I Am West Georgia

Greg Dixon

Job title: Assistant Professor, Political Science and Planning.

What I really do: Try to figure out how to save the world by building better international institutions. In teaching I help American Government students to understand how government works, and what they can do about it. For international relations classes I help students to see how the world works, and how we might be able to make it work a bit better. Basically I have the coolest job ever: I get paid to do what I love.

Years at UWG: 2.5.

Before UWG, I: Studied Political Science at the University of Arizona, managed an after-school (K-12) learning program, sold FedEx shipping services, and did customer service work for a medical safety company. I also managed a roller hockey and indoor soccer center for a year.

One thing I would change about UWG: Warmer winters and a beach.

I was born in: Southern California.

Family members are: My mother and father live in California, as does my brother. Much of my extended family lives in and around Puyallup, WA.

People describe me as: Gregarious, but they might be kidding.

Most colleagues don’t know that: I have more books at home than I do in my office.

Favorite things to do: Read, cook, eat, play hockey and soccer, tend the garden (I grow most of my own vegetables), watch sports (football, hockey, soccer, rugby), and write.

Favorite quote: “That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

Proudest accomplishment so far: Earning my PhD – and then finding a job.

Pet peeve: I’m fairly peeve free.

Best advice ever received: In the dark and terrible tempest it is the storm within that is the greatest danger. Master yourself and the fury of the storm without is just a whisper in the night.

Best advice for new faculty and staff: When in doubt: just ask.

What I most want to contribute to students: I hope to help students understand the world more clearly. Our world is a wide and complex one. I hope to show students enough about the wider context that they get excited enough to explore it further on their own.

The book everyone should read: Just one? Ovid’s Metamorphoses because it is all about the change and transformation we experience as we live our lives.

The movie everyone should watch: People should read books, not watch movies, but it you going to watch a movie it should be Casablanca. It’s not that the movie is great, but you should watch it just to see how many movies and TV shows reference it. It is a good way to see how things we take for granted all came from someplace.

The person, dead or alive, I’d most like to meet: Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Madame de Pompadour.

The place I’d love to travel to where I haven’t been yet: I’d love to climb Borobudur and see if there really is enlightenment at the top.

Although you didn’t ask, I’d like to tell you anyway: (This space intentionally left blank.)