The Call Me MISTER (Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) program originated at Clemson University in South Carolina in 2000 with the goal of placing more male teachers from diverse backgrounds into the nation’s classrooms. The program has expanded to 14 colleges and universities in South Carolina and has contributed to a 40 percent increase in the number of Black male teachers in South Carolina public schools. In recent years, the Clemson program has also expanded to colleges and universities in Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi, and Georgia.
Now this successful program is the subject of a new book, Call Me MISTER: The Re-Emergence of African American Male Teachers in South Carolina (Advantage Media, 2012). The book is authored by Roy Jones, an associate professor in the department of educational leadership at Clemson University and the founder and executive director of the Call Me MISTER program. Co-author is Aretta Jones, a historian who is a graduate of Clemson University.
Dr. Jones is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from Atlanta University and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Georgia.
