Get a Read on English Professor Adam Quinn

One of the newest additions to the school’s staff is Assistant Professor of English Adam Quinn. He began his first year as a full-time PVCC faculty member in the fall of 2022. 

Growing up in Alabama, educational opportunities were hard to come by since going to college wasn’t exactly the norm. Despite this, Quinn was always interested in reading and writing, which led to him majoring in English at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. 

He later received a scholarship from the Fulbright Program and completed his master’s degree in Ireland at University College Dublin. “Not only was it really cool to live in Ireland, but it was really useful too as an English teacher for thinking about different academic conventions around writing,” Quinn said about his time abroad.

Quinn was always an avid reader, so when he found out that one can read books, teach, and write for a job, he automatically knew he wanted to become a professor. After adjuncting at Troy University in Alabama, the University of Kentucky, Blue Ridge Community College, and PVCC, he started teaching full-time.

As a professor, Quinn’s mission is to make college as accessible as possible to everyone no matter their background. His teaching style focuses on breaking down the “hidden curriculum” which he defines as the “idea that there’s a lot that you need to know about being a college student that no one actually ever tells you.” This is why he explains to students the basics of college such as what office hours are, how they can ask for extensions, and how to format emails to professors.

Last year, Quinn also started teaching on prison campuses as part of PVCC’s Higher Education in Prison Program. While he was apprehensive at first, Quinn said, “I’ve loved it. It’s been one of the coolest things I’ve done. My incarcerated students are amazing, and it’s been just a really cool personal experience.”

While he only started teaching full time last year, Quinn only has good things to say about his experience at PVCC. “It is the best job I have ever had; I really really love it. The students are amazing. The colleagues are amazing,” Quinn said with a wide grin on his face.

Quinn currently teaches ENG 111: College Composition I, ENG 112: College Composition II, and ENG 246: American Literature.