In 1973, he began teaching at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and taught broadcast and photojournalism courses. He became chair of the photojournalism sequence.

He joined the faculty at Indiana University in 1982 and became the founding associate dean for the IUPUI program of the School of Journalism. He taught Introduction to Visual Communication and upper division courses that relate to visual communication and new media.

His father, George Earl Brown, described himself as a farmer who taught chemistry for a living. He grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri within a family of small means. He attended Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, and was the first in his family to earn a college degree. After graduation, he planned to farm. But the swollen creeks in southwest Missouri prevented him from moving to the farm he wanted to lease. He thought it might be fun to go to graduate school. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Iowa State even though he had not taken chemistry as an undergraduate. Over the course of his career, he taught over 24 different college courses. Many were chemistry courses but he also taught physics, biology and zoology. He also grew the biggest ear of corn in the county.

From his father Jim learned there is nothing that he should not be interested in. His father was as wide ranging in his interests as his son. He also learned the principles of academic standards, honesty and integrity from his father.

His mother was a teacher of English and music. She wanted Jim to have piano lessons. As a youth, there were many other things he wanted to do more than practice piano so he purposely exasperated all his teachers. Several years ago, Jim realized that he had a latent interest in piano beginning to emerge. He bought a piano, placed a picture of his mother on top and began to practice. Both his mother and father have passed away but he cherishs the way they raised him and the standards they set and the interests they gave him.

With both parents being teachers, Jim supposes it is not surprising that he became one.

A college course is a condensation of readings and experiences that usually would take much longer to accomplish without the guided experiences in the classroom. Jim tries tries to help students become better at both verbal and visual communication. Every students comes to a course with somewhat different life experiences and skills. He tries his best to take students from where they are to where they ought to be. He always try to be fair in all dealings with students, and other people too.

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