The Story, Live — Art Fuller's Public Health Careers Guest Session
On Monday, August 31, 2026 — the very day of Charlie Douglass's 86th birthday — Art Fuller was the guest speaker in a Public Health Careers course at Georgia State University. During the session, he told the Uncle Charlie birthday story twice. This module demonstrates the connection of the story.
Date
Monday, August 31, 2026, 9:30 AM
Duration
1:13:45
Host
Dr. Jacque-Corey Cormier (Public Health Careers course)
Format
Recorded Zoom guest lecture with Q&A
Guest
Art Fuller — Founder, President & CEO, Voice Up Publishing; Chief of CCBHC Operations, Hamilton Center, Inc.; DHSc/MPH Doctoral Candidate, University of Indianapolis
Attendees
~39–40 students, including Raymia Taylor, Deborah Murray, Jaiden Nelson, Ritavian Benton, Mason Wong
How to Use This Module
These minutes are organized by theme rather than strict chronology, so each section can stand alone as a short lesson. Each theme includes the detailed quotes behind the discussion, the actual question that prompted the exchange, what the exchange implies, a set of reflection questions for journaling or small-group discussion, and notes on how the material could be reused. Instructors can assign one theme per session, or use the full set as a self-paced module.
The Charlie Douglass Connection
The Uncle Charlie birthday story appears in three themes of this session — and each one shows the connection between one life and the broader Voice Up framework:
Theme 4
Origin Story — Dissertation Connection
Theme 9
Setbacks, Accountability & Core Principles
Theme 10
Closing, Student Feedback & Network Effects
The Closing Loop
"Tell your uncle happy birthday on behalf of all of us." — Jaiden Nelson, student
"I will, Uncle Charlie. He just got done with the gym. He's already worked out." — Art Fuller
The Ten Themes
Art explains how Voice Up grew directly from his doctoral dissertation — and tells the Uncle Charlie birthday story for the first time.
Key Quotes
Art (17:58), on the dissertation
"What my doctoral dissertation was researching is what is the perspective specifically that African American students have on entering the field of mental and behavioral health... I talked to students spanning 10 states, and this is what kept coming up. All of these students had lived experiences that were directly related... but for some reason, they had not connected that lived experience to a career."
Art (17:58), on purpose science
"The science behind purpose is powerful because what it shows is that people that live a more purpose-driven life actually live longer. They can fight off disease at a higher rate. And this is like science. This is not like this is you can look it up."
Art (17:58), the Uncle Charlie story
"Today's my uncle's 86th birthday... he lives by himself in Montgomery, Alabama... he said, "I'm going to the gym." Now, just think about that. He's 86 years old. He lives by us. He gets around. He still mows the lawn. And then on his 86th birthday, he is going to the gym... I have four or five relatives like that that are in their 80s that are connected to their purpose and serving and community."
Key Question(s) Asked
Cormier: "What drew you to become a founder of an organization, and what does that really look like?"
Implications
- →This is a public, plain-language articulation of the "Naming Gap" thesis delivered outside the formal academic committee context.
- →Confirms Voice Up is explicitly and directly derived from the dissertation's core finding, not a separate initiative.
- →The family-longevity anecdote (Uncle Charlie, age 86, daily gym routine) is a recurring personal illustration of "purpose science."
Reflection Questions
- 1.Art argues students often don't connect their lived experience to a career until it's "too late." Have you had an experience you didn't initially see as career-relevant?
- 2.Art claims purpose-driven living improves health outcomes and calls this "science you can look it up." How would you verify a claim like this?
- 3.If the dissertation focused on African American students, what does it mean for the resulting organization to serve "students just like you" more broadly?
Complete Review — The Charlie Douglass Connection
This review ties the entire session back to the anchor of the trilogy: one life — Charlie Douglass at 86. Three times during this guest lecture, Art Fuller brought his uncle into the room. Each time, the story did different work. Together, they show how a single life becomes evidence, resilience, and a curriculum for the next generation.
Art told the Uncle Charlie story to prove that purpose-driven people live longer. "He's 86 years old. He lives by us. He gets around. He still mows the lawn. And then on his 86th birthday, he is going to the gym." The story turned an abstract claim — "people who live a purpose-driven life actually live longer" — into one visible, living person.
Connects to → Module 9: The Health Benefits of Purpose
Art told the story a second time to explain how he survives setbacks. "I literally know my family's history going back over 200 years, and I have firsthand accounts of that from people that I know, like my uncle Charlie... that is what gets you through setbacks." Here the story is not proof of a theory — it is the lived ground under his feet when things go wrong.
Connects to → Module 1: Charlie Douglass at 86 (The Anchor)
A student closed the session: "Tell your uncle happy birthday on behalf of all of us." Art answered: "I will, Uncle Charlie. He just got done with the gym. He's already worked out." The story, told twice to explain purpose and resilience, was received by the next generation and handed back as a birthday wish. That is the trilogy in one exchange.
Connects to → Module 6: The Charlie Douglass Legacy Internship (passing it forward)
Review Reflection Questions — The Charlie Douglass Connection
Use these questions after working through the full module to review and articulate the connection between this live session and the life of Charlie Douglass.
- 1.Art used the same story — Uncle Charlie going to the gym on his 86th birthday — to make two different points: first as proof of the science of purpose, then as the source of his own resilience. What does it mean that one life can serve as both evidence and foundation? Which use of the story moved you more, and why?
- 2.Art says he knows his family's history "going back over 200 years" through firsthand accounts "from people that I know, like my uncle Charlie." Charlie Douglass is not just a birthday subject — he is a living primary source. What responsibility comes with knowing someone's story firsthand? How does the Charlie Douglass Legacy Internship turn that responsibility into action?
- 3.When Jaiden Nelson said "tell your uncle happy birthday on behalf of all of us," the story completed a circle: Art told it, the students received it, and they handed it back. Describe a moment when someone's story was told to you and you felt called to carry it forward. What is the "birthday wish" you would pass on from Charlie Douglass's life?
- 4.Art connects Charlie's longevity directly to the science of purpose: "people that live a more purpose-driven life actually live longer. They can fight off disease at a higher rate. And this is like science." Read Module 9 (The Health Benefits of Purpose) alongside this session. In what ways is Charlie Douglass's life — still going to the gym at 86, still serving, still in community — a living illustration of that research?
- 5.Art names the five core principles — collaboration, humility, precision, patience, empathy — and says he practices them "all the time." Looking at Charlie Douglass's life as described in this session and in the birthday tribute (Module 1), which of the five principles do you see most clearly in how he has lived? Give specific evidence.
- 6.This guest session happened on the exact day of Charlie's 86th birthday — August 31, 2026. Art did not plan that coincidence; the class was scheduled, and the birthday was the birthday. Yet he wove the story through the session naturally. What does this suggest about how lived experience shows up in real professional settings — not as a script, but as who someone is? How might your own lived experience show up that way in your future work?
Where This Module Connects Across the Trilogy
Appendix: Post-Session Administrative Q&A
After Art left the call, students raised course-logistics questions unrelated to Voice Up (homework assignments, a Walking Dead character discussion). These are preserved in the full record for completeness but are not part of the learning module.