Jones happy to be back at Ashland University teaching and helping wrestling team
Levi Jones lets his students know right away that he is a big fan of “The Lord of the Rings” and its author J.R.R. Tolkien.
“The first day of classes when I do my introduction I tell them about it,” said the new clinical assistant professor for the 2024-25 academic year in Ashland University’s Exercise Science program who is also an AU alum. “I think they like to know personal things about me to show that I’m a real person who has goofy and fun hobbies so they can feel comfortable talking to me.”
Does Jones consider his life journey kind of like “The Lord of the Rings?”
“It’s definitely had a lot of traveling,” said the 2022 AU graduate who first came to Ashland as a student from California and then returned as an instructor at the beginning of this academic year from St. Louis, where he earned his master’s degree in kinesiology with a concentration in clinical exercise while also working as a clinical exercise physiologist.
“I’ve also had a lot of fellowship with my friends, who like ‘Lord of the Rings’ as well,” added Jones, whose song at his wedding three years ago was “Concerning Hobbits,” the intro song to the first in the trilogy of “Lord of the Rings” movies, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which he described as a beautiful orchestra song that plays when The Shire is first shown in the 2001 film.
The Shire, is a beautiful, idyllic region of the fictional Middle-earth in “The Lord of the Rings” settled exclusively by hobbits and largely sheltered from the rest of Middle-earth, which is more chaotic than the peaceful inland area of the hobbits, who are about half human average height.
Jones has found his Shire in Ashland
In many ways, Ashland has become Jones’ Shire.
“I started getting really heavy into ‘The Lord of the Rings’ when I moved back to Ashland,” Jones said. “I had always been a fan of it, but didn’t really dive into it until I moved back here. The reason was because I was happier here. I was able to explore more of my personal interests because I felt happier and safer in Ashland. Everyone is really friendly.”
Sounds like moving back to Ashland has been like a movie for Jones, maybe something like ‘The Return of the King,” the third movie in the trilogy?
Unlike the quest to find the One Ring in “Lord of the Rings,” Jones said he wasn’t searching for a teaching job when two of his former mentors at AU, Associate Professor of Health Sciences Beth Patton, Ph.D., and Chair of the Health Sciences Department Randall Gearhart, reached out to him about the job opening.
“I was planning on getting into teaching, but not so soon,” said Jones, whose wedding ring is a replica of the One Ring. “In my head, it was probably 10 years down the road because I thought, ‘I can’t be picking up patients the rest of my life.’
“Now, being here teaching is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done,” added Jones, who plans to work on a Ph.D. the next several years. “I like to teach with a lot of passion and enthusiasm.”
Exercise Science happy the former student is now part of the faculty
That passion and enthusiasm are two of the many things Gearhart and Patton like about adding Jones to the Health Science Department - and his “quirky” interest in “Lord of the Rings” doesn’t bother them.
“It keeps him young,” Patton said about Jones’ hobby. “And it’s good to have that release from work.
“He has such a thirst for learning,” Patton added about his job. “He is continually keeping up with the trends in exercise, fitness and nutrition, which is ever changing.”
With Patton retiring at the end of the academic year and the Exercise Science program growing, two more full-time faculty members will be added for the 2025-26 academic year, according to Gearhart.
Five years ago, the program, which has nearly 200 students, was averaging 20 to 25 freshmen a year. Last year, it jumped to 73 and is at 58 this year and was in the 60s two years ago.
The program also wants to add a pulmonary cardio track to its master’s program, which already has a strength and conditioning track.
“Once we get approval to go forward, Levi will probably be the one who designs the classes because that’s his background, he’s a clinical guy,” Gearhart said about the possibly new master’s track. “We wanted someone with clinical experience to teach those classes. To find a clinical person who wants to teach classes is tough.”
Gearhart said he is also happy to find someone in Jones who connects well with the students with his outgoing personality.
Returns to wrestling program as its faculty advisor
As the faculty advisor for the wrestling team, Jones also connects well with students who aren’t Exercise Science majors. He likes to go to the wrestling team’s practices and matches when he can and not only wrestle with them and offer some of his wresting expertise (even though injuries hindered his success, he was involved with the wrestling program all four years at AU) and his knowledge in exercise and nutrition (he was an academic All-American wrestler).
At one of this season’s wrestling practices, freshman Nathan Parks, who is taking one of Jones’ classes this semester, wrestled with Jones.
“It was weird wrestling a professor, but it was kind of cool, too,” Parks said. “I like him as a professor. He’s a good teacher. It’s nice to see him out wrestling with us.
“He’s a good wrestler,” Parks added. “He’s hasn’t lost anything.”
Not only has Jones offered some wrestling tips to the wrestlers, he’s also been a good resource on the academic side for them, as well as helping with maximizing their exercising and conditioning, said AU Head Wrestling Coach Colt Sponseller, who said the team hadn’t previously had a faculty advisor since he started coaching the program five seasons ago.
“I’m glad he’s back,” said Sponseller, whose first season at AU was Jones’ senior year. “And, I hope he stays.”
Jones’ journey to Ashland started in high school when he sent about 120 letters to Division I and II college wrestling programs, and received about 60 responses, which about a handful were serious about him wrestling at their college, including Ashland University.
“Ashland was the only school I visited,” Jones said. “The coaching staff were in constant communication with me not just about my potential for starting on the wrestling team, but also about my academics.”
He said he has enjoyed connecting with current AU wrestlers not only with wrestling, but with academics and many other areas, too.
His wife also attended Ashland University
His “Lord of the Rings” interest, which includes playing fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, seems to be the only area that he hasn’t made connections with students yet. None of them have taken him up on his invitation to join him at a local hobby and gaming shop in town to play those games, Jones said with a laugh.
That interest did help him connect with his wife, Natalie (Clinger), though. She also is an AU graduate who majored in psychology and is now pursuing her master’s degree in mental health counseling at Ashland Theological Seminary.
“When I met her, she was re-reading ‘The Hobbit’ our freshman year and I was like, ‘No way,’ ” said Jones, who has a ‘Lord of the Rings’ tattoo that includes a map of Middle-earth. “We go on 12-hour ‘Lord of the Rings’ marathons. She’s also a Harry Potter person. I’m not as big of a Harry Potter fan as she is, but we watch all those together, too. We saw ‘Lord of the Rings’ in concert, an orchestra performance, at Blossom.”
Just as he wants to go to as many things that deal with ‘Lord of the Rings’ and/or J.R.R. Tolkien as he can, Jones also wants to impact community health as much as possible.
That’s his latest quest and why he’s happy his life journey has taken him to Ashland University, where he believes he can best work toward that pursuit.
“I want to try to inspire as many students as I can to make changes because as a group, as a community, we can actually impact community health,” Jones said. “If every student gets impacted in the way I was impacted at AU, and they go out and make a ripple effect in their field, then that’s how we can really impact community health.”
