From convicted murderers doing life in prison to women suffering from eating disorders, J. Shannon Dehn, adjunct professor of English, has worked with an assortment of different individuals in a wide variety of occupational fields.

“My goal in life was to have a full, active life,” Dehn said. “I am not one of these people that gets into just one career.”

Through Dehn’s numerous endeavors, he has worked with a diverse group of individuals and feels his compassionate nature has allowed him to empathize with them.

“It is my compassion for people that has allowed me to work with such vast and different parts of humanity,” Dehn said.

Dehn formed a church as a pastor in Northern Indiana and from that found a position with the Indiana Correctional system as a counselor to inmates. In order to truly counsel an inmate and grasp their motives, Dehn said it took emphasizing where they came from.

“You try to understand their dysfunctional background and how different growing up their experience has been,” Dehn said. “We all have different ways of coping with life.”

Upon interacting closely with the inmates, Dehn said he began to form a new perspective of them.

“Once you’re in the joint working with these people, you begin to see them not as you see them in the media and on the news,” Dehn said. “They are real people with real problems. Some have made rash mistakes that they will pay for the rest of their lives.”

From an intense interest in the American Civil War stemmed another enterprise — reenacting the battle of Shiloh in schools for children.

“I have an outfit and everything,” Dehn said. “It’s a way for the children to learn, and I stay and answer questions.”

Another one of Dehn’s undertakings was working with women suffering from eating disorders.

He gave an example of a young woman, weighing only 89 pounds, who he counseled for many years.

“One Sunday morning, I was leading a church service, and a couple came up and thanked me for saving their daughter’s life,” Dehn said. “She had overcome anorexia, gone to college and gotten married. I thought ‘There you go. What more can you ask for in life?’”

Other passions of Dehn’s include motorcycles, cave exploration, traveling the world and flying planes.

Dehn said he always suspected he wouldn’t be the type to settle into a single
career.

“It seemed like just a process, almost like serendipity,” Dehn said. “I knew I never wanted to be what I call ‘trapped,’ working from 9 until 5. I always wanted to be independent.”

The desire to be an individual was one of Dehn’s greatest motivations.

“I have always wanted to be my own person,” Dehn said. “I was never into making money.

“I have too many interests in life to be trapped in one thing,” Dehn said. “It was a goal to make something of my life that would be helpful.”

He said his father was on of his sources of inspiration.

“He was a person of many interests, as well,” Dehn said. “I’m following in his footsteps closely.”

From his contact with such a diverse group of people, Dehn said it has left him with a notion that although every individual is unique, people are more alike than we sometimes think.

“Well, I guess it’s simple enough that people are people,” Dehn said. “Some have a lot of disadvantages in life which are hard to overcome at times.”

James Robinson, nursing sophomore, said he feels Dehn’s contact with such a wide variety of people aids his ability to communicate with all people.

“He knows how to talk to students,” Robinson said. “He is very clear in getting his message across.”

Janeé Steele, accounting junior, said Dehn communicates with students exceptionally well.

“He knows the difference between a man and a woman and how to talk to them both,” Steele said.

Dehn said he can empathize with the challenges of being a student because he studied at so many schools, obtaining three master’s degrees in English, theology and student personnel administration. He also has a doctorate in counseling psychology.

Dehn said he strives to encourage his students.

“I tell my students what Socrates said about knowing thyself,” Dehn said. “What I say to them is believe in thyself. Believe in what you can achieve.”

By ANNIE MALKA

Staff

amalka@umail.iu.edu