Jim Pacchioli

Professor

“It’s the sheer quality you find at every level of SMC that’s so encouraging: the nature of the students, the quality of my colleagues—everything about it, really.”

“I’ve been teaching part time at SMC since 1989. I was trying to span the centuries and go from the 20th to the 21st as a part timer. But I didn’t make it!” says Jim Pacchioli with a great laugh. “They hired me! And it’s just a great job.” Jim says his ‘failure’ to remain part time is one of many surprises he’s had in education. “When I was in college, my intention was to go to law school. The English department told me that studying with them would be a great major for this. And—very suddenly—I found that I loved it,” says Jim. “And the more I learned, the more I thought, ‘I don’t want law school. I want to teach English. Well,” he continues, “it became my passion, and then all I had to do was find a way to make a living with it.” Jim has certainly done just that at SMC.

“I’ve taught a whole lot of classes here, but mainly I teach Composition.” For most us, that dreaded word means ‘writing,’ which has been said to be the easiest thing in the world to do. You just simply stare at a blank screen until drops of blood form on your forehead. “I’m very aware of this fear that a lot of people have about writing. Fact is, I just had a conference with a student who had a very real obstacle with this. And he seems to have made a real breakthrough. And those moments—when they happen—are wonderful to be a part of.”

With what Jim calls his “relentless amounts of work,” he hasn’t had much time for his other passions: Shaquille playing round-ball and Miles Davis playing jazz. “But teaching is what I call intense, monomaniacal fun,” he says. “The way I teach is all about love and skepticism: love for the material and skepticism because someone’s trying to sell you something every minute of the day. And I want students to know that—if they’re actively involved—they will thrive here.”

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