Left to right: Uncle Charlie Douglass, Art Fuller, and Aunt Liz — Fuller Road, Montgomery, Alabama, July 2022.
Georgia State University — Public Health Careers Session
On Monday, August 31, 2026 — the very day of Charlie Douglass's 86th birthday — Art Fuller joined a Public Health Careers course at Georgia State University as the guest speaker. This page preserves the minutes of what was covered, the implications, and the significance of the session.
Date & Time
Monday, August 31, 2026 · 9:30 AM
Duration & Format
1 hour 13 minutes · Recorded Zoom guest lecture with Q&A
Host
Dr. Jacque-Corey Cormier — Public Health Careers course
Attendees
~39–40 public health students at Georgia State University
Guest
Art Fuller — Founder, President & CEO, Voice Up Publishing; Chief of CCBHC Operations, Hamilton Center, Inc.; DHSc/MPH Doctoral Candidate, University of Indianapolis
Overview
These minutes are organized by theme rather than strict chronology, so each section can stand alone. For every theme, this page records what was covered, the significance of the exchange, and the key quotes. The full learning module — with reflection questions and the complete review tying the session to Charlie Douglass — is available as a separate module.
The Minutes — What Was Covered
Session Framing & Professionalism Norms
What Was Covered
Before Art joined, Dr. Cormier set expectations around Zoom presence, professional self-presentation, and the course's dual purpose — career knowledge and self-knowledge. He framed small behaviors (a real display name, a visible face, a non-default background) as high-signal indicators of seriousness.
Significance
The class explicitly treats guest sessions as professionalization exercises, not passive content delivery. Art's session was positioned from the outset as a model of "how to show up," which primed the class to receive his later professionalism advice as reinforcement.
Introduction & Credentialing
What Was Covered
Art was formally introduced with his full credentials (Wesleyan BA, Lesley MEd, Vanderbilt graduate studies, University of Indianapolis DHSc/MPH). He gave explicit, repeated consent to recording: "Oh, please record. Please do record." A student, Raymia Taylor, introduced herself on behalf of the class.
Significance
The course had accurate, detailed biographical information on hand — a planned, vetted guest appearance. Art's on-the-record consent to recording provides a clean basis for reusing clips or quotes from the session.
What Voice Up Is — Mission & Proof Points
What Was Covered
Art explained Voice Up's mission — turning lived experience into career pathways — with two proof-point stories: Emily Metheny (a children's book born from childhood anxiety now purchased by large organizations across multiple states) and Maryam in Nigeria (selected from 1,000 applicants, now part of Overcome UK providing non-clinical mental health support worldwide).
Significance
These two proof points function as Art's standard, rehearsed impact narrative. The framing explicitly ties personal narrative to institutional partnership outcomes — a template for how lived experience becomes career capital. By choosing one U.S.-based freshman and one international student, Art signals Voice Up is globally accessible.
Origin Story — The Dissertation Connection
What Was Covered
Art explained how Voice Up grew directly from his doctoral dissertation on African American students' perspectives on entering mental and behavioral health. He interviewed students across 10 states; the recurring finding was that students had lived experiences directly related to the field but had not connected that experience to a career. He then told the Uncle Charlie birthday story for the first time — as proof of the science of purpose.
Significance
This is a public, plain-language articulation of the "Naming Gap" thesis delivered outside the formal academic committee context. It 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."
Founder vs. Director vs. CEO
What Was Covered
Art distinguished the three roles: founders need humility, boards, and IP protection; directors focus on execution; CEOs answer to a board of directors who are "smarter than you in areas that you are not good at." He shared that he talks with 5–7 new people about Voice Up every single day, and used the bike-riding metaphor for mentorship — "somebody else taught you."
Significance
This is a live, teachable articulation of Art's governance philosophy, mapping onto Voice Up's actual structure. The "5–7 new conversations daily" figure is a concrete, quotable data point about CEO-level networking discipline. The bike analogy recurs as Art's go-to teaching device for describing mentorship and scaffolding.
Leadership Style — Servant Leadership
What Was Covered
Art identified himself as a servant leader, mission-driven, and demonstrated it live by naming specific students on the call (Mason Wong, Quasia). He said leadership is "just as much about the relationships you have with people than the task you're actually trying to accomplish."
Significance
Confirms "servant leadership" as Art's explicitly self-identified leadership model — a direct quote for bios or leadership-philosophy statements. Art demonstrated the practice live by naming specific students, turning an abstract principle into observable behavior.
How to Get Involved — The Application Process
What Was Covered
Art explained the five-step application funnel at VoiceUpLab.org, the personalized 8-week guide given to every applicant regardless of whether they join, and the do's of professional interviews — show up professionally, research the organization, and have questions in mind. He noted the market "already has professionals" and is not looking for people who are not professional.
Significance
A verbatim, ready-to-use explanation of the application funnel's rationale (self-selection via effort). The professionalism do's/don'ts double as recruiting messaging aimed at reducing unqualified applicants.
Success Benchmarks & Timelines
What Was Covered
Art framed this very class session as a Year 2 success marker for Voice Up. He distinguished "reach" (Year 1: 134 countries) from "institutional embeddedness" (Year 2+: university invitations like Dr. Cormier's class). He shared his school-founding benchmark — three years of financials exceeding budget before declaring success — and emphasized the written business/project plan as the literal baseline against which success is measured.
Significance
Art explicitly frames this class session itself as a Year 2 success marker — a self-referential data point captured live. This establishes a two-tier success framework: quantitative reach vs. institutional embeddedness.
Setbacks, Accountability & the Five Core Principles
What Was Covered
Art told the Uncle Charlie story a second time — as the source of his resilience. He said he knows his family's history going back over 200 years through firsthand accounts from people like his uncle Charlie, and that lived experience is "what gets you through setbacks." He then stated Voice Up's five core principles — collaboration, humility, precision, patience, empathy — and mapped a bad decision to "precision" and "empathy" as diagnostic tools.
Significance
The clearest on-record statement of Voice Up's five core principles as an operative accountability framework. Art's framing of setbacks explicitly integrates faith and multi-generational family history (Uncle Charlie) as sources of resilience.
Closing — The Story Handed Forward
What Was Covered
A student, Jaiden Nelson, 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." Dr. Cormier offered a closing metaphor — professionalism is "the wetsuit that allows you to swim through multiple settings," not armor — and credited guest engagement quality to "what people did last semester."
Significance
Direct student feedback confirms the CEO/director distinction and leadership-style content were the most resonant takeaways. The session closed the loop on the Uncle Charlie story: Art told it, the students received it, and they handed it back as a birthday wish. Cormier confirmed this course actively encourages students to reach out to guests post-session — a live pipeline for future Voice Up applicants.
Key Quotes from the Session
Art Fuller, on lived experience
"Voice up focuses on a very powerful thing that we all have, which is our own lived experience."
Art Fuller, 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 Fuller, on the Uncle Charlie story
"Today's my uncle's 86th birthday... he said, "I'm going to the gym." Now, just think about that. He's 86 years old."
Art Fuller, on the five core principles
"We have five core principles... collaboration, humility, precision, and then patience and empathy. Patience is really based on this thought: we all make mistakes, and we all need forgiveness."
Jaiden Nelson, student
"Tell your uncle happy birthday on behalf of all of us."
Dr. Cormier, closing metaphor
"It is the wetsuit that allows you to swim through multiple settings."
Implications & Significance
A Live Doctoral Translation
The session is a public, plain-language translation of Art's doctoral dissertation — the Naming Gap thesis — delivered to 40 public health students. It demonstrates how academic research becomes a living organization.
One Life, Three Uses
The Uncle Charlie story was told three times in one session: as proof of purpose science, as the source of resilience, and as a story handed forward by a student. One life became evidence, foundation, and curriculum in a single hour.
Institutional Embeddedness as a Success Marker
Art framed the invitation itself — a Georgia State University class — as a Year 2 success marker, distinguishing reach (quantity) from institutional embeddedness (depth). This session is the evidence.
The Five Principles as an Accountability Framework
Art stated Voice Up's five core principles (collaboration, humility, precision, patience, empathy) and then used them as diagnostic tools to examine a bad decision — the clearest on-record statement of the principles in operation.
The Charlie Douglass Connection
The session took place on the exact day of Charlie Douglass's 86th birthday. Three times during the lecture, Art Fuller brought his uncle into the room — first as proof of the science of purpose, then as the source of his resilience, and finally as a story handed forward when a student said: "Tell your uncle happy birthday on behalf of all of us."
That exchange — Art told the story, the students received it, and they handed it back as a birthday wish — is the trilogy in one moment.