Dr. Pete Charton Endowed Scholarship

Roane State Community College, and college teaching generally, constituted a large part of my life until retirement in 2007. Yet, earlier in life as a young Tennessean, I had no idea that advanced education and teaching would be in my future. Growing up in Nashville, with a college professor mother and a minister father, I had many positive academic and spiritual influences in my life. Yet, my goal was to become a professional baseball player. In 1964 my dream of playing Major League baseball became reality as I pitched the season for the Boston Red Sox. It seemed that my leaving college (Baylor University) after two years had been a good decision. However, late in my first Major League season I began to develop shoulder problems that required surgery and eventually ended my baseball career. For some reason, during the five years in professional baseball I developed a strong desire to go to graduate school and become a college professor, with the ultimate goal of working closely with students in preparing them for success. Fortunately, I had continued to take classes in the winters during my time in baseball and had graduated from Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University).

After baseball ended, I attended Michigan State University (MSU), earning both the masters and doctoral degrees in physical geography I also developed an area concentration in Southern Appalachia as part of those degrees. Perhaps, most significantly, I met my wife, Sylvia, in LaFollette, Tennessee, while researching my master’s degree thesis (l was always good at multi-tasking!). Upon graduation from MSU, I was selected for a professorship at the University of Illinois (UI). UI is a wonderful institution, but little personal attention was given to undergraduate students. The emphasis was on research, publishing, and grant-writing, and white these are suitable goals for many professors, my goal of working closely with students was largely out of step. After two frustrating years at UI, I read about a new community college being established near Oak Ridge in a place called Roane County, Tennessee. My thought process at the time included seeking a position at Roane State Community College (RSCC) or perhaps leaving education and finding a job in science at one of the government facilities in Oak Ridge. In 1974 I was hired by then RSCC President Cuyler Dunbar. Because of the wonderful faculty, staff, and administration who cared deeply about students and each other, I came to love RSCC. It became home to me, and I stayed for over thirty years.