Jim Shahin

Maintaining a number of professional, personal, and charitable commitments, journalist and writer Jim Shahin promotes variety and balance in his work and life. A resident of Washington, D.C., Jim Shahin holds memberships in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and has spent more than 30 years of his life pursuing numerous interests in the fields of journalism and education.

In 2003, Jim Shahin taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Syracuse University 's prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he instructed undergraduate and graduate students on the finer points of magazine writing and editing. Additional teaching positions followed for Jim Shahin at Syracuse University's Newhouse School. He was also a guest lecturer at Carlow University’s MFA program and served as Faculty Advisor to an action learning project team focused on creating a magazine for the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

A valued figure in the community, Jim Shahin devotes his time and energy to volunteering in the Washington, D.C., school system. In particular, Jim Shahin presided over the construction and development of a recording studio for students of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, a Washington D.C. arts magnet high school. Over the course of three years, Jim Shahin successfully navigated the complex logistics of the project and ensured its completion. Jim Shahin served as president of the school’s Instrumental Department Parents Group and vice-president of the school-wide parents organization. From serving on the Accreditation Committee to helping mobilize renovation campaigns, Jim Shahin spearheaded, oversaw, and participated in numerous activities to help renovate the decrepit facility and re-invigorate the school's mission. In addition, Jim Shahin supports the MD Anderson Cancer Center, St. Jude's Childrens Hospital, Capitol Area Food Bank, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Jim Shahin has worked in positions for American Way Magazine (the in-flight periodical of American Airlines), Chile Pepper Magazine, the Austin Chronicle, and the Austin American-Statesman. Jim Shahin's work has appeared in GQ, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, Cooking Light, McCall’s, Parenting, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. Writer of a popular humor column in American Way Magazine from 1993 to 2008, Jim Shahin’s work has been syndicated by the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. Jim Shahin's travel stories, ranging from the resilience of Haiti to the traditions of the olive oil harvest in Tuscany, have earned him several awards. Jim Shahin has won acclaim for his food articles, particularly those on barbecue. His expertise has led him to be recruited as a judge at Texas' premier barbecue event, the Taylor International Barbeque Cook-Off in Taylor, Texas, a contributor to Texas Monthly's highly regarded quintennial statewide barbecue survey, and as a panelist at a barbecue symposium at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

Jim Shahin earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and a teaching certificate from the University of Michigan and completed advanced training in web design, Photoshop, and InDesign at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.