Dr. Brent House is a beloved English professor at California University of Pennsylvania. He is known around campus for his eccentric character, his love for English and especially for his caring and compassionate personality. He is also in charge of the Writing Center at Cal U. Dr. House goes above and beyond for his students and for Cal U as a noted professor, poet and friend to his fellow faculty members.
He is originally from Necaise, Mississippi, where he lived and worked on his family’s farm. He says that working on a farm and driving a tractor allowed him to “create worlds and words in [his] imagination.” As an undergrad, he attended William Carey College in Mississippi. He later attended Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia, to earn a Master of Fine Arts; this led him to become a professional poet. He then earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Throughout his university years, he worked in retail and as a teacher. His teaching experience ranges over 24 years and between The University of West Georgia, Indiana Wesleyan University, Indiana U of PA, Short University in Georgia and Bloomsburg University before finally arriving at Cal U.
His favorite poet is James Dickey and his favorite poem by Dickey is “Deer Among Cattle.” Dr. House was inspired by Dickey as they are both Southern and write about similar, natural world topics. Dr. House loves teaching and critical thinking. He relates farming to his teaching of writing and creating stories with his students. He says that writing gives him “the opportunity to learn in every direction.” Dr. House mentions that he teaches English because he doesn’t understand math “beyond quadratic equation” but thinks parabolas are “pretty.”
Dr. House currently lives with his wife and kids in Pittsburgh. He enjoys watching Mercy Street on PBS with his wife, who is an English professor at Duquesne University. He tells the story of his eight-year-old daughter crying over a misspelled word on a spelling test, which he says proves she is the daughter of two English professors. His son suffers from heart problems but is currently thriving now. His role model is his father, who worked extremely hard for his family in Mississippi. Dr. House also credits Dr. Allison Chestnut as a role model and his inspiration to be a teacher.
Dr. House is looking forward to finishing his fourth year teaching at Cal U, the university where he has remained the longest. He is excited to see students from his first-year English 101 classes graduate, being a “milestone in his teaching life.” He lists his hobbies as teaching, writing, being a husband and being a father. He thinks he’ll explore a variety of hobbies when he retires, making him Dr. House the poet and future gardener. A fun fact about Dr. House is that he used to be the lead actor in an annual children’s Christmas musical…seriously, ask him to sing about G.T. the alien.