By Kim SchneiderEAST LIVERPOOL – This is Prof. Jason Venner's first year as an adjunct faculty member and he's teaching the students of KSU Poetry and Writing this semester.
Raised in the thriving town of Wadsworth,Ohio, he graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea for his bachelor’s degree. Venner then graduated from the University of Akron with a Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts (NEOMFA).
Venner first became interested in poetry when he wrote a poem for an English assignment in high school and the teacher read his poem in front of the class. His teacher told him he was a poet, “so, being impressionable, I guess I must have agreed,” he said.
Although this is his first year at KSU, Venner has been teaching at a university level for four years; he is also a professor at KSU Stark and the University of Akron, where he teaches Composition.
Venner was inspired to teach by the people on his thesis committee: Craig Paulenich, who teaches at KSU Salem, Robert Miller, of Stark campus and Mary Biddinger of the University of Akron, who helped him take his writing to the next level. Speaking of his family influence, Venner said, “I was a hyper kid with a big mouth, so they were always telling me to go into teaching,” Venner said.
When asked what made him decide to teach poetry Venner replied, “I like seeing people stretch their boundaries in order to create something they otherwise might not have thought possible.”
He hopes he can arouse the students to nurture an appreciation for poetry because of the different ways language can get a message across. Venner believes there is a benefit to studying poetry because it helps you “to understand the precision of your own heart and mind.”
Speaking of the depth of westerners' poetic interest, he said, “Creative writing programs at universities are springing up across the country, and this shows how much interest there really is. However, the internet makes poetry a force to be reckoned with. Not only do people have access to the old stuff, they have more avenues and mediums at their disposal to produce their own.”
Venner plans to earn a doctorate in Literature but isn’t sure when that will happen. He wants to enjoy living life before he commits to another five years. He presently is in the process of learning what he calls the “finer points” of bathroom remodeling, and uses his spare time to travel with his wife, hike and play guitar in a band called 21 Gun Solution. He says his future may not be mapped out yet but he intends to get some books of poetry published and “enjoy life as it unfolds.”
