Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Fisher.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
I was born and raised outside Potosi, Missouri, and I still live there by choice. My parents were both teachers in Potosi Schools, and four generations of our family have attended school there. I feel very attached to the school and the community, and raising my children close to their extended family is important. Public education has always been our family’s top priority, and 8 of us have pursued careers in teaching. I always wanted to be a teacher, but the particulars were always fuzzy. After graduating from Potosi High in 2006, I started my undergraduate career as an English Education major at Southeast Missouri State University. Then I swapped to Art Education after taking a ceramics course in my first year. Later, upon taking a course about exceptional children, I also understood my passion for working with gifted and talented students. After finishing my Bachelor’s degree at SEMO in 2009, I decided to get my Master’s degree in Gifted Education at Mizzou. Throughout that time, I spent summers working and learning at the Missouri Scholars Academy (MSA) on the campus of Mizzou. MSA is a three-week-long, residential, academic academy for gifted and talented rising high school juniors in Missouri. I served there at various times over a decade as a resident assistant, faculty member, front office staff, residential life coordinator, and Jill-of-all-trades. It remains the most important personal and professional learning community in my life. I finished my Master’s at Mizzou in 2011, then took a year off to rest before starting my Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). At different times I taught art education, gifted education, and English education to students in grades ranging from 3rd-12th in the Kingston K-14 and Potosi R-3 School Districts.
I finished my Ph.D. in the spring of 2016 and was fortunate enough to be hired at UMSL to teach art education that fall semester. I’ve been there ever since as the only art education faculty member on staff, and I’ve had wonderful opportunities to learn, travel, and grow as an emerging academic. Preparing preservice teachers is my professional passion, and I care deeply about my work. I’m currently professionally collaborating with two incredible groups of educators dedicated to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion for every type of student in the art classroom. One is more dedicated to ED&I work at large, and the other is dedicated to ED&I work within the context of talent development of high-ability visual artists. Both groups feed my professional passions and excite me to work every day.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My road has been very smooth compared to many folks’ challenges. I’m supremely privileged to have a family that always has my back. The older I get, the more I realize how remarkable that is–how rare. But I’ve also always worked hard to do the right thing and treat people with respect and dignity. My paternal grandfather died when I was in 8th grade, and his death was the first time I’d ever truly considered my mortality and the kind of world I wanted to leave behind when I was gone. I saw how people talked about him at his funeral, and almost everyone was laughing through tears in heartfelt remembrance. Even twenty years after his death, people still talk to me about him with fondness. I know he wasn’t perfect, and I understand the flawed naivete of putting heroes on pedestals. But I admired my Grandpa Sonny’s gift of connecting with people from all walks of life, his lack of pretentiousness, and–in times of conflict–his insistence on letting his reputation speak for itself. As I grow through life, I continue to look to the examples of resilience set by people like him and my Aunt Teeny, and I remind myself there is nothing in life I can’t handle with their love and support behind me. I do my best to instill a sense of resilience and community in my preservice art educators.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My research specialization lies at the intersection of art education and gifted education. I don’t particularly like the term “gifted” education, but it’s a term folks are familiar with. I focus on research surrounding the education of high-ability visual artists, particularly those from underrepresented groups. I often find myself bridging a gap between art education and gifted education because many folks from both fields need help understanding one another. I’m often the “art person” in gifted ed circles and the “gifted person” in art ed circles. I’m most proud of my work with two professional groups seeking to create more equitable classroom spaces. In one group, we’re working to help Missouri art educators create more equitable, diverse, and inclusive art classrooms for all of their students. In the other group, we’re working to diversify definitions of giftedness and expand talent development models for students from every imaginable demographic. Those with high abilities in the visual arts are present in every conceivable demographic. Still, poor, disabled, Black, and Brown students are disproportionately underserved in educational enrichment in the visual arts. My professional goal is to expand learning opportunities for high-ability visual artists from all backgrounds.
Please talk to us about happiness and what makes you happy.
My kids make me happier than anything in the world. I’m lucky to have a husband who helped me create two kind, funny, bright kids. Together, we do our best to raise them as happy, compassionate, resilient little humans. Of anything I’ve ever accomplished, I’m most proud of being their mom. There are many days when they make me question my sanity, nerve, and belief systems. Being a mom is hard. You need to adequately prepare yourself for the complete exhaustion of being a parent. But I’d choose them over and over again. They are the best parts of my life, and nothing is more important to me than my family. In addition to my family, I love traveling. My husband and I have traveled to 5 continents, nearly 20 countries, and 48 states, and we plan to continue for a while! I love the rush of new smells, faces, food, and environments, and I plan to travel as much as I can for as long as I can.
