Chalmers W Mayers, Jr., Ph.D.

Email: chalmers.mayers@jsums.edu
Phone: 601.979.7034
Location: Johnson Hall 108

Research Interest:
Art exploration of socio-economic themes and aesthetics within the Collegiate and K-12 arena, and how the collaboration impacts student achievement in economically challenged communities.

Courses Taught:
Art 101 Art Fundamentals
Art 102 Introduction to Design
Art 111 Introduction to Drawing
Art 112 Drawing II
Art 216 Drawing III (Figure Drawing)
Art 217 Drawing IV (Independent Study + Research)
Art 201 Design 2
Art 206 Art Appreciation

Professional Memberships:
College Art Association (CAA) Institutional Membership
Southeastern College Art Council (SECAC)
National Art Education Association (NAEA)
National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE)
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

• The 2016-2018 Ask For More Arts Initiative selected me as an Artist-in-Residence Coach, Coordinator and Advisor with the entire Lanier Feeder Pattern in the Jackson Public School District. The role entails finding JSU students that are prepared to work with the Lanier Feeder Pattern student community, organizing an on-campus communication system, and providing advisory feedback for planning guidelines and week-to-week activity sessions. The role consists of contacting and organizing students recommended by the JSU Art Department to participate in the Art Residency Program sponsored by Parents for Public Schools of Jackson and Jackson Public Schools.  Individual resources are supplied and a thematic overview concerning the Project Theme: Our Community – A Sense of Place is conversed daily during on-campus interactions and discussions.
• 2014-2016, served as an Artist in Residency in the Ask4More Arts Collaborative Program that is designed to give schools participating and local artists/cultural organizations an opportunity to partner with each other as co-teachers. This cooperative educational and work experience has been an integral part of collaboration for JSU’s Art Department and the Lanier Feeder Pattern community within the Jackson Public Schools.
• I have been participating in David Rae Morris’ feature-length documentary on his father’s (Willie Morris) hometown of Yazoo City called Yazoo Revisited.  
  Recently, was a part of the Mississippi Humanities Council project committee advisors for David Rae Morris’ “Yazoo Revisited”, which received the regular Mississippi Humanities Council grant.  Everyone on the committee included:  David Rae Morris (filmmaker), Seth Boonchai (President of the New Orleans Photo Alliance, the fiscal agent for the grant), Dr. David Sansing (professor emeritus of history at the University of MS), Dr. Charles Ross (also in history department at the University of MS and director of African American Studies), Dr. Chalmers Mayers, Jr. (1989 graduate of Yazoo City High School, wrote his dissertation at Jackson State University on the resegregation of the Public School in Yazoo City, his father taught in the Yazoo City Schools from 1962-1992), Daniel Boone (old friend of David Rae Morris and film aficionado, native of Vicksburg), Chandler Griffin (founder of the Barefoot Workshops and native of Jackson), Jeremy Burson (On staff at Mississippi Public Broadcasting), and JoAnne Prichard Morris (Willie Morris’ widow, lived in Yazoo City for 20 years and taught at Yazoo City High School during integration).