Jim joined the Colorado State University journalism faculty in 2001 after a career as a newspaper reporter and editor in Illinois, Iowa,
Florida and Wisconsin. He also was editor-publisher of an alternative city magazine in St. Louis, Mo., and jointly operated a graphic
arts-typesetting shop. At CSU he taught computer-assisted reporting, magazine writing, media management, communications law, and media
history. Jim continues to teach an online course after having retired from CSU in December 2013.
During his professional media career he won awards for reporting on organized crime in south Florida and energy-environment issues in
Illinois and Iowa. Jim is the author of two books, The Weekly War: Newsmagazines and Vietnam and The Improbable First Century of Cosmopolitan
Magazine.
Jim is a veteran of the Vietnam War, having served with Air Force Security Service squadrons at various in-country locations and northeast
Thailand during two tours of duty. Previous volunteer work includes service as a rehabilitation ward aide at Jefferson Barracks Veterans
Hospital and an advisor to a prototype veterans outreach center.
Jim and his wife, Carrie, consider Fort Collins the best place they've ever lived. It is a dynamic community with a progressive outlook and welcoming
atmosphere. He loves beer.