The English department genuinely took an interest in my personal life, my profession in public health and lent their ears and hearts to my fears about this big new adventure I was about to embark on.
Jacobi Le’Ron Hunter
- Student
Jacobi Le'Ron Hunter is currently a part of a few public health initiatives as it relates to public health research. He currently serves on the Ryan White Planning Council as well as sits on the Allocations Committee. He is dually researching with Dallas County Health and Human Services on an uptick in pre-exposure prophylaxis in Black women in Dallas County, where he serves as one of the investigators. This project is a supplemental activity under the states Ending the HIV Epidemic prevention activities. Hunter grew up in Dallas in a family of six where basketball was a way of life. But he, unfortunately, has no athletic skills. His family still teases him about it to this day. He has lived in several different areas across the US for work and to advocate. Hunter sits as a board member for a few local and national organizations. Hunter loves to cook, workout, travel with friends and listen to some good music!
A Conversation with Jacobi
Why did you choose to attend East Texas A&M?
There were essentially three big reasons why I chose to attendEast Texas A&M. First and foremost, East Texas A&M has the reputation for having a really innovative and high-profile English program that grabbed my attention. Its reputation in many educational areas is unmatched and very impressive. Secondly, I have two siblings, Chania Wright and Cardell Hunter, who have attended and attend Commerce as star athletes in the basketball program. When I told them at a Sunday dinner I was going to apply, they instantly got excited and highlighted the fact that there would be one sibling pursuing each level of degree at the university. I never thought of it like that, and it made me proud to know that we would leave that kind of legacy and example behind. My last and biggest reason was meeting some of the faculty in the English department. What was supposed to be a one-hour meeting ended up being four hours of bonding and diving into some rich conversation particularly, with Dr. Roggenkamp and Dr. Carter. They genuinely took an interest in my personal life, my profession in public health and lent their ears and hearts to my fears about this big new adventure I was about to embark on. I had their support in so many ways, and they had only known me on paper. To date, they are still some of my biggest supporters, along with all my teachers, and remain a testament to the power of the student-teacher dynamic. These all played major roles in making one of the best decisions in my life, attending East Texas A&M University.
What are your career goals and how does your degree program fit into your career goals?
My career goals are really to continue to advance in my current field. I currently serve as the Program Manager for AIDS United, which is an AIDS Service Organization that provides capacity building for the CDC to health departments. I also assist with grant writing for non-profit organizations to bring resources to communities where there are gaps in funding. What advancement in my field would look like would be one day being a director either at my current organization or at the CDC. I also want to couple this with teaching a rhetoric class at the junior college level, bridging social justice, public health and rhetoric into a full curriculum. The amount of education and exposure I have been given to interdisciplinary subjects within the English program has inspired me not only to use my Ph.D. to continue to help communities but also to educate students in new and innovative ways.
What professor or person on campus has positively influenced you? How so?
It is so hard to choose a single professor, and I would do a grave injustice to the ways that I have been influenced and even inspired. Some key folks have pushed the fullest potential of my educational interest, intellectual exchange and discourse, and abilities. Simply watching and engaging these instructors have invoked so many things with me. Dr. Roggenkamp has been a confidant and a safe space for me as I navigate the program and with working within the government's public health response with COVID-19. Dr. Kumari has influenced me to dig deeper into new worlds within my discipline and explore new ways to tell my stories. Lastly, Dr. Pauszek has shown me what it's like to give all the intersections of my identity and culture a voice through my rhetoric. All of these different considerations of care and teachings on not only my behalf but also my classmates have made me want to continue to be the best version of myself that I can be. The sky is the limit with what I can do, and that is affirmed in every class, assignment, conversation and piece of feedback I get from these extraordinary women. While their functions as educators have been the foundation of their influence, it is not lost on me that their ornamental functionality is just as amazing. Me being one of the only males, black males, in fact, within many of our spaces of engagement together influences me to carry on the legacy of great teachers through the example of male leadership.
Educational Background
- Ph.D., English, Texas A&M University-Commerce(now East Texas A&M University), 2019-Present
- MA, English, Clark Atlanta University, 2015
- BS, Prairie View A&M University, 2007