David Jackson, Ph.D.

Dr. David Jackson III was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Studies. In 1998, he received a Master of Arts degree in African-American World Studies at the University of Iowa. The title of his master’s thesis is Colonial Origins of Instability: The Case of Nigeria. In 2006, he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of Iowa. His Ph.D. dissertation entitled, The Walking Nkisis: African-American Material Culture in Iowa: A Case Study on Yard Art in Waterloo, Iowa, examines yard art collections among African-Americans in Iowa.

Dr. Jackson was the producer of an oral video history project entitled, African-American Voices of the Cedar Valley. The first phase of the project consisted of ten DVDs of extensive interviews with notable African-Americans in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area. It has been broadcasted on several television stations in Iowa during the Black History Month since 2006.

Zhuojun Joyce Chen, Ph.D.

Office Location: 321 Lang
Office Phone: (319) 273-2574
E-mail: joyce.chen@uni.edu
Web Site: http://www.uni.edu/chen

Dr. Zhuojun Joyce Chen is Associate Professor, who has been teaching in the Department of Communication Studies, the University of Northern Iowa since 1994. The areas of her specialty are Communication, Culture, and Community/Society (cultural studies, and intercultural/international communication); Media Technologies and Information Systems (the convergence of broadcasting and computer technologies; linear and non-linear audio/video production, WebPage design, multimedia production; and new technologies' impact on higher education and contemporary society); Electronic Media Systems (broadcasting, advertising, the Internet); Mass communication Process and Effects; and Research Methods (quantitative, qualitative, and textual analysis).

Since 2005 Dr. Chen has been working on the project with Dr. Jackson.

Melvina Brooks Scott

Office: Mel Scott Agency Business Developer
Office Phone: (319)504-1204
E-mail: Melvinascott@hotmail.com

Melvina Brooks Scott, Born in Goodman, Mississippi, a Sharecropper daughter who left the red hills of mississippi during the hight of the Civil Right Movement and came to Waterloo, Iowa. Melvina did not come to Waterloo and go to work in the factory or on the railroad, she got involved in the up north Civil Right Movement. Since 2004 Melvina has been the Executive Director at the African American Historical and Cultural Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.
She has owned Mel Scott Agency for 13 years during business as an associate with USANA health science. Mrs Scott is a Life Underwriters Training Council fellow (LUTCF). She has been an insurance agent since 1977. Her last contracts was with Royal Neighbors of America, a financial fraternal organization. She is a member of Payne Memorial A.M.E. Church, a past president of the United Sister and Networks Together, Inc. also past board member of the YWCA. Her political activities includes Republican Candidate for the Iowa Senate in 2002 general election, congressional Aide for former congressman Dave Nagle, Award winning Federal Local Office Manager for Census 2000, and a Partnership Spacilist and assistant manager for 2010 Census. Her education is a B. A. in Social Work and graduate work for the University of Northern Iowa. She is a Certified Negotiator by Cooper Management Institute, and a graduate from Leadership Investment for Tomorrow (LIFT).