Carol Jeffers
Art Education Faculty
Carol S. Jeffers, Ph.D., (University of Maryland, 1991), is professor of art education at Cal State L.A. where she teaches a variety of students in the teacher education, general education, service-learning, and graduate programs. Involved in experiential education for twenty-five years, her professional practice has always been informed by the philosophical/theoretical positions of John Dewey and Paulo Freire. Jeffers' research interests include visual metaphor, visual culture, semiotics, aesthetics of the everyday, constructivist approaches to service-learning and museum education?topics actively explored in the methodological middle ground that lies somewhere between post-phenomenology and post-structuralism. She is the recipient of the 1999 Outstanding Art Educator of the Year Award in Higher Education-Pacific Region and has been nominated twice for the Thomas B. Erlich National Service-Learning Award. Widely published in a variety of refereed journals and in edited volumes, Jeffers is also the author of the new book, Spheres of Possibility: Linking Service-Learning and the Visual Arts, (NAEA Publisher, 2005). Among her recent publications are articles such as: "In a Cultural Vortex: Theme Parks, Experience, and Art Education," in the journal Studies in Art Education, 2004; "Gallery as Nexus," in the journal Art Education, 2003; "Museum as Process," in the Journal of Aesthetic Education; 2003; “Between School and Community: Situating Service-Learning in the University Art Gallery,†in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2000. Recent book chapters include, for example: “Tools for Understanding Social Issues and Visual Culture,†chapter in Contemporary Issues in Art Education, Spiers and Gaudelius, Editors, Prentice-Hall, 2002; "Answering Her Call," chapter in Women Art Educators V: Conversations Across Time, Zimmerman, Grauer, and Irwin, Editors. NAEA Publisher, 2003; "Meanings about Mona/Velvet Ropes," chapter in Semiotics and Art Education: Sights, Signs, and Significance, Smith-Shank, Editor, NAEA Publisher, 2004; and "Transformative Connections: Linking Service-Learning and the Visual Arts," chapter in The Arts, Education, and Social Change:Little signs of hope, Powell and Marrow-Speiser, Editors, New York: Peter Lang (publisher), 2005.