“WE OVER ME”: Sylvia Mayfield-Chess Brings a Lifetime of Leadership, Service and Action to Wilberforce
9/16/2026
Wilberforce University Press Release
Sylvia Mayfield-Chess
From the corporate world and community advocacy to higher education and an international journey with Wilberforce scholars, Dean of Students Sylvia R. Mayfield-Chess has built her career around one enduring principle: we accomplish more when we work together.
When Sylvia R. Mayfield-Chess talks about leadership, the conversation rarely begins with her.
It begins with we.
“WE OVER ME” is more than a favorite phrase for Mayfield-Chess. It is a philosophy that has followed her through a career spanning corporate leadership, community organizing, philanthropy, education, and student advocacy. Today, that philosophy is helping guide her work at Wilberforce University, where she serves as Dean of Students and Facilities Administrator. Wilberforce University |
Mayfield-Chess joined the Wilberforce family in January 2026, bringing with her an unconventional professional journey and a deep commitment to helping students become not only successful graduates, but better-prepared citizens and leaders.
“I came to Wilberforce because I wanted to work with a team of professionals dedicated to helping our scholars become the best version of themselves,” she said. “As a team player, I felt my skills and expertise in higher education would be valued.”
For Mayfield-Chess, the opportunity was about more than accepting another position. It was an opportunity to continue work that has become a calling: investing in people.
From the C-Suite to Community Service
Long before she arrived at Wilberforce, Mayfield-Chess had already learned to navigate spaces where leadership mattered.
From 1995 to 2009, she built a successful C-Suite career in the oilfield industry. But her professional résumé tells only part of the story.
After leaving the industry, she turned her attention more fully toward community organizing and service. Her leadership included serving as a precinct chairwoman in Fort Worth, Texas, and as National Membership Chairperson for the American Legion Family.
Whether in a corporate boardroom, a community meeting, or on a college campus, one theme remained constant: Mayfield-Chess was interested in bringing people together to create change.
That passion eventually became an important part of her work in higher education.
At Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas, Mayfield-Chess served in numerous capacities and helped develop the institution’s Office of Development. She managed and trained Work College Scholars preparing to serve as fundraising and philanthropy professionals, worked in the Office of the Dean of Students, and collaborated with the university president on campaigns that incorporated student participation.
She even took her passion for education beyond the college campus, teaching beginning Latin part-time for four years to sixth- and seventh-grade students at the Young Men’s Leadership Academy and World Language Institute.
Her path reflects something she strongly believes: education should never stop.
Mayfield-Chess began her own college journey at Southern University in Shreveport, Louisiana, before transferring to Paul Quinn College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in legal studies and became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
She later earned a master’s degree in public administration from Texas Southern University and continues to pursue advanced education, including doctoral studies and a Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling.
For Mayfield-Chess, continuing her education isn’t simply about adding credentials. It is about being better equipped to serve increasingly diverse student populations and communities.
Turning “WE OVER ME” Into Action
Mayfield-Chess has been part of the Wilberforce community for less than a year, but she has wasted little time putting her philosophy into practice.
In the short time she has been at the University, she has already instituted programs designed to enhance both the campus environment and the student experience. This includes establishing a political science club, a horticulture club, and developing a sewing club that will provide students with additional opportunities for personal and professional growth. “Student organizations help bring learning to life,” said Mayfield-Chess. “These clubs allow students to explore their interests, develop leadership skills, build meaningful relationships, and connect classroom knowledge with real-world experiences.” Wilberforce University |
Other initiatives include: “Thrifting with the Dean,” which takes students shopping while teaching them how to dress for success. The experience is about more than finding affordable professional clothing. It gives students an opportunity to learn how appearance, confidence, and preparation can influence the way they present themselves in interviews, internships, professional settings, and life beyond college.
She also launched “This Is Our House,” a campus cleanup initiative that encourages scholars to take an active role in caring for the place they call home. The initiative reflects a lesson Mayfield-Chess frequently shares with students: leave places better than you found them.
Her commitment to professional development has also led to the establishment of men’s and women’s clothing closets for Wilberforce scholars. Managed by student workers, the closets will provide access to professional clothing and accessories for students preparing for interviews, career fairs, internships, presentations and other opportunities where professional attire can make a difference.
But Mayfield-Chess didn’t want students simply to manage the closets. She saw another opportunity to teach.
The student workers will also serve as ambassadors for the initiative and receive training on how to approach local retail managers and businesses to request modest donations of professional clothing, accessories and gift cards to help stock and sustain the closets.
In the process, students will develop practical experience in communication, relationship building, fundraising, philanthropy and professional etiquette: skills Mayfield-Chess herself has cultivated throughout her career.
It is a model of student development that asks scholars not simply to receive assistance, but to become active participants in building resources that benefit their fellow students.
From Wilberforce to Poland: Developing Leaders with a Global Perspective
Mayfield-Chess’s commitment to student growth extends well beyond the boundaries of campus.
She recently served as a chaperone to Wilberforce scholars participating in the 2026 RISE Leadership Program, sponsored by the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation (AJCF).
Traveling from New York City to Poland, the students participated in a transformative journey that challenged them to examine some of humanity’s darkest chapters while developing the leadership skills, global perspective and moral courage needed to help shape a brighter future.
For Mayfield-Chess, the experience provided an extraordinary opportunity to watch Wilberforce students learn, reflect and grow in real time.
“One of the most memorable experiences I’ve had at Wilberforce was chaperoning our scholars to New York and Poland for the RISE Leadership Program,” Mayfield-Chess said. “Over two weeks, I watched them grow and mature into incredible advocates for our institution. They represented us with excellence.”
RISE Leadership Co-Hort attends gala along with University leadership.
For someone who has spent years advocating for students, watching Wilberforce scholars develop into advocates themselves was especially meaningful.
It also reinforced why she came to Wilberforce in the first place.
“I enjoy supporting our scholars and helping them reach their goals for a sustainable future,” she said.
More Than a Degree
Ask Mayfield-Chess why a student should choose Wilberforce, and her answer goes beyond academics.
She sees Wilberforce as a place where students have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for a career while also considering the kind of people they want to become.
“Students should attend Wilberforce University for an incredible opportunity to grow while gaining practical skills to prepare them for the world and the workforce,” she said. “Our programs are strong, and our commitment to wholeness is unmatched.” That idea of wholeness is important to Mayfield-Chess because her own life has never been confined to a single title. Wilberforce University |
She is an administrator and educator, but she also describes herself as a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, friend, advisor, and advocate for vulnerable communities. She is a breast cancer survivor and a passionate supporter of positive community change.
And away from work, there are still more dimensions to discover.
She enjoys playwriting and acting. She gardens. She fishes. Each role and experience has contributed something to the leader Wilberforce scholars encounter today.
Perhaps that is why the advice she gives students is less about résumés and more about how they choose to move through the world.
“Leave places better than you found them,” she tells them, “and love something greater than yourself.”
It is advice that also captures Mayfield-Chess’s own journey. From her roots in Longview, Texas, and Shreveport, Louisiana, to corporate leadership, community organizing, classrooms and college campuses: and now to Wilberforce, she has continued to find ways to serve, advocate and build.
And although her time at Wilberforce has only just begun, the initiatives already taking shape around her demonstrate something about the kind of leadership she brings to the University: see a need, bring people together and create an opportunity for others to grow.
At the center of it all remains that deceptively simple philosophy:
WE OVER ME.
Because for Sylvia R. Mayfield-Chess, leadership isn’t ultimately about how far one person can go.
It’s about how many people can move forward together.
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