Jan. 7, 2014
For Immediate Release

By Drew Tucker, communications assistant, and Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Campbellsville University's Dr. Frank Cheatham, senior vice president for academic affairs and professor of math and computer science, is retiring after 40 ½ years of service. The announcement was made on Monday, Jan. 6 in a meeting of the entire faculty in CU's Winters Dining Hall.

Cheatham will work the rest of the 2014 calendar year and will officially retire Dec. 31, 2014. There will be a yearlong national search for his successor.

“The very first decision I made after becoming president in August of 1999, was to ask Dr. Cheatham to accept the vice presidency for the academic area,” Dr. Michael V. Carter, president of Campbellsville University, said.

“He accepted and has worked at my side in this role as well as the role of trusted advisor on every major decision of my presidency. His love for Campbellsville University and Christian higher education has been and is evident,” Carter said.

Cheatham, who will be 71 on Feb. 3, has been a leader at CU since his days as a student having graduated in 1965 and beginning his teaching career at CU in 1973.

Cheatham grew up on a large farm where he chose to commute to Campbellsville University, then Campbellsville College, every day while attending the farm. He graduated from Taylor County High School in 1961.

“One of the first things my parents valued highly was an education,” he said. “I had a strong influence in my life for continuing my education and getting a master's.”

Following his graduation from CU, he received a master of science in 1968 from Tennessee Technological University and received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Kentucky in 1972.

He received a second master's degree, a master of science in computer science education, in 1984 from the University of Evansville.

Cheatham was awarded the first “Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award” sponsored by The Sears-Roebuck Foundation in 1989 on campus.

He is also the recipient of the Campbellsville University “Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award” given by the university's Board of Advisors.

In 1992 he was awarded the Campbellsville/Taylor County Chamber of Commerce “Educator of the Year Award.” He received it again in 2000.

Cheatham became a Distinguished Alumnus at CU in 2002.

In addition to teaching at Campbellsville University, Cheatham has also taught at Western Kentucky University, Campbell College in North Carolina, Taylor County High School and teaching assistantships at UK and Tennessee Tech.

At CU, Cheatham has served on numerous committees and as faculty representative on several administrative positions. He was also faculty chairman and vice chairman and faculty representative to the CU Board of Trustees for two terms.

Cheatham was also on the presidential search committee that selected Carter, and also on the committee that chose Dr. Kenneth W. Winters as the ninth president of the university.

Cheatham led the discussion on getting the Internet at CU in 1994.

He has served as faculty advisor for Sigma Zeta, the science and math honor society, and has attended many national Sigma Zeta conventions. He also served as national president of Sigma Zeta.

Cheatham has been president of and on the board of directors of the Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges. He has also served as conference chair of the Southeastern Small College Computing Conference.

He is on the board of directors at Taylor Regional Hospital and was a member of the board of directors at the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Schools.

He has been involved in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for numerous years. Campbellsville University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award certificates, associate, baccalaureate, and masters. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 for questions about the status of Campbellsville University.

He has served as chair of CU's self-study and implementation committee. He has also served on 15 visiting committees of several SACS colleges and universities in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Texas.
Cheatham has presented several papers and has had several articles published.

He is the son of Gladys Cheatham of Merrimac, Ky. and the late Jeff Cheatham. He is one of nine children, five of whom eventually became teachers. His brother, Don, is instructor in education and computer information systems at CU.

Cheatham and his wife, Shirley Hardin Cheatham, have one daughter, Tammy, and a grandson, Drew, who is a junior at CU. They belong to Campbellsville Baptist Church.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.