Get to Know a Jeff: Jeff House

From the Fantastic Four to the Fab Four, it’s clear that the best things in life come in groups of four. And Baker is no different. Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies has four instructors named Jeff, and each one took a unique path to teaching. In this series, you will learn how each Jeff is truly #BakerBuilt.

For Jeff House, who teaches online Project Planning and Implementation as well as Management Issues and Society in the Bachelor of Business Administration program, teaching had always been in the back of his mind.

“I’ve conducted training in my professional career as a consultant, but I have always been interested in teaching at the university or graduate level, particularly working with motivated adults,” House said.

A friend who is a former administrator at Johnson County Community College recommended to House that he check out Baker, and everything fell into place.

“I really enjoy interacting with students and have been very impressed with the caliber of students at Baker,” House said.

After growing up in Kansas City, House was drawn to the East Coast for his education. He earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and his MBA at Harvard Business School.

During his more than 25-year career, House has gained a variety of professional experiences. He’s served as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill, a senior manager with Ernst & Young, and director of product marketing for Epiq Systems. In 2003, he started his own consulting firm, Jade Consulting, which provides management consulting and technical program management services to clients in multiple industries, including energy, finance, and insurance. He serves as the firm’s president.

House draws from his diverse professional background and shares his expertise and insights with his students.

“I have designed my courses so that students are required to put concepts into practice,” he said. “As an example, in my project management course, students are required to complete an individual project approved by a sponsor (me), developing project management deliverables and applying lessons in real time.”

House also hopes to teach his students critical skills they can apply to a variety of workplace situations.

“Demonstrating critical thinking and reasoning is very important,” he said. “Many of the weekly discussion forums entail taking positions on controversial topics and defending those positions based on lessons learned from that week and independent research.”

While teaching is a priority, House makes time for the most important aspect of his life: his family.

He and his wife, Jody, will celebrate their silver anniversary in April, and they were proud to attend the commencement ceremony last May of their twin daughters, Sydney and Ashley, who graduated from House’s alma mater, Dartmouth.

House has enjoyed his time as a Baker instructor and hopes his efforts result in a productive classroom atmosphere for all.

“I’m a firm believer of bringing real-world experience to the classroom,” he said. “Collaboration, active participation, and thoughtful interactions in the classroom or online in discussion forums add substantially to the learning environment for all.”