By: Armida Yee-Muñoz
ATLANTA—“There’s no point in being a leader if you can’t lead in real situations,” Dr. Jacque-Corey Cormier (Ph.D. ‘17) states during a discussion about his summer Honors 3260 Interdisciplinary Seminar*, "Led by You: Discovering Your Leadership Style and More." His course emphasizes the role of personal experiences in shaping leadership styles and invites students to explore this through innovative paths.
Dr. Cormier, a Clinical Associate Professor at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, has a commitment to bridging research and action as evident in his teaching approach. Students didn’t just learn about leadership—they embodied it. From exploring Atlanta’s neighborhoods on MARTA to earning CPR certification, Dr. Cormier encourages his students to see leadership as both an academic and practical skill.
HON 3260’s Path to Photovoice
A key component of this experiential learning is photovoice, which is a community-based participatory research (CBPR) method that Dr. Cormier integrates into his work. By using photography and storytelling, photovoice empowers people to document their lived experiences and engage in critical reflection. For Dr. Cormier, this approach transforms traditional research dynamics “by turning participants into co-researchers.”
Haylea Flowers Dixon (A.S. ‘22), HON 3260 Photovoice Project
This method’s transformative power is central to Dr. Cormier’s seminar. The class collaborated to create prompts, including the central question: “How have my life experiences informed my leadership style?” Students then venture into their communities, capturing images as seen in this article that embodied their responses and presenting them alongside narratives. These reflections culminate in group discussions, thematic coding and a final exhibition that showcases their collective work.
“You had a thought; you decided to express it through an image and then utilized a caption to give a context to the viewer,” he said. “Now, there’s an emotional resonance versus answering a question like: ‘How do you feel about your community on a scale from 1 to 5?’ It gives that qualitative approach. It’s like social media, but useful in research.”
Dr. Cormier’s Path to Community-Based Participatory Research
Dr. Cormier’s journey to integrating innovative methods like photovoice into his teaching is rooted in his upbringing and personal values. Raised in DeKalb County, Georgia, his family was actively engaged in their community through church-led initiatives such as food pantries and bill-assistance programs. “We would visit homes where families faced challenges ranging from medical bills to job loss,” he recalled.
Dr. Jacque-Corey Cormier, Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Public Health (Ph.D. ‘17)
This foundation of service and community engagement heavily influenced Dr. Cormier’s academic trajectory. While earning his undergraduate and master’s degrees in psychology, he sought out community service opportunities, such as developing summer programs for middle schoolers in rural Georgia to volunteering at men’s homeless shelters in Atlanta. By the time he began his doctoral program in community psychology at GSU, Dr. Cormier realized he wanted to do more than conduct research—he wanted to be a part of it and work with research participants.
“As I was wrapping up my master's Thesis about linking adolescents' leadership exposure to transformational leadership, I vividly remember throwing my hands up in the air after finding P-value < 0.05** and exclaimed in the cold, sterile lab, ‘Yes!’”
However, as he wrote the final draft of his thesis, Dr. Cormier had a few realizations about his career path.
“Setting up an experiment like this is easy, but did I want to continue writing conclusion sections about what future researchers should do? I realized that community psychology would allow me to do the work of the conclusion section. I wanted to do the next step. I wanted to be that future researcher.” Years later, he became just that.
Alma Espinoza, HON 3260 Photovoice Project
When asked about his hopes for the future, Dr. Cormier emphasizes the importance of humanizing research.
“In 10 years, I want more of my colleagues to ask themselves: ‘Am I working with these people or on these people?’” he said. “If I can be a conduit for remembering the humanity behind the data we collect, analyze, and interpret, I’ll be happy.”
Jennifer Perez (BSN ‘24), HON 3260 Photovoice Project
By fostering this mindset in his students, Dr. Cormier ensures that the legacy of his work extends far beyond the classroom and wishes to document his teaching styles for upcoming research educators. Through photovoice and his interdisciplinary approach to leadership, he not only equips Honors students with tools for academic success but also empowers them to enact meaningful leadership skills in their communities.
After all, leadership doesn’t live in textbooks—it thrives in the snapshots of real life.
*Honors Seminars are courses taught in the Honors College by faculty from many different disciplines across campus. In these classes, faculty can experiment with topics and approaches that may not be available to them in courses they may teach in their department. Honors Seminars are a space for innovation where both the instructor and the learner engage topics in a hands-on, interactive approach that builds their connection with the world and with each other.
** A p-value is a statistical measure of how likely it is that a study's results occurred by chance. In research, a p-value of 0.05 or lower is generally considered statistically significant. Therefore, Dr. Cormier’s thesis hypothesis was proved to be true.
The Honors College at Georgia State University is a destination for high-achieving students who embody curiosity, take pride in their work and dream about how they can make an impact through their studies and careers. Its mission is to serve students in a welcoming space by engaging students’ curiosity, empowering them to achieve their highest potential and inspiring them to find their place in the world. Its students form life-long friendships, participate in community service, perform research, excel academically, explore their interests and chart their career paths.