Jason received his B.A. in religion and bio-social studies from Illinois Wesleyan University, earned his M.A. in Buddhist studies from The Naropa Institute (now Naropa University) in Boulder, CO, and completed coursework toward his PhD in Asian and comparative religion and philosophy with the late Steven D. Goodman at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco. 

He has been with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for fifteen years; before working with former HWW PI Dianne Harris in getting Humanities Without Walls off the ground, he provided staff and student support in the College of Fine and Applied Arts Undergraduate Academic Affairs Office; the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) Office of International Programs; and the Department of Landscape Architecture. He also taught world and Asian religions at Parkland College for a decade. Previously, he worked as the Direct Sales Coordinator for the American office of Lonely Planet Publications in Oakland, CA.

When he isn’t coordinating HWW operations, he may be found reading books (printed on paper), listening to music, gardening, meditating, journaling, driving backroads and hiking, brewing beer, composing audio and visual collages, rolling 20-sided dice around a gaming table, editing the bi-monthly newsletter for his local Mensa chapter, hanging out with friends and family (including his dog Pugglesworth), singing with the band Foreign Accent, co-hosting this podcast,  and doing other things that terrify him.