MHC Elects New Members, Officers
(JACKSON, MS) – The Mississippi Humanities Council welcomes four new members who will gather in Oxford, MS, later this month for orientation and training.
Dr. Jean Kelly Chamberlain, Jackson, is a native of Utica, Mississippi. She received her early education in Hinds County Public Schools. Following graduation from Hinds County Agricultural High School, she earned an associate of arts degree in pre-English from Utica Junior College (now known as Hinds Community College) and a bachelor of arts degree in English from Tougaloo College. She earned a master of arts in English at the University of Dayton in Ohio and later a doctor of education degree in secondary education from Mississippi State University. She has served as a field staff specialist with the Mississippi Educational Services Center; English educator at Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women and Jackson State University; and scholar for the Mississippi Council of Teachers of English and the Mississippi Humanities Council. With a distinguished record as English educator, writing program administrator and former humanities division chair, Dr. Chamberlain currently serves as chair of the Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages at Jackson State. She continues to support the humanities while teaching courses in writing and literature and while preparing English teachers for working in secondary schools. In 2009, the Mississippi Humanities Council presented her with the Humanities Educator Award for her “innovative techniques and formats to reach a wide audience with the ideas and techniques of the humanities.”
Ralph Didlake, Jackson, is founder and director of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He trained in general surgery, also at UMMC, and completed a surgical fellowship in organ transplantation at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. After practicing transplant, general and vascular surgery for 23 years, Dr. Didlake developed a compelling interest in the human context of modern medical and surgical care. This interest led to a master's degree in bioethics and health policy from the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics at Loyola University, Chicago. Currently, Dr. Didlake is professor of surgery and director of the CBMH. His focus is professionalism education, research ethics and the medical humanities.
D.E. Magee, Jackson, received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio; a master of science in biochemistry from Howard University in Washington, D.C.; and a doctorate of medicine from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He finished his residency in ophthalmology at Thomas Jefferson University Medical Center in Philadelphia, Penn. Since then, Dr. Magee has been in the private practice of ophthalmology at the Magee Clinic in Jackson. He serves on the board of directors of the Davis Planetarium as program chair. Additionally, he is secretary of the board of directors of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson. He is a volunteer Big Brother with the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters organization, and is past president of the Hinds County Project Head Start Advisory Council. He is mentor to high school and college students in summer pre-health career programs, as well as to medical students interested in ophthalmology.
Dr. Andrew P. Mullins Jr., Oxford, returns to the Council after having served previously from 2001 to 2009. He serves as chief of staff to the chancellor and associate professor of education at the University of Mississippi. A native of Macon, Miss., Mullins was a high school teacher and administrator for eight years after graduating from Millsaps College with a degree in history. While teaching he completed a masters in history from Mississippi College in 1976 and a PhD in college administration from the University of Mississippi in 1992. He has served as a special assistant to two governors and three state superintendents of education. While working on Governor William Winter's staff, he was fully involved in the passage of the 1982 Education Reform Act. He is the author of a book entitled Building Consensus, A History of the Passage of the Education Reform Act of 1982 which is an account of the political process involved in the Winter administration's efforts to change the education system in Mississippi, as well as The Measure of Our Days: Writings of William F. Winter, a collection of the governor's most thoughtful writings on his home state, the South and America in general. Since June 1994, Mullins has worked with three chancellors in various areas of responsibility including government relations and is co-director of the Mississippi Teacher Corps Program. Mullins continues to teach K-12 teachers who are in graduate school.
Outgoing board members include Dr. E. Harold Fisher, Jackson; Dr. Candice Love Jackson, formerly of Jackson; Dr. George Mitchell, Jackson; and Dorothy Roberts McEwen, Ocean Springs.
Council officers include Pamela Pridgen, Hattiesburg, chair; Luther Brown, Cleveland, vice chair; Alex Thomas, Florence, secretary; and Ricki Garrett, Clinton, treasurer.
The Mississippi Humanities Council is funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi.
Twenty-two Mississippians serve four-year terms on the Council as volunteers. Five Council members are appointed by the governor and the others elected by the Council. Half of the members are public and half academic, and every effort is made to maintain balance by race, gender and geographic distribution to assure representation for all Mississippians.
Any Mississippi resident may nominate persons to serve on the Council. Calls for nominations are regularly announced in the Council’s publications and at Council-supported events.
The Mississippi Humanities Council does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age.
For information on Mississippi Humanities Council program and grant applications, please visit www.mshumanities.org.