developed Web Resources, Prosumer Student Activities,
RSS Feeds and Media Resources for Introduction to Sociology by George Ritzer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jessup, Michael M. 2011. "Marriage and the Family." in Sociology: A
Christian Approach for Changing the World. 2nd ed. Edited by C. Tweedell. Marion, IN: Triangle Press.
Jessup, Michael M. 2010. Developed web resources, prosumer student activities, RSS feeds, and media resources for the student ancillary materials in The McDonaldization of Society, 6th edition by George Ritzer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jessup, Michael M. 2007. "The Sword of Truth in a Sea of Lies: The Theology of Hate," in This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith, edited by Robert Priest and Alvaro Nieves. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jessup, Michael M. 2004. "Sociopoly." In Social Stratification: Teaching Resources, edited by Scott Sernau and Johnnie Griffin. Washington D.C.: American Sociological Association.
Jessup, Michael M. 2002. "Marriage and Family." in Christians Doing Sociology: An Approach to Change the World. Edited by C. Tweedell. Marion, IN: Triangle Press.
Jessup, Michael M. 2001. "Truth: The First Casualty of Postmodern Consumerism." Christian Scholar's Review. XXX (3):289-304.
Jessup, Michael M. 2001. "Sociopoly: Life on the Boardwalk." Teaching Sociology 29:102-109.
Jessup, Michael M. 2000. Consorting with Blood and Violence: The Decline of the 1920s Oklahoma Ku Klux Klan. Chronicles of Oklahoma. LXXVIII (3): 296-315.
Jessup, Michael M. 1997. "Legitimacy and the Decline of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan." Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change, Volume 20:177-221.
I enjoy teaching. I like all of the “work” that goes into class preparation; I enjoy reading contemporary research, and wrestling with new and challenging ideas. I also enjoy trying to find new and innovative ways to communicate these ideas to students. I want students to be as excited about concepts, theories, and ideas as I am! One of the benefits of Taylor is the small class size–allowing me to integrate experiential components into the classroom. For students, this might mean the opportunities of talking to offenders in a prison, hanging out with a homeless person, listening to a refugee from South Sudan share his or her story, or praying with a Rwandan pastor who lost forty members of his congregation. I also enjoy Taylor because I have the freedom to integrate my Christian faith–the freedom to ask the tough questions.
When I am not taking students to international locations, I also love to travel. My wife and I recently visited N. Ireland and Scotland, Italy, and going to the Netherlands for spring break!
