Professor Jessica Hooten Wilson (left) poses with her family Jan. 5. She said she loves to surf in Malibu and read Percy Jackson books to her children. Photos courtesy of Jessica Hooten Wilson
When Great Books professor Jessica Hooten Wilson steps into a classroom, she doesn’t begin with a pop quiz or an assignment.
She starts with a prayer — but not just any prayer. With the desks arranged in a tight circle, she invites students into a moment of silence — to meditate if not religious, but to bow their heads and listen if they are. She then reads in a slow and reverent tone a written prayer that relates to one of the ancient authors being studied in the Great Books classroom at that time.
Hooten Wilson is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Pepperdine’s Great Books Program. As a scholar and author of six books, she earned her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from Pepperdine and her Ph.D. in Religion and Literature from Baylor University.
“I need the prayer so that I can trust, whether it’s a bad class or good class, that it’s in His hands,” Hooten Wilson said.
Students of Hooten Wilson frequently grapple with one of the big questions of life that arise from the books that she guides them through. What is true virtue? Who is God? Hooten Wilson leads all of these discussions with vigor, enthusiasm and a desire to pursue truth, senior Chris Hamdan said.
Early Life
Hooten Wilson said she was born in Alaska, where she lived until the age of 6. Her family later moved to Houston, Texas before relocating to a small village outside London. After several years in England, they returned to Texas, where she lived until her college years.
Jessica Hooten Wilson poses for a photo in kindergarten. She said she was drawn to adventure stories at this age.
From the time she was 5, Hooten Wilson said she loved reading and writing, even winning a kindergarten bookmaking contest. Her greatest influence was her father, who gave her a collection of works from female writers when she was 13.
Education
Hooten Wilson said she chose to attend Pepperdine to study Creative Writing, despite her acceptance into many other schools.
“From my perspective, it was the one [school] that provided the most opportunities to ask questions,” Hooten Wilson said. “And I was asking lots of questions about what it meant to be a believer and what it meant to follow God.”
While at Pepperdine, she said she was a member of the Tri Delta sorority and was involved with the Church of Christ on campus.
Hooten Wilson poses as a first-year student at Pepperdine University in 2000. She said Pepperdine was always her top choice school.
From Pepperdine, Hooten Wilson said she attended Baylor University for her Ph.D. in Religion and Literature. She published her first book, “Reading Walker Percy’s Novels,” in 2017, at age 35.
Teaching
Originally, Hooten Wilson said she did not want to be a teacher in addition to an author, but from the first day she began teaching, she fell in love with the profession, and it came naturally to her.
“It felt like this language that I could speak without having ever learned it,” Hooten Wilson said.
Now that she is a mother of four, Hooten Wilson said she weaves her passion for reading into her family life.
“Having kids has allowed me time to read things I was already reading by myself, and now I get to read it out loud to my kids,” Hooten Wilson said.
Sophomore Maddie Mitchell, who has taken three semesters of Hooten Wilson’s class, said she appreciates Hooten Wilson’s inclusive classroom environment and engaging course content.
“She’s just so kind,” Mitchell said. “I feel like my favorite thing about her is how she works with each student and makes Great Books very appealing. She brings something to class that we pray on that’s unconventional. So it can be like a sonnet that we’re praying, and I feel like I’ve never seen that before.”
Hooten Wilson teaches in the Great Books classroom in Payson Library. She said she hopes her teaching impacts how her students live their lives. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine Seaver College
Guided by her spiritual values, Hooten Wilson cultivates a classroom environment that is both positive and inviting. She said a verse she lives by is from Psalm 115, which reads, “Not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory.”
Hamdan, another student of Hooten Wilson’s, said he values Hooten Wilson’s teaching style and how she offers a deep analysis of the studied texts.
“What makes her stand out is the passion that she teaches with,” Hamdan said. “She very clearly cares about her content and is really excited about teaching it.”
Values
Hooten Wilson said the main reason she teaches Great Books is because she believes the fundamentals of virtue found in the classic works are timeless. Even though culture changes, the lessons hold true.
“You’re in the middle of a story,” Hooten Wilson said. “Nobody knows how a story is going to end. When you’re in the middle, the only thing you can do is look back to the beginning to get some sense of the story and where it’s heading. All of the great books get you out of that middle feeling and show you a promise of where things might go, so that you’re not afraid of the future.”
Reflecting on her journey thus far, Professor Hooten Wilson said she does not feel the most pride in her students’ grades or essays, but in the graduates who stop by years later to say she made a difference.
“I like it when I’m no longer their professor, getting to see the way that they’ve been affected and have grown and have changed, getting to find how the things that I was teaching them actually affected the way that they live their lives,” Hooten Wilson said.
Hooten Wilson said she doesn’t want her students to get A’s — she wants her students to live Christ-centered futures because of her.
“It’s just the trying that we can control. That’s what life is: trying. It’s not about our successes. It’s not about our failures. It’s about the constant trying,” Hooten Wilson said.
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Contact Annslee Mitchell via email: annslee.mitchell@pepperdine.edu
