From the turf field of Wildcat Stadium at Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) to the bright faces of Taylor University students, Landin Brown, instructor of design, brings a new perspective to the classroom.
Brown attended IWU from 2018 to 2022, where he was actively involved on campus as a football player and served as student body president from May 2021 to June 2022.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual communication design at IWU in 2022, he had a design job on Taylor’s marketing team within a week of graduating.
Brown and his wife, Megan, were engaged at the time, and she had a job in Muncie. When the opportunity to stay in the area became a possibility, Brown jumped on it.
Two months later, Brown found himself in a place he never thought he would be: standing in front of a room full of students.
In August of 2022, Alan Blanchard, associate professor of journalism and executive director of the Pulliam Journalism Center, approached Brown with the offer of being an adjunct professor.
“I was not expecting it at all, but we were planning a wedding at the time,” Brown said, “We were like, we could use the money, so you know what? Let's just see what happens.”
For nearly two years, Brown worked full-time as a designer for the Taylor marketing team and taught classes as an adjunct professor in the Communication and Art Departments.
Brown said he never wanted to be a teacher, but once he noticed the students in his classes falling in love with design and seeking his opinions on their designs, he began to fall in love with teaching.
This was not what Brown had believed was in store for him, but he trusted the process.
“I feel like every time I think I have a direction set in my life, God's just kind of like, ‘No, here's something else for you,’” Brown said. “It's all about reacting and being open to God's calling.”
At this point, Brown realized he wanted to dedicate more time to teaching. He had already begun his master’s degree at Liberty University, initially planning to pursue teaching later in life. Then he came across an opening for a design professor at Taylor.
After giving it much thought and prayer, Brown decided he was not going to apply and just wait and see what would happen. The position was filled and Brown was content.
A year later in 2024, the position opened up again. Now with more experience and a better knowledge of the Taylor community and students, Brown felt that he was ready.
In July 2024, Brown stepped down from marketing and, in August, he began his current role as a full-time instructor of design.
“The long story was years of building relationships with people, trying to find gaps where I could fit in and kind of meet needs, and just building trust with the students and with the faculty already here,” Brown said.
Throughout all this time, Brown not only had more than one job, but he has also been attending graduate school through Kutztown University of Pennsylvania online. He said after starting at Liberty, he transferred because it wasn’t the experience he hoped for, and he wanted something more holistic and developmental.
Brown is on pace to have a Master of Fine Arts in communication design in the spring of 2026.
His life has taken a lot of turns in the past two years, but for him, the biggest and most important was the birth of his first daughter.
On Sept. 13, 2024, Brown's wife gave birth to their daughter, Addelyn. Brown said she was an answer to prayer, but he has recognized that there is a lot to juggle in his life now.
“I think for us, it comes down to trying to have set expectations from one another, and good communication, that there's no frustration that builds or lack of communication,” Brown said.
Brown said that it is easy for his work and home lives to blur, so he is trying to be more intentional about finding times to get off of his computer and be present with his wife and daughter.
Despite all the things going on in his life, Brown continues to work hard in his career and love his family well.
He finds wisdom for this stage in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
“I think he (Solomon) has a really good point: if you're always working, you don't have time to enjoy it, but if you're never working, you don't have anything to enjoy,” Brown said.
