MTSU EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NAMED IN THEIR HONOR
“Dr. Bob” and his family have been committed to MTSU and education since its inception. The Department of Education that they helped build to national prominence will now be named in their honor. The Daily News Journal has the story:
This family moves mountains.
From the time the doors of Middle Tennessee State Normal School opened in 1911, the Womack family has influenced the look, feel and heart of the campus-and has also provided leadership across the education spectrum in the state of Tennessee.
“Dr. Bob, his four children and their families have made a commitment to the university both in outright contributions and in their estate planning that will easily be the largest gift to that program,” added Joe Bales, MTSU vice president for development and university relations. “This, coupled with the earlier announcement of the construction of our new education building, signifies our commitment to maintaining our College of Education as Tennessee’s preeminent education program.”
Dr. Bob, as he is affectionately called by nearly everyone on campus, is starting his 53rd year of teaching at the university that he says “feels just like home.” As a student he enrolled in what was then State Teachers College in 1941.
Son Andy Womack shares his father’s sentiment.
During Andy Womack’s tenure as chair of the state Senate Education Committee, the topography of the campus changed considerably. “I was very proud of the fact that we were able to get the mass communication building as well as the infrastructure which made possible the new business building, the new library and the renovation of the Todd Library. … When we moved back here in 1957, MTSU was just a small college. Now it has become a major university, not only in Tennessee but in the southeast and the nation.”
Thank you Andy. You’ve shown what a good Democrat can do for education in Tennessee. Jim Tracy shows up for ribbon cuttings and photos at buildings he voted against funding. You, Andy, actually took the time and determination to get these projects DONE.