Debora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
Source: The Gallery, 1974: A Photographic Directory of the Grossmont College Staff. El Cajon, CA: Grossmont Junior College District, 1974. p7.
Source: Sonka, Bud. “Five Grossmonters Featured In Kesey Rival.” The G (Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA) 21 February 1973: p1.
Source: "Teacher of the Week." The G (Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA) 6 November 1974: 5. Photo. [Original Caption: Jack Barranger, after returning from a year in England, says he thinks Grossmont College is "one of the best schools in the country."]
John J. Barranger (a.k.a. Jack Barranger) undertook graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh, during which time he taught at Charles Boehm School in Lower Makefield (now Boehm Middle School in Levittown, Pennsylvania). By August 1962, Barranger had earned his Master's of Education from the University of Pittsburgh, and had already been serving a year into a five-year term appointment on the board of the Springfield School Authority. However, his interest in religions and philosophy led him to Gordon Divinity School, in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he earned a Master's of Theology in 1970.
After relocating to San Diego to take a position in Grossmont College's English Department, Barranger did public speaking at local area high schools and was also involved in the local theater scene, landing in 1973 the role of Ken Kesey's Chief in Ken Wasserman’s stage adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (directed by Craig Noel for the Old Globe's Cassius Carter Theater).
Barranger, however, ended his contract with Grossmont in 1979 to pursue a career in public speaking and writing, the research from which lead to his best-selling 1988 book, Knowing When to Quit: How To Stop Fighting Losing Battles and Get On With Your Life (Impact Publishers). In 1990, Barranger returned to full-time teaching and accepted a position as a professor of Critical Thinking and English at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. During his thirteen-year tenure with the college, Barranger wrote a number of publications stemming from his interests in spirituality, skeptical theology, and "ancient alien astronaut theory," the latter of which lead to him being invited by George Noory in 2008 to guest on Noory's popular AM radio conspiracy talk show, Coast-To-Coast.
John J. Barranger retired from the College of the Sequoias in 2002, whereupon he was conferred the status of Professor Emeritus.
Thank you to Olivia Grell, Alumni Services Assistant, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA, for her assistance in my research of Jack Barranger's seminary years.
Additional thanks to Zach Brodt, Records Manager, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, who cheerfully provided information about Jack Barranger's graduate studies.
Debora Curry
English Dept - Administrative Assistant
Email: debora.curry@gcccd.edu
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8am to 10am and 2pm to 4pm - email Debora for link for her Zoom Office hours
8800 Grossmont College Drive
El Cajon, California 92020
619-644-7000
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