TWC welcomes new president From Texas to Tennessee:
By Johnny Hutsell-Royster
The Daily Post-Athenian
ATHENS, Tenn.– A convocation at Tennessee Wesleyan College Jan. 9 was the opportunity for the college's interim president, Floyd Falany, to introduce the college's new president, Thomas Armstrong. Falany said he's enjoyed his short term as interim president but he'll soon be returning to his home.
"The best people I've ever known I've met in Athens, Tennessee," said Falany, a retired president at Reinhardt College in Georgia who agreed to serve as Wesleyan's interim president following the resignation of President B. James Dawson.
Then, Falany introduced Armstrong, who had been a professor and administrator at Texas Wesleyan University when he was chosen by Tennessee Wesleyan's Board of Trustees to become the new president at the Holston Conference- related college.
"I'm going to tell you about a man I'm excited about. We found him in Texas and he has agreed to become president of Tennessee Wesleyan College," Falany said. "Dr. Tom Armstrong knows what it takes to be a college president.
He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in Colorado and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, and he's been in classrooms most of his professional life."
Armstrong, who grew up in Iowa and Colorado, has served as an assistant professor, associate professor and professor and eventually as assistant dean and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Georgia College (now Georgia College and State University) in Milledgeville.
In 1993, he was named provost at Francis Marion University before becoming provost and senior vice president at Texas Wesleyan University in 1995, where he served as professor of history and special assistant to the president before accepting his new position at Tennessee Wesleyan.
He and his wife, Janice Fennell Armstrong, have one daughter, Sharon Plattner, who lives with her husband in Davidson, N.C. The Armstrongs have one grandson, Jacob.
Taking the podium, Armstrong said he's been impressed by the "warm hospitality" that has been extended.
"Jan and I are delighted with the result of the search," Armstrong said. "We are thankful, too, for those who have been so hospitable to us during the process of moving."
Armstrong welcomed everyone to the convocation, which he said is celebrated in many private independent colleges. "This college has 145 years of rich history and you are living in an atmosphere of small classrooms where you receive personal attention from staff members," Armstrong said. "Education in this setting is a more meaningful experience."
Armstrong has been active in civic endeavors and has published essays and book chapters and contributed more than 100 book reviews to scholarly journals. He has also served in professional organizations and has been active in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, where he chaired more than 15 visiting teams and made presentations at annual meetings.
Armstrong is Wesleyan's 19th president. He was chosen from among 68 candidates who applied for the position following the resignation of Dawson, who left Wesleyan to become president of Coker College in South Carolina.
–Reprinted with permission from The Daily Post-Athenian .
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