Instructors

Herbert Brown

Herbert Brown is senior instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Downtown Jackson Campus and South Jackson Campus in partnership with DSC Training Academy.

He previously served as a teacher for the Algebra Project at Lanier High School in Jackson from 2006-2010. He later worked as a financial aid counselor at Tougaloo College.

Currently, he serves on the board of directors for the Algebra Project as treasurer. Brown received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Jackson State University and a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Mississippi College.

Andrew S. Stamps

Andrew S. Stamps is director and senior instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Gulf Coast campus. Stamps is a computer scientist specializing in graphics and visualization. The first of his family to attend and complete college, he has two degrees in computer science, a B.S. from Dillard University with minors in fine arts and mathematics, and an M.S. from Mississippi State University.

Stamps is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in computer science from MSU. As a lifelong learner, Mr. Stamps has also received research grants from NASA, the MSU Bagley College of Engineering, and Microsoft.

Stamps has work published in IEEE Vis conference proceedings, and the NASA Space Grant Consortium conference. He served as an IEEE Vis conference chair from 2011-2014. He has also worked as a software developer at Georgia Pacific, as a lead developer as Spatial Information Solutions, and as a team leader at IBM.

Jessika Hayes

Jessika Hayes is the instructor for the Mississippi Coding Academies’ Golden Triangle campus. Born and raised in Columbus, Hayes is a graduate of Columbus High School and Mississippi Coding Academies. She studied Visual Art and Graphic Design at the Mississippi University for Women for two years before transferring to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online Division where she studied Graphic Design/Web Design for a year.

In July of 2019, after graduating MCA, Hayes accepted the full-time position as Columbia Municipal School District’s first Coding Facilitator. There she worked with Bulldog Bytes, a computer science camp for children, helped establish the Columbus Cyber League, a club for girls in grades 3-5, facilitated a summer coding program called “Athletes For Computer Science, and served as a judge for the 2020 Major League Hacking Hackathon and Mississippi State University.