Department head brings a wealth of knowledge

Home Archived News Department head brings a wealth of knowledge

Moria Dailey

Published: October 26, 2005

PJC has hired a new department head for the allied health department on Warrington campus.

Dr. Steven Bannow, a retired naval lawyer and avid scuba diver, now fills the chair.  Bannow, who has been in the Navy for the past 25 years, said he is very happy to be at the college.

“I really believe in PJC,” Bannow said, when asked what brought him to Pensacola, “and they were nice enough to hire me.”

Bannow has been an adjunct on and off for more than 25 years and has taught at many universities and colleges, including Hawaii Pacific University where he taught “almost any kind of English and humanities classes.”

He also taught at PJC from 2000-2003, teaching English, law and business law classes.  He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and English, a doctorate in English, as well as a law degree from Loyola University, which accounts for the variety of subjects he has taught.

Bannow has hopes to take on a class of his own at Warrington within the next couple of semesters, but for now is planning to guest lecture in some of the department’s classes, as well as to do the administrative work he is faced with.

“There are some classes in my department I’d like to lecture in, probably ethics issues or legal issues,” Bannow said.

“I think this [allied health] is the best department there is anywhere.  It’s full of very talented people and I hope they find my leadership and what I try to do adequate and beyond,” Bannow said.

He also said that there were several academic programs the department would have to consider in the future, but since he had only been in the department for two weeks, he felt it would be presumptuous to say he was going to make many changes at this time.

Bannow, who has lived “all over” in the course of his career said he is happy to be calling Pensacola home now.

“I’m an avid boater, mostly to support my love of scuba diving,” Bannow said, explaining that while Pensacola isn’t the most ideal place to dive, it offers nearly year round diving.  “I’d give Pensacola a B,” he said of the diving conditions.