About the Founder
Jamaal Abdul-Alim, the founder of Sneaker Theory, is an award-winning journalist and longtime journalism professor. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee, his alma mater, and the University of Maryland at College Park. Students call him "Professor J." He can be reached at professorj@sneakertheory.org
A lifelong learner
Demonstrating a commitment to lifelong learning, Professor J is currently enrolled in "Sneaker Essentials," an online certificate program offered through the Fashion Institute of Technology. He expects to complete the program before the Summer Olympics of 2024.
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Guns and basketball
Professor J broke into the news business as a crime reporter at the old Milwaukee Sentinel. He is an alum of the Knight-Wallace Fellowship program at the University of Michigan (Class of 2008) and the Spencer Education Journalism Fellowship program at Columbia University (Class of 2014). He is an active investigative journalist who regularly writes about how guns end up on the streets of America.
Raised in the Sherman Park neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- home of the acclaimed "WARNING!" basketball league -- Professor J is a lifelong fan of the Milwaukee Bucks.
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Professor J recently rediscovered his love for sneakers. His current favorites are the various Nike Air Vapormax shoes -- particularly the ones that are purple and bright red -- that fill the shoe rack in his apartment in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
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Professor J is an avid chess player and a longtime supporter of the Howard University Chess Club.
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Professor J performed the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1998. He still has the sandals he used to complete the journey.