In class before the COVID beard
Teaching
Short Bio
Stephen Wells is an award-winning professor of English at the Community College of Allegheny County. He brings a unique perspective to his teaching, having served in the United States Air Force at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany during the closing years of the Cold War. After completing his military service, Wells earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Duquesne University, majoring in English and history, followed by a Ph.D. in English Literature in 2008. Throughout his academic career, Wells has been recognized for his excellence in teaching, winning the NISOD Excellence Award and the Dale P. Parnell Distinguished Faculty Recognition from the American Association of Community Colleges. In addition to teaching, he is currently writing a book about an underdog team of community college runners who rise to national prominence under the tutelage of one of America’s early sub-4 milers.
More about Teaching
After graduating from high school, I went off to school at Virginia Tech. It didn’t end well. I hung on there for a year and a half before finally accepting the fact that I would not succeed as a forestry major. I spent the next three years in the Air Force working on F16 aircraft in the United States and Europe. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Uncle Sam didn’t need so many of us in uniform, so I returned to civilian life. I worked a few construction jobs, but I knew I would eventually return to college, and when I got laid off from a job in the fall of 1990, I went back to school.
I started by taking a couple years of classes at CCAC before transferring to Duquesne University where I majored in English and history. I planned to make writing my profession until the chair of the English department called me into his office and explained to me how much I would probably be able to earn as a writer…definitely not enough to support a family. After closing one door, he opened another for me by encouraging me to apply for an available teaching assistantship. Once I stepped into the classroom, I never looked back.
I worked for a few years as an adjunct before landing a full-time, tenure-track job at CCAC. I’ve been there for over twenty years now and have taught thousands of students in hundreds of classes, all of them unique and rewarding experiences.
