Syllabus? I Barely Know Her.

Dr. Jarm’s Tenured Trash Fire

Lecture is at twelve midnight. 

Grading from a dumptser. 

Screaming is part of the curriculum.

Dr. Jarm is a multi-disciplinary scholar whose work spans media studies, religious theory, horror cinema, pedagogy, critical refuse theory, and gender studies. With a deeply integrative approach that draws from literature, theology, film, anthropology, and creative writing, his teaching and research center around themes of decay, survival, marginal epistemologies, and the ethical complexities of teaching in crisis.

A highly decorated academic with a vast educational trajectory, Dr. Jarm holds advanced degrees from several major institutions, including:

  • Ph.D., Literature, Yale University

  • Master of Divinity & Ph.D., Theology, Harvard University

  • Ed.D., Higher & Postsecondary Education, Columbia University

  • M.F.A., Screenwriting, University of Texas at Austin

  • M.F.A., Creative Writing, University of Iowa

  • Ph.D., Media Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Jarm's scholarship focuses on the intersections of waste, horror, and marginal knowledge production. His books, including Pedagogy of the Rot: Teaching at the End of the World and The Garbage Gospel: Sacred Texts of the Discarded, have been widely cited in academic conversations surrounding posthumanism, trauma studies, and alternative pedagogy.

His work on possums and nonhuman epistemologies, while initially dismissed, has gained serious traction in emerging environmental humanities circles, particularly through his theory of "shriek as method." His 2022 publication Shriek as Method: Possum Epistemologies and the Collapse of Knowing was shortlisted for multiple interdisciplinary awards.

Dr. Jarm also brings decades of professional film industry experience, contributing to over 50 major motion pictures across roles including consultant, writer, and coordinator. He has served as an advisor to productions exploring themes of trauma, madness, and the metaphysics of decay, with credits including The Lighthouse, Annihilation, Midsommar, and The Exorcist.

An award-winning teacher, Dr. Jarm is known for his highly participatory seminars and independently designed courses such as GAR 313: Critical Refuse Theory and EDU 321: Syllabus as Survival Strategy, which have drawn national attention for their interdisciplinary rigor and pedagogical innovation.

Dr. Jarm has served on numerous editorial boards, including the Journal of Illegible Inquiry, and frequently speaks at academic conferences on refuse theory, horror pedagogy, and academic burnout. He has received fellowships from the American Academy of Religion, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

He is currently at work on Trash Praxis: Notes Toward a Revolutionary Refuse, a hybrid monograph blending memoir, theoretical reflection, and curriculum design rooted in lived academic precarity.

Industry Reviews

  • “Jarm’s trash-theory notes changed how I think about horror. He taught me that the real villain is clean narrative structure.”

    Jordan Peele
    Director, Get Out and Nope

  • “When Dr. Jarm said ‘Your entire film is a compost pile of grief,’ I felt seen. He’s like a haunted dramaturg who lives in the woods.”

    Ari Aster
    Director, Hereditary and Midsommar

  • “Dr. Jarm left leaf bundles on set with tiny annotated footnotes. I’ve kept them. They whisper. He’s brilliant.”

    Florence Pugh
    Actress, Midsommar

  • “Jarm’s notes on motherhood and rot reshaped the ending. I didn’t ask for them. I’m grateful I received them.”

    Jennifer Kent
    Director, The Babadook

  • “He is pure intuition made flesh. A shrieking, tenured oracle in a coat made of citations. I consider him family.”

    David Lynch

    Director, Eraserhead and Twin Peaks

  • “He helped me access new emotional depths by simply staring at me and whispering, ‘All grief is curriculum.’ A genius.”

    Toni Collette
    Actress, Hereditary

  • “I trust him. I don’t know why. When he handed me a trash-wrapped syllabus, I cried. That’s art.”

    Jamie Lee Curtis
    Actress, Halloween

  • “Dr. Jarm’s essay on plastic gender hauntings lives rent-free in my brain. I consult it before every creative decision.”

    Greta Gerwig
    Director, Barbie and Lady Bird

  • “He mailed me a VHS labeled ‘Rot as Rhythm.’ I watched it twice. My next score will be based on his screams.”

    John Carpenter
    Director, Halloween and The Thing

  • “I thought I was making a thriller. Jarm showed up and convinced me I was making a thesis on containment and the pedagogy of fear. He was right.”

    Dan Trachtenberg
    Director, 10 Cloverfield Lane

  • “His faxes were strange. But they made me think. One just said ‘The truth is compost.’ That’s all I needed.”

    Gillian Anderson
    Actress, The X-Files

  • “He may be a possum, but he knows how to handle blood.”

    Ti West
    Director, Pearl

Student Evaluations

  • “I showed up late once and the syllabus was gone. Replaced by a damp bag of Funyuns and a note that said, ‘Time is fake.’ I learned more than I ever did in high school.”

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  • “He graded my paper using teeth marks. But when I held it up to the moonlight, it spelled out feedback in runes. Life-changing.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Dr. Jarm climbed out of a file cabinet, hissed at the projector, and gave a 90-minute lecture on the political significance of compost. I wept.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Assigned no readings. Encouraged ‘feral contemplation.’ I reached nirvana halfway through the midterm.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Dr. Jarm didn’t just teach me about garbage—he taught me how to become the garbage and find power in it. I now speak in footnotes and sleep in metaphors.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “No textbook, no PowerPoint, just vibes and deeply destabilizing questions like ‘What haunts the syllabus?’ Best class I’ve ever taken.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Class was held in a hollow tree, and I’m pretty sure the midterm was legally a séance. I cried, I grew, I passed with honors.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Before this course I feared academia. Now I fear nothing but daylight and the looming presence of the provost. Thank you, Dr. Jarm.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “This man graded my essay with a series of mysterious smells and an acorn. It was the most seen I’ve ever felt in higher education.”

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  • “Dr. Jarm encouraged me to write my thesis in spilled ink and raw emotion. I submitted a pile of leaves and received an A. I finally feel alive.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “I went to his office hours in a state of panic. I left with a research grant and a new identity. He didn’t solve my problems—he set them on fire and gave me marshmallows.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Every lecture began with a warning and ended with a revelation. This wasn’t a class. It was a rite of passage.”

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  • “Yes, he lives in the ceiling. Yes, he screamed during the final. But he cares. You can tell from the way he throws himself into the academic void alongside us.”

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • “Class started with a ritual. I left with a raccoon bite and three new perspectives on the concept of ‘worth.’ 10/10 learning outcome, 1/10 hygiene.”

    ⭐☆☆☆☆

  • “I never saw his face. Only his tail and an overwhelming aura of contempt for PowerPoint.”

    ⭐⭐⭐☆☆