“Professor Deems is an outstanding instructor. I’ve had the opportunity to take several of her courses already and am currently in my third class with her this semester. I think very highly of her as a teacher and as an individual.” Samuel Still, OMBA
Julia Deems loves learning and hates to be bored.
First, the basics: she’s married (to a math professor) and has one child (proud parent alert: who recently graduated with a degree in Robotics Engineering and who works at a medical research lab). She grew up in Ohio (see attached photo) and has lived in France and China and in five major metropolitan areas in the US. She’s never lived anywhere she didn’t find fascinating.
Next, the background: She has a PhD in English (Rhetoric) from Carnegie Mellon University, an MA in English from The Ohio State University, and a BA in Political Science and English from The Ohio State University. In addition to teaching, she’s worked at The Ohio House of Representatives (responding to constituents, researching political issues); she’s taught English overseas (in Xuzhou, Jiangu Province, China); she’s trained teachers and improved faculty outcomes at a teaching center, led community conversations to strengthen community understanding and improve outcomes, and conducted hundreds of manager assessments for an HR consulting firm. She thinks challenges help us grow and strong communication is essential to success in life.
What Julia does now: She teaches Professional Business Communication to SMP students; Communicating in Digital Spaces to OMBA students; Effective Managerial Communication to PMBA students (an elective); and the Taylor Community Consulting Project (this is new) to undergraduates and graduate students. She also hosts the Wall Street Journal Reading Club (with Dave Pearson – contact either of us if you want to learn more!). She aims to understand students and their unique needs.
In her spare time, Julia loves hiking (ask her about great hikes in the St Louis area – LeBarque Creek is a favorite), birding (Saturday mornings with the St Louis Audubon Society), and growing plants (her collection is large and growing). One of the highlights of the summer was traveling to Vienna, Prague, and Bratislava with her family and seeing a coatimundi (see attached photo) in Arizona. She enjoys learning new things: in the past few years she has studied drawing, coding (Python), sociology, and coaching (through Wash U’s Institute for Leadership Excellence). She’s passionate about learning languages: Spanish, a tiny bit of Chinese (but still working on it), and a little French. She believes there’s always more to learn.
There are some truly unique opportunities in St Louis. In the 6 years she’s been here, Julia’s learned about dolomitic glades and bottomlands, the importance of the Mississippi River in bird migration, and about Missouri’s pivotal role in US history. She’s also seen how many of the challenges that St Louis is facing are similar to issues faced in other US metropolitan areas. She sees herself as being infinitely curious – and a better person because of her curiosity. She hopes that by reading this, you’ve become a bit more curious about something new too.