ELLISVILLE –Jones College Social Sciences instructor, Kathryn Davis has been selected as the Jones College 2023-2024 Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year. She will be honored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the college on Thursday, February 29, at 10 a.m. in the Home & Health Services Auditorium. The public is invited to see her free presentation, “The Feature Film: A Cinematic Journey of Emerging Adulthood,” before the MHC honors her and 29 other faculty members statewide in Jackson, on March 22.
“This presentation will focus on the theme of emerging adulthood as portrayed in cinema. These are students we see every day. They are in a transition period trying to figure out who they are and it’s big. They are exploring their career options, friends, their identity outside of what their parents have probably told them that they need to do, and social aspects. It’s a growing field in human growth and development right now,” said Davis.
Initially, Davis planned to become a psychometrist. She got sidetracked while taking retired Jones College psychology instructor, Randy Vinzant’s human growth and development and psychology classes as a dual-enrolled high school student. While at the University of Southern Mississippi earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology, the university hired Davis as a recruiter in 2004. After she earned her degree in 2006, she was hired as a full-time admissions counselor in 2007 for USM. “Psychology” sat “on the shelf” for several more years while Davis earned her master’s in education in College Student Personnel from USM in 2011.
“It’s all because of Vinzant’s class that I love psychology so much. I just didn’t know what I was going to do with it because I dabbled in testing and learning disabilities, but I wasn’t sure. Then, I just fell into recruiting,” Davis shared.
After getting married, she left the USM recruiting department and helped launch the Jones College Office of Recruitment with a group of other JC alumni in 2008. She went on to become the Student Success Center Advisement Specialist, Scholarship Coordinator, and Advisor to the Jones Ambassadors at JC. In 2012, Davis was named the Director of Recruitment, Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit Liaison and Bobcat Advisor. With her second child on the way in 2016, Davis felt like it was a good time to make a career move and became an adjunct psychology instructor.
“I remember calling my husband Matthew saying, I got to go back to school. He was like, ‘We have a newborn you know.’ Yes, we have a brand-new baby, but I signed up to get my additional hours because I already had my master’s, but I had to go back and get my 18 hours in psychology to teach. So, I took classes at William Carey University,” said Davis.
The 2004 Jones College graduate and Laurel native also credits retired Humanities Division Chair, Dr. Ronald Bishop for allowing her to see if switching from recruiting to becoming a psychology instructor in 2017, was truly where she wanted to be.
“I knew right away that she would make a great teacher because of her exuberant personality, and she proved it was a correct decision,” said Bishop. “She taught part-time for several semesters and became an immediate favorite of students. When an opportunity for full-time employment arose, I was happy that she was able to make the move to that faculty position. She did a good job at everything that I asked her to do and was always cheerful and cooperative. It is teachers like Kathryn that students remember fondly. I’m very happy to see that she is this year’s Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year.”
Likewise, after teaching full-time for seven years and working at Jones College for 16 years, Davis said being selected as the MHC Humanities Teacher of the Year is a bit surreal.
“It’s a huge honor to be in that same category as what I feel are the greats, like Dr. Bishop, Wyatt Moulds, Cheryl Windham, Sarah Ishee, Dr. David Lowery, and Tim Morris. I am still in shock,” shared Davis. “I never thought I would be in a category like that. I just never thought I would. It’s just I know those faculty that taught me are the ‘greats’ and to be in that category with them is an honor. It’s a huge honor.”
Current JC Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Julie Atwood said Davis is such an asset to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and to Jones College. Through her various roles at the college as a student, recruiter, dual credit coordinator, and instructor, she has always made students feel welcome and like family.
“We are very thankful for her willingness to help students reach their academic and career goals and are very excited to honor her as this year’s Humanities Teacher of the Year for Jones College,” said Atwood.
In addition to teaching five to seven general psychology, human growth and development, and child psychology courses a semester, last fall Davis was asked to take on the new role of Advisement Coordinator by the Office of Instructional Affairs. Her background in recruiting and advisement allows her to work with all of the faculty and help streamline the admissions, business office, and financial aid process for faculty while assisting with questions and troubleshooting, as well as communicating changes in those processes.
Davis is also actively involved in her community, serving as the College and Career Sunday School teacher, Youth Committee member, and VBS teacher at First Baptist Church of Laurel, the Laurel Arts League Chairman of Day in the Park Arts and Crafts Vendors, Hospitality and Scholarships, and has served as President, 1st and 2nd Vice President and Chairman of the Passing of the Crown for the Laurel Junior Auxiliary.