Neal and Jeanne Richardson
Neal and Jeanne Richardson are non-traditional people. In the 1970’s, after Neal graduated from college, they moved into a log cabin in Morgan County and lived there for 7 years with no electricity (they called themselves hippies). Neal worked for TVA until he started his own architecture business, Upland Design. His company did the design work for many of the Roane State Campuses, including the Morgan Co. Campus. He is now retired and spends his time raising Angus cattle and working on the Cumberland Trail.
Jeanne left college with only 12 hours left to graduate to earn money while Neal continued college. Twelve years later, Jeanne returned to college and earned her degree majoring in Art and Biology. As a Botanist, she worked for TWRA and started a project called CENTS-Conservation Education Now for TN Students. She also works to rehabilitate raptors and does plant surveys along the Cumberland Trail between Wartburg and Frozen Head State Park.
Neither Neal nor Jeanne received financial assistance to attend college and know the difficulties that students can have while obtaining their education. To give back to their community, they established this scholarship endowment to give students a hand up to be able to attend Roane State.
Impact
Scholarships will be awarded each year from the Neal and Jeanne Richardson Scholarship Endowment income. These will be paid in equal installments at the academic registrations following the selection by the scholarship selection committee. The amount of the annual scholarship awards will be determined by the Roane State Foundation based on available income.
The Neal and Jeanne Richardson Scholarship is open to all applicants regardless of race, color, creed, or sex with the following qualifications:
Recipient must be enrolled full-time at Roane State Community College
Recipient must be a nontraditional student from Morgan County (if no qualified student from Morgan Co. then a student may be from another small county (Scott or Fentress).
Recipient must exhibit financial need and not be receiving excess financial aid
Students will be majoring in a STEM class or in education to teach STEM (this will include Nursing and Health Science students)
Scholarship will be renewable for a second year if all other requirements are met
Recipient must exhibit academic promise (maintain at least a 2.5 GPA while at RSCC)
Recipient must write a thank you letter to the donor