Welch School Builds a Launchpad for Georgia's Next Art Teachers

ATLANTA — Georgia State University's Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design is positioning itself as a statewide training ground for art educators, following the July 10 debut of "The First Years Experience," a free one-day intensive for new and aspiring art teachers developed with the Georgia Art Education Association (GAEA).

More than 40 educators from across Georgia spent the day on Georgia State's Atlanta Campus, moving through sessions that paired studio practice with the practical realities of starting a teaching career, from classroom management and interview prep to resume workshops and career paths in museum education, arts administration and curriculum writing. Attendees also toured the Welch School's studio classrooms with Assistant Professor Adéwálé Adénlé, explored the EXLAB makerspace and engaged with the exhibition "Where Being Takes Root: Works by Southern Artists From the Larry M. and Gwendolyn E. Walker Collection."

The program was the vision of Jennifer Mack-Watkins, a lecturer in GSU's Art Education program and a veteran of more than 17 years in K-12 classrooms. Mack-Watkins designed the intensive around the questions she wished someone had answered for her early on, building a day that brings new teachers into direct contact with administrators, veteran educators, professional associations and the Georgia Department of Education — voices she says are often missing from a new teacher's first year.

Her commitment to access has personal roots. As a high school junior in South Carolina, she was turned away from an Advanced Placement art course by a newly hired teacher, a setback that shaped her career-long focus on keeping art education open to students and teachers alike.

With "The First Years Experience," GSU and the Welch School see an opportunity to extend that mission statewide, establishing the university as a resource for practicing art educators across Georgia, and as a destination for prospective students drawn to a program that connects studio practice, teacher preparation and research.