Biography
In addition to teaching History at Penn State Altoona, Joseph A. Labriola works as a juvenile probation officer at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, PA. He is deeply passionate about history, antiquity, literature, film, higher education, law, juvenile justice, archival science, philosophy, comparative mythology, and analytical psychology. He is a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor of arts degree in history, as well as a graduate of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a master of arts degree in history/public history. He has also previously worked as a religious studies educator at Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Altoona, PA, a martial arts instructor at Josefik’s Korean Tang Soo Do in Altoona, PA, has taught classes on western civilization and American immigration at Penn Highlands Community College at their Ebensburg campus, and was also responsible for curating the Altoona Area Public Library’s Alumni Room.
Labriola believes that teaching, learning, and understanding history gives us a constant record of individual and collective expression, helps us gain a sense of identity and meaning, makes us more aware of the world we live in, helps us understand biases, helps us think critically, helps us define progress, aids in our personal development, and brings us together through artificial boundaries.
Food For Thought:
“History is not a burden on the memory, but an illumination of the soul.” ~Lord Acton