John H. Curry, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Educational Technology
Oklahoma State University
209 Willard Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
405-744-8042
I was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 5, 1969, and lived there until November 1980 when I moved to Mustang, Oklahoma following my parents’ divorce. I count Mustang as my home. I lived there pretty much from then until I got back from my mission.
I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission from March of 1988 to April of 1990. Those two years truly changed my life and who I am. Still not a day goes by that I don’t think back to Guatemala. While there, I was lucky enough to not only learn Spanish, but also to serve in the Polochic region with the indians and learn the K’ekchi’ dialect.
After my mission, I graduated from Ricks College (now Brigham Young University-Idaho). While here, I met my wife, Lori, in the women’s showers in the Hart building (it’s not what you were thinking–we were on the 4:00 am custodial crew!) We married April 24, 1992, and we have three wonderful kids, John, Natalie, and Andrew.
From Ricks, I graduated from BYU in Provo with a BA in English, and later a MA in the Theory and Practice of Writing from Utah State University. From there I had a hard time trying to figure out where to go for my Ph.D. I had a couple of really tempting scholarship offers, but I just couldn’t get excited about them. ANOTHER degree in English?!? What was I going to learn? I already knew how to read a book and write a paper about it, so I took a semester off. At that time I had a couple of friends (shout-out to Rulon and Platte!) who were completing double Master’s degrees in English and Instructional Technology. They figured sinced I was interested in what makes good teaching and I had done work with designing and developing online courses and online course delivery systems I would be a good fit in Instructional Technology. I resisted as long as I could . . .
Little did I know when I started studying Instructional Technology at Utah State University that it was one of the top programs in the world, nor that I would study under a legend in the field like David Merrill. I’ve been truly blessed.
So that’s how I’ve come home to Oklahoma. It’s a bit of an adjustment being in Stillwater, because my grandfather taught at OU for over thirty years, but I’m sure he would be pleased I’m home. I’m excited to be here and to be giving back to the State that gave me so much. I’ve always wanted to be here, so again, I feel very blessed.
Other than that, I consider my life a work in progess. I’ll get back to you when the final chapter is written . . .