Category: News

 ELLISVILLE – Twenty four of Jones College’s engineering majors toured one of the state’s renowned engineering facilities at Mississippi State University.  In addition to being able to tour the Bagley College of Engineering, students toured the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) and the High  Voltage Lab at MSU.  Exposing students to their future professors and university facilities helps them find the best college to fit their needs.

“This is a great opportunity for students to see the academic setting and the applications of the engineering courses they will take in the future,” said Jones engineering and physics instructor, Mary Boleware. “It is very helpful for the students to ‘see themselves’ at the next level before they transfer.”

This is 19^th-year Boleware has taken Jones students to tour the college of engineering at MSU. Students met with faculty and MSU students in various areas of engineering. At the CAVS, they were introduced to areas of research including the Eco Car and the Car of the Future, a 3D metals “printer”, and the virtual reality labs. While at the High Voltage Lab, Jones students enjoyed demonstrations of lightning strikes and other electrical engineering displays.

ELLISVILLE – Mississippi Economic Council COO, Cathy Northington spent a morning at Jones College recently sharing how Jones College students can be leaders who make a difference as the guest speaker for the college’s annual Black History Leadership program. Despite the many obstacles in her way, like leaving college to have a child and being raised by her grandmother, Northington discovered a way to be a leader in her field.

“I remember complaining to my grandmother, ‘I’m tired and I want to stop working. I don’t feel like my voice is being heard the way I wanted it to be heard,’” explained Northington to Jones students. “My no-nonsense grandma in her meek and mild manner told me, ‘It’s not about you. It’s about what you can do for others.’ That was the gut punch I needed.  At that moment I knew that I needed to lead to make a difference.”

The Jackson native studied marketing at Mississippi College and graduated from the Institute for Organization Management, an intensive four-year nonprofit leadership training program conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the University of Georgia. She was able to rise to the top as Chief Operating Officer of the MEC, Mississippi’s leading and largest broad-based business organization, working part-time before becoming MEC’s Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer and current COO, because of that “defining moment” with her grandmother.  She decided to become a leader who is teachable, compassionate and empathetic. As the, Our Mississippi Magazine’s and the Women’s Fund, 2018 Business Woman of the Year, Northington applied her grandmother’s wisdom to become a successful leader.

“Being a leader is one of the hardest jobs and it’s also one of the most rewarding…. In order to be teachable, you have to understand you’re never too old to learn. You have to care about those that you’re leading to being compassionate. If you are empathetic, it’s not always easy, but you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable. To whom much is given, much is required. Serve, even when you’re not getting paid to serve.”

She challenged the audience to consider the “pearls” of wisdom they can leave and collect, as well as what kind of blessings they can leave behind. Coordinator of the event and Jones College’s assistant to the president for corporate training, Dr. Samuel Jones, added we can all learn from each other, but we also have to discover our purpose in life to impact our surroundings.

“There is a purpose for everything. I encourage you students to find the purpose in all of your challenges, in all of your struggles and in everything you face in this thing called life, because this is what leading to make a difference is all about,” said Dr. Jones.

Northington also urged students to get out of their comfort zones and be disciplined to make the soundtrack of their lives what they want it to be; positive or negative.

ELLISVILLE – Jackson native and current Hattiesburg artist, Traci Stover’s collection, “Scrutiny: Portraiture Through the Eye,” has become an eye-opening experience for Jones College students. The exhibit, on display at Jones College’s Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery on the Ellisville campus until February 8, takes a unique look at the human eye. The art professor’s close-up of what many call the “window to a person’s soul” began while painting a portrait with 12 family members. Stover’s desire to see the details on each person’s face, especially the eyes created an intense interest which led to stranger’s requesting her to paint their eye. That process, Stover explained during an “Art Talk” for Jones College art majors, also allowed her to learn how to use materials in a new and different way.

“Flemish artists, Jan van Eyck and Roger van der Weyden inspire me with their ability to blend intense observation with a compassionate acknowledgment of the person before them.  They used oil paints, which were a relatively new medium at the time, and they most surely used mirrors and lenses to aid them in their observations,” said Stover. “I also use the glazing technique of painting thin transparent layers over paint, stacking up layers through each other. I also use the traditional oil paint and the modern acrylic paint to create the eye on a square canvas, usually from a picture.”

As she discussed the process of focusing closely, investigating the eye and how it conveys so much about a person, Jones College students began noticing more about each eye-portrait on display.  In some eyes, like in the close-up portrait of “Alejandro,” the photographer’s image can be seen. In addition to the many different expressions and personalities revealed in the images of the eye, Stover said her mood is also reflected in the painting.

“I’m not just copying photographs of eyes.  I’m thinking about the person. In ‘Sam’s’ case, she was going through a difficult time dealing with the loss of her brother, boyfriend and now her cancer diagnosis.  I think about how I feel about them and it is often reflected in the portrait of their eye,” Stover shared.

“You’re looking deep into their eyes. As you’re painting, it starts off with lines, then as you are playing with paint it becomes more like an eye and it feels like it’s looking back at you, but you start learning more about that eye and that’s interesting.”

That insight was an illuminating discovery for Centerville’s Alaysia Montgomery. The freshmen art major said Stover’s style has changed her view of painting and art overall.

“It is inspiring to me to know art can be more than just drawing a picture but also showing emotion. My next drawing will show more emotion. It will reflect the emotions embodied in the subject I paint,” said Montgomery.

For more information about the JC art show contact the gallery at 601-477-4148 or visit the gallery which is open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., and Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.  The gallery is closed for lunch daily from 11:30 until noon.  If you want to know more about the Jones College Fine Arts Department check out the JC Fine Arts Facebook page at JCJCFineArts.