He is a past president of ALAN and was coeditor of The ALAN Review with Lori Atkins Goodson from 2003–2009. He is the editor of the Print-Based Texts pages of the International Reading Association’s Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Jim was a high school English teacher, coach, and administrator for 21 years in Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and Kansas before completing his doctorate at the University of Kansas in 2000.