“Something I never thought of”: How an architecture professor fell into teaching “by accident.”

When JE Elliott, better known in Alumni Hall as J, was in middle school, he didn’t expect a career in architecture, and 50 years later, he didn’t expect to retire from teaching.

When Elliott was in high school, he wanted to pursue a career that would allow him to build, but he didn’t want to be an engineer. After attending an academic aptitude camp at Allegheny College, his results pointed to architecture.

A year later, he enrolled at Miami University and graduated during the 1973 recession. After graduating, he saved money on bar tending and maintenance work until he had enough to return to California, where he was originally from.

He got a job in San Diego, got his architectural license in California and Ohio, and became head of an architectural department at a company. After working in the fields for a few years, he and his wife decided to settle down and start a family.

“When we decided to have kids, we agreed that my wife would stay home (because) we wouldn’t be putting our kids in daycare,” Elliott said. “So she would stay home with them, which meant sacrificing her career, so to speak… but with the understanding that at some point we would switch roles.”

When his wife began looking for work, they found themselves back in Oxford. The summer of their return, Elliott was asked to show some of his work for an alumni exhibition at the art museum, and during this time he met with some faculty members in the architecture department. By chance a position became available and 35 years later he is still teaching in the same lecture halls.

“(Teaching) was never something I ever thought about,” Elliott said.

For a time, he continued to do projects around the city, including the exterior of the building prior to the construction of the DuBois Book Store, the interior ceiling and facade of the current Brick Street Bar, the cut-out entrance behind Skyline Chili, residential projects and more. When he began completing summer studio programs in London, Barcelona and Prague, he decided to put his independently run studio on hold. Because he is not a scientist, Elliott said he brought a different perspective to the department.

“A student wants to do something crazy, and I wouldn’t say, ‘No, we don’t do that in the real world,'” Elliott said. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we do this?'”

Likewise, he said teaching tested him in ways his previous job couldn’t.

“It would challenge me in some ways to always have to answer a random, silly question in a way that doesn’t scare the student away and doesn’t encourage them to explore that silly idea and potentially make it work,” he said.

Elliott’s honesty and insight are one of the reasons Katie Matricaria came to Miami.

Matricaria attended the Summer Scholars Program in high school and had Elliott as a professor during her time there. Since coming to Miami, she has taken several classes with Elliot and learned from him both in and out of the classroom.

“He always makes fun of me, but he’s always very critical,” the second-year interior designer said. “He taught me to be patient, a lot of patient.”

Although he may have stumbled into his teaching career through an “accident,” Elliott said he wouldn’t have changed a thing. Although he appreciates the time he spends working with “highly qualified faculty and colleagues,” he said watching students come to Miami as freshmen and graduate as seniors was the most gratifying part of his career.

“This is the most beautiful thing,” he said. “I just watch how these characters develop and come out.”

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