Who is Jeff Irvin?
I was born in 1966 at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Illinois.
My childhood was
quite peripatetic. I attended--by my own count--fourteen different
schools prior to graduating from high school. By the time I matriculated
at university I had lived in seven states of the Union (California,
Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida). This made
for a
haphazard early educational experience leaving me largely unprepared for higher
education; and, my naturally autodidactic proclivity led me to believe I
could not be taught by another.
In 1984 I entered The University of
Toledo where I remained uncertain about what to major in for several
years. I entered "undecided", and declared majors in engineering and
business prior to settling on the study of history. I did this primarily
because I was convinced that formal education would not benefit me
economically. I was the only one of five siblings to graduate from high
school, and I was passively and actively discouraged by my family from going on to higher
education. I had also experienced, in 1980, a religious conversion that
left me decidedly anti-intellectual--even though I remained fascinated
with science, and conflicted by my continuing interest in it.
In 1986 I dropped out of college and took a full-time job with a
local savings and loan. I worked in the banking industry until the end
of 1989 when I returned to finish my bachelor's degree in history. After
graduating in March of 1992 I spent another year working in the banking
industry, then I applied and was accepted to the master's program in
history at The University of Toledo. I finished this degree in August of
1996 and started my Ph.D. work in the fall of 1996.
While doing my master's degree I began working for The University of
Toledo's IT department. In 1996 I became a Senior Software Specialist
assigned to various departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. For
the past twelve years I have been pursuing my Ph.D. in history while
working for various companies in the IT field, and teaching history. I
plan to complete my Ph.D. in early modern European history later this
fall (2008).
For more information on my educational achievements and my work
history, click on the following links: History Teaching
CV and IT Resume. |