Rod Harmon prepares for retirement
A fter dedicating nearly 50 years to Lincoln Trail College as an instructor and as the Executive Director of the Lincoln Trail College Rod Harmon is retiring in June. Here are some of Harmon’s memories of his career in his own words. Education is a wonderful occupation. I always said if you have a year and you change one or two people’s lives in that year in the classes that you teach. If you change one life, make one life better. It’s been a great year.
Lincoln Trail, I think there were seven who started the college. She was a graduate of Murray State University. We received a Title III grant. She wanted to administer that, kind of wanting to go into administration, but she was teaching history and math at Lincoln Trail. So she called the college. She called Murray to Dean Harrell, who was one of my advisors. And she said, “Do you have someone with a degree in history who might be inter- ested in coming to teach two quarters at Lincoln Trail?” Dean Harrell said, “Rod Harmon, just you got one in May, six months ago, or whatever he might be interested. I’ll give him a ring.” He called me at Murray, a very long story short and, I remember John Schulte and Bonnie and Lew Aukes was the Dean, and they interviewed me to teach two quarters. It was in the winter quarter and the spring quarter. And even though I had a good job at Murray, they had the idea of teaching history was so appealing that I said yes.
It’s funny how many students remember you. Students are always coming up to me and saying, “Rod I had you in 1993 and do you remember me?” And I gener - ally can say, I remember the face. I can’t always attach a name to a face, but it’s a good feeling.
On coming to Lincoln Trail College
Somewhere around ’77, I got a call from Olney Central and they invited me down to run their Studies Skills Center. Chuck Novak was the president at that particular time. I went down and interviewed, but that’s what I was doing at Murray State University already. It didn’t appeal to me, so I politely refused and went on. About two or three months later, Bonnie Burns, who was one of the original members of the faculty at
One of his favorite memories with coworkers
Some of the stories that came out of those staff meet - ings are just priceless. I remember one lady was at the staff meeting. She was very upset because she had found in a classroom chalk dust in the chalk tray. And then later, a week or so later, she got in the van and found cigarette ashes in the ashtray and she was going on about how we
ABOVE: Rod Harmon in a 2023 portrait taken for the Lincoln Trail Colelge Foundation.
10 LTC Annual Report
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