September 20, 2023

With students flowing in and out of the classroom, learning what it takes to be a media writer and storyteller, Jeremy Cowen leaves a lasting impact each semester on his writing students.

As a new set of eager students have entered his classroom each semester since 2006, Cowen said his time spent teaching a journalism course at Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication allows him to keep his writing skills intact.

In his full time job with the Oklahoma Bankers Association, Cowen serves as the senior vice president of communications. O.B.A. is a non-profit organization located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He joined the O.B.A. team in January 2002. Alongside his day job in at O.B.A., Cowen teaches a section of the Media Writing and Storytelling course twice a week at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications. While Cowen takes on the role as an instructor at OU, writing is ultimately crucial in his main job.

In the spring semester of 2006, Cowen embarked on his now 17-year journey to teach young students journalism and media lessons as an adjunct or part-time professor at Gaylord.

“Balancing both positions at Gaylord and O.B.A. can be challenging from time to time,” Cowen said. “Sometimes I get too busy with work at the O.B.A. and do not have a chance to look over a lesson plan for my 2033 course at Gaylord, or vice versa. But because I have been lucky enough to teach 2033 for so long, I am able to do an adequate job teaching students and guide them to become better writers.”

In addition to a 22-year position at O.B.A., Cowen is the longest-teaching adjunct professor for Media Writing and Storytelling at Gaylord. In the JMC 2033 writing course, the concept of journalistic writing is introduced to freshmen and sophomore students who are learning to write for print, broadcast, online, visual or other creative media.

Each semester, Cowen examines how he too can learn new ways to improve his journalism skills to use in his other job with O.B.A. in the communications department. He reiterates how teaching this course helps him stay on top of his skills as a writer.

“I truly enjoy teaching the students each semester,” Cowen said. “By teaching 2033, it helps keep my own basic writing skills fresh and sharpened. I cannot understate what a strength that is for me to stay up to date with my professional writing skills.”

Kayden Anderson, a Gaylord student, was a former student of Cowen’s section of Media Writing and Storytelling in the spring of 2023. Anderson joined the O.B.A. staff in August 2023 and is currently a communications intern for the organization.

Anderson details how Cowen is from Hartshorne, Oklahoma, a small town similar to the rural town of Vian, Oklahoma she grew up in.

“It was impactful to see someone from a small town to be successful in a career that I aspire to have,” Anderson said. He’s also my boss now at OBA, which is super cool and put me on a path for my career that I would not have if it weren’t for him being my professor.”

With Cowen by her side, Anderson has assisted with the O.B.A. website, social media platforms, and written press releases and feature stories for the newspaper, Oklahoma Banker.

“I learned more about copy editing and interviewing, which is something that I will do daily in my career,” Anderson said. “Most importantly, I gained confidence in my abilities.”

As time goes on, Cowen described how foundational writing skills as a journalist get moved to the subconscious part the mind.

“Rather than consciously use and store those writing skills, I tend to not necessarily remember some of the basic journalism skills I once was taught,” Cowen said. “Teaching 2033 at Gaylord has only strengthened my skill set to use in all areas of my professional life. It is rare I don’t have a semester where I’m not learning where to tune up areas of my writing from students.”

The ability to form one’s thoughts and effectively communicate through writing is a basic skill that individuals use every day. Cowen insists he portrays the importance of well-written journalism in his lessons at Gaylord.

“The basic skill for everything is learning to write,” Cowen said. “Everything starts as the written word. Writing is a lost art, especially in today’s trends of texting versus calling and social media.”

Through Cowen’s time at Gaylord, he emphasizes to his students the importance of being able to write well in today’s world. Despite being the adjunct professor to teach students Media Writing and Storytelling for the longest amount of time, Cowen does not like to have his job define who he is.

“A saying that I have adopted into my life is to be more interesting than my job,” Cowen said. “I have chosen not to find myself worth from my career as a writer or from working in the communications department of the Oklahoma Bankers Association. We should be able to have takeaways and skills from our profession versus focusing on superficial achievements or success from our jobs.”