Jeff Shannon has devoted most of his career to practicing and teaching architecture in his native Arkansas. He began his career working in the firm of school alumnus and professor Fay Jones, and later worked at firms in Memphis, Houston and Little Rock. In 1977 he cofounded Polk Stanley Shannon in Little Rock, which has since become one of the state’s leading architecture firms. In 1979 Shannon returned to his alma mater to teach architecture. As dean of the school since 2000, he has developed new programs to foster leadership and life skills among students and to enhance diversity within the school. He continues to teach a popular course on the history of urban form.

Shannon has won numerous teaching awards, notably the Master Teaching Award (1993) and Outstanding Teacher Award (1997) from the School of Architecture and the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Category of Creativity (1992). He was inducted into the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy in 1993.