When his father, a large animal veterinarian, decided to get a masters degree in epidemiology, Ellison moved to Minnesota, where he completed the 11th and 12th grades. Before graduating from Spring Lake Park High School, Ellison was trained as an emergency medical technician.

After graduating, he “tried” to earn a degree in criminal justice studies at the University of Minnesota, but gave up after one semester.

“I was a straight ‘C’ student,” Ellison says without hesitation.

Instead of pursuing a degree, Ellison began work as an EMT. He soon moved back to Georgia, where he took a job as a police officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department.

“We hit the Georgia state line with $12 and everything we had in our U-Haul,” Ellison says of returning south with his wife Polly, his high school sweetheart.

AN ACADEMIC

Ellison, who never envisioned becoming an academic, says he originally decided to attend college because he wanted to spend more time with his son Nathan.

“I didn’t think I’d go to college,” he says. “I had no plan. I went to college because it was better than working.”

But while he was enrolled at Southeastern University, a Bible college in rural Florida, the former cop fell in love with an unusual subject—ancient languages.

“I remember him to be one of the very best students I have ever had in my 31-year career. He had a wonderful attitude and a great aptitude for learning as an older undergrad student,” wrote Steven M. Fettke, who is still a professor at Southeastern, in an e-mail.

After taking a course on the Hebrew Bible, Ellison says he developed an interest in epigraphy, the study of ancient inscriptions and their classification. The course’s instructor, Harvard Divinity School graduate William H. Barnes, encouraged Ellison to apply to his alma mater.

Ellison went on to receive a Master of Theological Studies at the Divinity School and then a Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern Languages in 2002. His doctoral thesis was the result of a year’s research in Syria supported by a Fulbright fellowship. Entitled “A Paleographic Study of the Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ras Shamra/Ugaritic,” the final product was 950 pages long, split into three volumes, and contained 1,800 photographs.

While at Harvard, he has steadily worked his way up the administrative ladder, moving from the head teaching fellow of a large core class to the Allston Burr Senior Tutor—now referred to as the Resident Dean—of Lowell House.

“I think one of the reasons Jay works so well for us is because he was a senior tutor in Lowell,” Pforzheimer House resident dean Lisa Boes says. “He understands what we do.”

Ellison has remained connected to his academic background; he still teaches Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations classes and taught a freshman seminar last semester.