Lilyana Vasquez & Erin Grant
Staff Writer & Southern Editor
Florida Southern prides itself on engaged learning and its newest professors are already embodying that mission. Whether it’s through analyzing real-world business cases, or by discovering the power of journalism, these two new faculty members share a common goal: helping students find meaning in what they learn and preparing them for life beyond campus.
Professor Pouya Haddadian Nekah the new assistant professor of management entering the Barnett school of business. Alongside is professor Joshua Jordan entering the Department of Communication.
The professors mention their enthusiasm for the engaged learning system, noting how it reflects a mission to connect classroom lessons with real-world applications.
“Here at Florida Southern, you have the opportunity to get engaged in all different aspects,” Haddadian said.
Similarly, Jordan notes, “Being able to come here, where there is an emphasis on that, I think bodes really well for the students.” Jordan said.
Both professors share a common goal of helping students see the importance of what they’re learning beyond the classroom. Haddadian enjoys using case studies along with his lessons. This allows students to relate well with their surroundings, events in the past and events in the future. He mentions that this will not only better prepare them for success in their careers, but also allow them to become better human beings.
“Think about how the things that we talk about in class relate to your own personal experiences,” Jordan said. He explains that this allows students to make connections because how you make it make sense is how you make it personal.
Adding to this, Jordan states, “Sometimes you gotta make that conscious effort. But if you can make that connection and figure out why it’s important to you, that’s gonna be the thing that keeps you going.”
Haddadian got his bachelor’s in electrical engineering and his master’s in business administration in Iran, then later got his doctorate from Illinois Institute of Technology.
This semester he’s teaching dynamics of business and free enterprise, an introductory business course, and a section of business statistics.
It’s important to Haddadian that his students see him as approachable. A previous instructor always treated him with kindness, which is something he now incorporates into his own classroom. “Treat people the way that you like others to treat you,” Haddadian said.
He is a big gaming fan. From enjoying watching sports games, playing board games and even video games. He even incorporates elements of gamification into his coursework.
“There’s something that, you know, stuck with me, you know, since a very young age and it didn’t go,” Haddadian says.
Jordan originally from Dallas, Texas started at a community college, then got his doctorate from LSU’s school of mass communication.
This semester he’s teaching speech and mass communication theory, persuasion and intercultural communication.
Whether it’s exploding a new book, trying new foods, or uncovering the latest in music in art, Jordan enjoys a wide range of activities outside of the classroom. A main passion of his is storytelling.
“Storytelling is a very broad concept and it can include things like public relations, it could even include things like multimedia journalism, it really kind of includes many different things depending on the approach that you take,” Jordan said. He hopes to be able to share this and teach more of this to students in the future.
Together, Haddadian and Jordan bring unique backgrounds and perspectives to Florida Southern, but they are unified by a shared mission to inspire students, not just to learn, but to grow. Both professors are committed to preparing students for meaningful futures with advice reflecting that mission.
“If you have that one running thread, that one through line, that’s going to be the thing that keeps you going,”Jordan said.
Together they reflect the core of Florida Southern’s mission: fostering engaged learning that prepares students to succeed in both their careers and their lives.
