Instructor Matthew Loudon

Matthew Robert Loudon (born on July 29th, 1986 (age 30)) is an American temporary faculty member working towards his Doctorate in English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Loudon has been an active teacher since 2009. He is the son of medical receptionist, Janine Loudon and postman Matthew Loudon. He is also has a sister names AmberLea Loudon.

Early Life/Education/Work
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, his family moved to his 17 year home in Holts Summit, Missouri in 1993. Starting in Kindergarten, Loudon became a member of the Boy Scouts of America, an organization he would end up being a part of all his life. Starting at age 15, Loudon began working at the Work at Great Rivers Council, Boys Scouts of America and the Lake of the Ozarks Scout Reservation every summer. During his senior year of high school, he became the highest rank of the BSA, an Eagle Scout. That accomplishment was one of his many accomplishments, including being academically advanced and winning the Jefferson City High School English Departmental Award. Loudon graduated high school with the class of 2004. Afterwards, he left his hometown of Holts Summit to study at Westminster College. Due to many scholarships he attended Westminster for five years on a free ride. There, he achieved a triple major of Secondary Education, English (Creative Novel and Asian Studies), and Philosophy. Graduating in 2009 he took a year off from schooling. In 2010, Loudon began to study at Northwest Missouri State University while working as a writing center tutor and a substitute teacher for the local middle and high schools. 2011 was the year he left his 10-year job at the Great Rivers Council and Scout Reservation. He then graduated Northwest in 2012 with a Masters in English. Afterwards, Loudon began attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2012 working as a Grad Assistant and working with Film Studies while achieving completing all of his General Education classes. Loudon’s ultimate goal is to achieve his Doctorate in English. He is currently a temporary faculty member of IUP and plans on graduating in 2018.

Personal Life
Considering himself a prolific writer, Loudon is the published author of a novel and is currently working on writing a six-book interactive-long-term-blog series. Loudon’s inspiration to writing acclaimed author C.S. Lewis and his Westminster professor, Dr. Debra Crouse. His interests include retro video games and reality television (i.e. Survivor, American Idol, etc.) Loudon’s music choices are a wide variety, but include artists such as, Linkin Park and Owl City. As a self-proclaimed nerd, his favorite style of writing are Young-Adult novels and the MANGA anime series, which he is the owner of over 100 copies of that genre. His personal life also includes the accomplishments of saving more than five lives as a Scout, since he is First Aid and CPR certified.

Student Perspective
Loudon is known to be a laid-back teacher. With his chill attitude, he is an instructor that encourages students to participate in discussion. If there’s one thing Loudon works towards most, it’s that making sure his students engage in conversation with each other. With that engagement, he also tries his best to bring humor into the classroom. Relatability is an important factor to his English 101 Section 007 class. Humor is a way to release a sense of relatability and trust to a group of students that have had their fair share of not-so-pleasant teachers. Loudon is a teacher that makes sure the students know what they’re talking about before they talk about it. He will go as far as to immensely slowing down his curriculum and elaborating on the assignments, their due dates, and their concept in order for each student to excel. As another form of relatability, suggestions are recommended when it come to the style and atmosphere of the class, the work that’s assigned, and Loudon’s teaching style. He encourages the use of outside sources, such as the on-campus writing center, and carefully advises the study of all aspects of the subject of the written word.