As a student, Jonathon York pursued a degree in politics because he found that it was an area of his learning in which there was a wide, gaping hole. Curious, Mr. York decided to pursue a career in politics and education, not just out of necessity but as it would give him the opportunity to both share what he had discovered. He first earned a Bachelor of Arts in politics from the Constanin College of Liberal Arts at the University of Dallas in 1994. He continued at the institution to receive a Master of Arts from the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts in 1999. He commenced his career as an educator as an adjunct instructor of government at Tarrant County College and as an adjunct instructor in government and developmental writing at North Lake College in 2001. In 2003, he solely leveraged his skills and expertise as a visiting scholar in government at North Lake College until taking on a full professor of government position at Mountain View College in 2005. Mr. York has remained at this institution ever since.

There have been many highlights throughout his career, but a few, in particular, have helped shape Mr. York into the educator he is today. During Mr. York’s freshman year of college, he realized that he needed to increase his attention to detail and academic rigor. During a lunchtime discussion with his peers, he cited a research study to base his knowledge on when one of his peers questioned his claim. She asked him who his claim was in accordance with, to which he couldn’t remember, and said it was from a study he had read about. Another colleague then chimed in asking what method the study used to collect the data and how they defined the terms to support his claim. Since Mr. York didn’t know these answers about the research design itself, he couldn’t answer the question. While at the time it was an embarrassing moment for him, it inspired him to step up his research and never be caught in a situation like that again.

Another incident occurred out of Mr. York’s independent research. One of his former classmates, Russel Mitchell, a medieval historian, got into an ideological debate over an email. The two of them debated over an email saying he was part of a LISTSERV called the Armor Archive. The debate channeled the difference between a communist and a fascist, and Mr. Mitchell, knowing he had a background in political science and politics, asked for his input. This started him on a research project which resulted in him starting The Leo Test blog. Mr. York has been working on the blog for 15 years and has now expanded it. Since 2014, he has started formalizing it using mathematical constructions. In addition, he has researched three-dimensional operational models of ideological preference, designed comprehensive outcomes-based American government survey series and developed an individual ideological preference inventory.