From punk to philosopher

 "I thought that I was actively rebelling by dying my hair blue and cutting it into a Mohawk," Assistant Professor of Philosophy Jason Howard told Lumen. "I was always being rebellious in my adolescent and adult years. I was angry and skeptical about all institutions."

Howard's friends and mom didn't give the type of reaction Howard thought they would to his Mohawk. "My mom laughed at me, she thought I looked like a clown; all my friends laughed at me too," Howard said.

Howard now in his sixth year as an associate professor of philosophy can be found with his natural hair color wearing dress pants.

"Growing up my family had no expectations of me," he said. "I was always in trouble, not with the law, but with my family or school. I would drink a lot and go to parties often.

 "I took off from Windsor, Canada to Vancouver for the summer and I was told that if I did that, I would get kicked out of the house," Howard said.

This didn't stop Howard; he moved to Vancouver to live with some friends and continued to party a lot.

When he returned to Windsor he was kicked out. He had no job and no place to live and he dropped out of school. He was living off of Canada's welfare system. Howard, a Canadian citizen, was able to get money from the government.

During this time Howard had an epiphany, "I ended up reading Nietzsche living in Windsor, and I decided to go back to school," Howard said.

 "Nietzsche motivated me to get organized and stop feeling sorry for myself," Howard said. "He helped me realize that my past doesn't determine who I am. That my choices do and I have the power to determine my own choices."

After finishing high school, Howard attended Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. "I went to study English. But I needed to get B/Cs at the least to stay in the program, but ended up only getting Cs," he said. 

 "I was talking to my adviser, who told me that all the questions I ask in class are philosophical so he told me that I should major in philosophy," he said.

Howard took the advice of his adviser and double majored in philosophy and classical studies (Greek and Roman history), graduating in 1993. "Once I decided to major in philosophy, I knew I was going to get my doctorate in it; I even told my parents and friends that I was going to get my doctorate," Howard said.

Howard still had little encouragement from his family and friends. "No one in my family had a university education nor could anyone see the value in something like philosophy, eh" he said in his Canadian accent. "My mum was a cashier at grocery stores and my father was a steam fitter.

"The partying got pointless and tedious," Howard said. "I realized I couldn't commit fully to philosophy and be successful while going to raves, bars and house parties."

Howard then went straight to graduate school. He received his master's degrees in philosophy from Brock University in Ontario, Canada in 1995. His master's thesis was, "Husserl on Internal Time-Consciousness and the Synthetic Ego."

After Howard obtained his master's degree from Brock University he went to Seoul, South Korea in Sept. of 1995 to teach English. This is where he met his future wife Ju-won.

"I met her at a party that my roommate invited her too," Howard said. "Her parents were very concerned about their daughter marrying a foreigner.

 "Her parents were understandably skeptical of me at first," Howard said. "The only white people her family had encountered were U.S. soldiers.

 "Now they are very supportive and love me like a son," Howard said.

Ju-won and Howard left Seoul in 1996, so Howard could obtain his doctoral degree.

Howard wanted to get his doctorate degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Leuven Belgium, "the Husserl archives are there and Husserl is one of my favorite philosophers," Howard said.

Because Louvain requires its doctoral students to first earn a master's degree there, Howard enrolled in Louvain's M.A. licentiate's degree program in philosophy, earning his second master's degree in 1998. Howard's subject for his second master's degree was "The Study of Intuitive Acts in Husserl's Logical Investigations."

Howard didn't like everything about Belgium. "My first eight months studying in Belgium, I woke up at 5 a.m and worked under the table in a bakery till 9 a.m and then went to class," Howard said. "I hated that job."

Howard didn't like everything about the European approach to education either. "Professors in Europe are very blunt, and you have to prove why you deserve to be there," he said.

Howard wanted to write on Husserl but had changed his mind because, "my German wasn't good enough to tackle the Husserl manuscripts, and so I switched to study Hegel instead," Howard said. His dissertation ended up being, "The Dynamic of Conscience and the Hegelian Appropriation: An Investigation into the Genesis of Moral Obligation.     

"Belgium and in Europe in general I felt dumb," Howard said. "Everyone can speak at least two languages, and here I am unable to perfect a second language.

"I never really had an ear for language no matter how much time and work I invest, I always seem unable to successfully learn a language," Howard said.

While in Belgium in 2001 Ju-won gave birth to their daughter Elise.

After 10 years of post secondary education, Howard obtained the doctorate degree in philosophy he told his friends and family. "During the whole process people would always doubt that I was going to get a doctorate," he said. "At family gatherings my uncle would ask me how majoring in sand castle building was going for me.

 "Even after my PhD, many people remained skeptical about my choice to study philosophy," Howard said. "After finally finding a job at Viterbo, everyone seemed to agree I had made the right choice.

"But you see if I hadn't ever gotten a job they would have thought that this whole venture was pointless and a waste of my time," Howard said.

Howard was given a warm welcome to Viterbo. "Father Tom and Associate Professor of Religious Studies Earl Madary furnished my apartment for me, and even filled my fridge with groceries," Howard said.

"I was still in Europe when I was hired by Viterbo," Howard said. "I couldn't fly my furniture over because it's too expensive."

Associate Professor of Philosophy Larry Harwood told Lumen, "I couldn't ask for a better colleague than Jason.

"He is extremely giving to the discipline, he lives and breathes philosophy," Harwood said. "He is always ready to talk philosophy. He is selfless. The amount of time he gives to students to help them is great. He is very personable and easy to get along with."