Jared Demick is hopelessly in love with words & remains, after all these years, a curious spelunker of the mind. He's taught composition & creative writing at Midlands Tech for the past decade. He's coordinator for the English department's Studio program & serves as editor for Stylus, the campus literary & art magazine. 

Originally from Massachusetts, Jared developed a love for poetry & DIY punk, learning from that art can construct new worlds. While an undergrad at UMass-Amherst, Jared started The Jivin' Ladybug, an online literary magazine that featured work & interviews from a wide range of experimental poets & artists. 

He later received his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Connecticut. While at UConn, he was an administrative assistant to the director of the university's Trio programs (Upward Bound, Student Support Services, McNair). This job made him especially passionate about working with first-generation college students. He also served a one-year term as assistant director of UConn's Creative Writing program.

Jared highly values the mission of community colleges, especially their open-enrollment policies, believing that educational opportunities should be available to all. In fact, that's what brought him here to Midlands Technical College. Jared loves the MTC classroom experience, the wealth of knowledge shared by students with vastly different life experiences. Having taught at institutions where students possess similar experiences & viewpoints, he finds the MTC classroom to be infinitely richer & more interesting. 

As an instructor, Jared explicitly frames his classroom as an experimental zone, where the act of attempting new tasks & employing new knowledges is far more important than their successful execution. He sees perfection as the enemy of educational growth & views pedagogical approaches that don't emphasize process with deep skepticism. He seeks to surprise his students with tasks that strike them as unusual because he finds that folks become more receptive when their ideas of an "English class" are changed. 

Jared has been recognized both by MTC & NISOD (National Institute of Staff & Organizational Development) for his innovative pedagogical approaches. He helps orchestrate the School of English & Humanities Coffeehouse Open Mic & Creative Night ventures. He can be found in his office in Wade Martin 418 where he welcomes all visitors.