FOR LIBERTY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 5
Thank You!
“Our students need and deserve teachers, administrators, and school officials who are compassionate, concerned, and committed to making their success the top priority. As a member of the Board of Education, I am dedicated to this goal.”
--Chante Baker Martin
After graduating from Liberty County High in 2000, Chanté attended Spelman College where she graduated with honors with a degree in English in 2004. At Spelman, she participated in the college honors program, served as chapter president of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, was a member of the Spelman College Glee Club, and was inducted into several honor societies including the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Society. Upon graduating from Spelman, Chanté moved directly into a doctoral program at Emory University. There, she worked as an academic advisor in the Office for Undergraduate Education and served as a graduate assistant for the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Institute, a program co-sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). She also received a Mellon Teaching Fellowship in 2009, which afforded her the opportunity to teach literature courses at her alma mater, Spelman, for one year. In 2010, Chanté earned a PhD in American Studies, with a concentration in 20th-Century African American Literature. In the fall of that year, she joined the faculty of Savannah State University (SSU) as an assistant professor of English.
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In her time at SSU, Chanté has earned tenure and promotion to associate professor, was elected by her peers as coordinator of the University’s English degree program, and, in 2018, she was appointed interim chair of the Department of English, Languages, and Cultures. As an English professor, Chanté teaches courses in African American Literature. Her work has been published in several periodicals and she has presented research at national conferences. For the 2013-2014 academic year, Chanté was selected as a Governor’s Teaching Fellow, a distinction awarded by the University of Georgia’s Institute for Higher Education
In January 2021, Chanté was appointed Interim Dean of Savannah State’s largest college, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. CLASS, as it is commonly referred, consists of eleven undergraduate and two graduate degree programs, and it serves nearly all undergraduates who attend SSU. For her work in education, Chanté was awarded the 2021 E.B. Cooper Award for Educational Leadership from the Liberty County NAACP.
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As a member of the Board of Education, Chanté has represented Liberty County as a delegate to the Georgia School Board Association (GSBA) Summer Conference every year since assuming office in 2019.
MEET CHANTE
Chanté Baker Martin, a proud native of Midway, Georgia, is the only child of two retired educators, Mr. Herman L. and Mrs. Sarah P. Baker. She began her educational journey at the age of 3 when she attended Riceboro Preschool Learning Center, under the direction of the late Mrs. Neloweze Cooper. From there, she completed kindergarten at Jordye Bacon Elementary and attended Liberty Elementary for first through sixth grades. Chanté is a member of the first seventh-grade class at Snelson-Golden Middle School and is an honor graduate of Liberty County High.
While a student in the Liberty County School System, Chanté was well-known. She was frequently recognized for her academic achievements and, as an elementary schooler, she often sang at system-wide events including the annual Teacher’s Convocation. In 1996, Chanté was asked to sing for a county-wide rally in honor of the arrival of the Olympic Torch to Hinesville. As a middle schooler, she served as a peer-mediator, often identified to mediate conflicts not only between students but also between students and teachers. In high school, she served as a role model for the D.A.R.E. program, president of her junior class, and she was voted by her peers as “Most Likely to Succeed” in her senior year. Outside of school, she was actively involved in her church, Beach Hill Missionary Baptist, and was a part of different civic organizations including the Girl Scouts of America.
In her first year on the Board, Chanté was appointed to GSBA’s Rural Education Taskforce and, in 2021, she served on the Association's Government Operations Committee. She also was invited to serve on the Operations Committee in 2022.
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Chanté’s service to the Liberty County School System existed before she was elected to represent District 5. Since returning “home” in 2010, she has volunteered with various projects to include: co-facilitating a parent involvement workshop at Bradwell Institute, volunteering at Bradwell’s "Georgia Apply to College Day," serving as the speaker for Waldo Pafford Elementary School's Fifth Grade Graduation and serving as a judge for school- and county-level "Poetry Out Loud" Competitions. As a Board member, Chanté served as the guest speaker for Liberty County High School’s National Honor Society Induction in 2019. In 2022, she served as a guest reader at Lyman Hall Elementary in honor of Black History Month.
Chanté is a member of Baconton Missionary Baptist Church, Hinesville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Limerick Chapter #336, Order of the Eastern Star, all in Liberty County. She resides in Allenhurst with her husband, Attorney Reginald C. Martin, and their daughter, Olivia.
